Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne

I just looked at the photos in Flickr lots of great shots!

What a great trip. Sounds like a true adventure. Great pictures as well. Wish I was there.

Great pix! You get really impressive depth of field with your pinhole setup. I can see why the Holga has a cult following if you can get results like that.

Hey Cameron.

I always love your pics. The Holga-ness is always interesting and often stunning.

Thanks for sharing!

Dave Lutz making it happen on a very fast flowing river…

Gotta love Yosemite….12 nights out so far this year and counting!!!!

Well, we went on our trip DOWN the Tuolumne July 6-9, a little more than a week after y'all, and the water levels were PERFECT. Isn't it amazing how that is? My partners had been skeptical, but I knew the levels can go down fast.

The marsh below the Camp was still a marsh, but none of the creek xings were scary, and the lower sections of trail that used to be IN the river were dry. Except for one puddle which I deliberately stepped in as a sacrifice to the river spirits. In my running shoes.

We could see the driftwood above the trail, marking the high water mark, though. And we were grateful.

The upper Waterwheel, IMHO, is more beautiful than the lower 'real' Waterwheel Falls. Perhaps because the granite next to it is flat enough to sit RIGHT NEXT TO IT, and be mesmerized by the two distinct 'wheels'.

PERFECT! Thanks again for your thoughtful posts and photos, it helped our group to gage the water levels and gain confidence.

Keio: Glad to hear it worked out. Great area. As hard as it was for us in some ways, I enjoyed being there when the river was running so strong, but I can also see why it's better to avoid the risks that go with those conditions.

-Jeremy.

I prefer trips with 1 epic element. Could be something small like a hailstorm, or a face-plant on the trail. Could be something bigger, hopefully without harm, like a bear rolling your canister down to the meadow, or someone falling in the creek and getting wet, or wind blowing your tent stakes out in the night. There's nothing like something epic to make you feel alive, that you have survived Ma Nature's normal powers: floods, chilling winds, daunting passes, endless terrain with few navigation features… I could do without the mosquitoes but that's all part of it too.

I was just researching this trip and naturally a google search brought me right to BPL. Thanks for putting this together. Very helpful.

The "I guess they're not sure if this is the visitor center." caption is cracking me up.