Country United States
State California
Area Yosemite
Trip Month (09) – September
Report / Notes
Hello all,
First time posting here and figured I’d start it off with a trip report. I did a two day, 35 mile fastpack up the Grand Canyon Tuolumne from White Wolf to Tuolumne Meadows 9/18-9/19. Conditions were smoky day 1 but the incoming front cleared the smoke and cooled the air temps for day 2.
Started off by taking a  Yarts Bus from Tuolumne Meadow to White Wolf ($10) and started hiking at 11am. Made it 10 miles to Pate Valley in 2.5hrs. Couple bear sightings on the way. Fished the Tuolumne River near camp in the afternoon and found willing trout but they were spaced out. Fish seemed skinny compared to usual with the low water year.
The next day was a big day, hiking 24 miles from Pate Valley to Tuolumne Meadows in 6.5hrs and 5,500ft elevation. I was using a ULA CDT pack which I just bought, a tarp tent pro trail LI and had other gear totaling 18lbs including bear canister. My goal was to “run” some of the trail but that seemed impossible with the elevation gain throughout the day. Regardless I felt good and was able to make the big climbs in the shade and temps got cooler going up in elevation which helped. After the 24 miles I was done, and was pleasantly surprised to see it was the closing day of the Tuolumne Meadows store and beers were only $1.25 each.
Couple things to note if anyone is considering this trip:
-Start early and try to hitch hike to white wolf instead of Yarts. The 11am start put me in the heat of the day
-Prepare yourself for a knee busting descent and use your poles. I didn’t use them since my pack felt light but they got a little tweaked towards the bottom.
-Be prepared for bears. I saw 4 of them along the trail and other campers saw more. A lot of them were ear tagged so they are likely “problem bears” transported here.
-Forget the fishing gear and save weight unless you are hiking to Hetch Hetchy. Not much bug life in the river and fish were spaced out in the pocket water and skinny
-Great camping spots and the best swimming holes upstream from patte valley about 1/2 mile. Less people here and less bears as well for a good first night camp spot.
I used tailwind for hydration and mainly ate gels which I think helped for moving throughout the day instead of a big meal
Overall a great first trip and an easy trail to get permits on when others are busy. Here are my Strava posts with some pics included:
