Grand Canyon Of the Tuolumne - Is Adrenaline Doping?
The Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne has been on my list of adventures for what feels like a decade. It’s a beautiful 33 miles along the Tuolumne river from Tuolumne Meadows to Hetch Hetchy. Though I’ve had opportunities to do it by myself these adventures only hold significance in my brain if they were shared with someone else. Needless to say forest fires, smoke, and missed connections made this adventure never happen until now. I had just quit my job, I had a partner tentatively lined up, and there wasn’t any fires burning yet. The time was now.
I had made plans for the weekend before to do a 26 mile run with Jamie. The partner I had lined up for the Grand Canyon wasn’t available till later in the week so I figured it would be a good training run to prepare me. Jamie and I decided to go to Hetch Hetchy. Neither of us had ever been and it had a nice 26 mile loop that we could easily do. We decided to meet at the damn at 6:30am. Unfortunately we learned that morning that Hetchy is gated and it opens promptly at 8am and closes promptly at 5pm. So we sat outside the gate and made some coffee for a few hours before heading into the park. At that point we knew doing the full 26 mile loop would be pushing it as we had to be leaving the damn by 4:30pm and we were just getting started at 8:30am and the heat was already mounting but we kept the idea on the table. Needless to say Hetch Hetchy reached 104F that day. It was the first time ever I struggled to function. Jamie and I laid in ever possible water source we could find. And ended up only making it 8 miles before we thought the conditions were too risky to continue safely. Finishing the day at just 16 miles. On our way out we saw a woman who was suffering from heat exhaustion. It was scary to see. I knew we made the right decisions that day and as I peered into the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne I wasn’t sure now was the right time. The heat was like being in an oven. The granite rocks were cooking us. My shoes almost felt like they were melting to the rocks as we ran. The Grand Canyon was even narrower and filled with more granite. It would surely be reckless to go in there in temperatures like that.
Needless to say I kept an eye on the weather the next few days. The heat wave broke on Monday and the temps dropped dramatically on Tuesday and Wednesday I knew that was my window as the next heat wave was on it’s heals. My friend from Reno wouldn’t be available till Friday or Saturday so I decided I’d have to go alone. That was until I found myself on the deck with peach seeds making a bet with Corbin. I said “If I hit the propane tank you have to run the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne with me tomorrow.” He made his own bet and I hit that propane tank so dead on while he missed. It was set. His brother would watch the dogs and we would set out at 5am to run all 33 miles.
Corbin once ran 20 miles with me on a loop around the TRT and Squaw. He was so crippled afterwards he said if a bus was coming he wouldn’t be able to move fast enough to get out of the way. He also ran the last 10 miles of the Tahoe 200 with me and on the final 4 mile downhill as I ran full speed 201 miles on my legs he actually asked me to slow down so he could keep up. This would be the longest distance he had done in a day and in his climbing approach shoes and climbing backpack non the less. Corbin’s a badass and always reminds me that all the fancy gear doesn’t mean shit. We packed lots of food, water, and gear to get us through a long day. I was planning it would take us about 15hrs.
We got up at 5am and left Yosemite West. We both drove separately so we could park a car at White Wolf and also one in Tuolumne Meadows as the run is a 33 mile point to point. We did a few errands on the way and were leaving Tuolumne Meadows on foot at a little after 7am. The first section follows the PCT down to Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp for about 5 miles. We made quick progress of this as it was actually really cold at that high altitude. The run starts above 8k feet and drops all the way to 3k feet before finishing again at 8k feet. It follows the Tuolumne River almost the entire way except one small mile long section called Muir Gorge and then also the 9 mile climb out to White Wolf.
After Glen Aulin we turned off down the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne. The trail is almost entirely down hill. In the beginning section you see 4 incredible water falls with giant rock walls towering thousands of feet above. It was beautiful and picturesque and Corbin and I were moving quickly. We were on pace to do the whole thing in about 9hrs. We passed beautiful pool after beautiful pool on the river and as the temperature rose we’d pick a pool here and there and jump in to cool off.
The trail was in bad shape I assume from a year of no use and long winter. Lots of down trees and tons of over growth. It felt like it had barely been traveled recently. Around this point in an overgrown section Corbin stopped and said snake. I peered around his shoulder to see a baby rattle snake on the trail. It slowly slithered under a rock just off the trail and my stomach sank. How many of these had we walked by already? If one of us gets bit we will surely die down here. A helicopter wouldn’t get here fast enough and we’re 10+ miles from any trailhead. 10+ hard miles. We safely navigated around the baby snake but now my head was down. I was on full snake alert.
It was only noon by the time we had made it to Muir Gorge which signified about 15 miles and the half way point. After Muir Gorge the trail really drops in elevation and the terrain feels different. You go from High Sierra feel to Sonora Pass feel to Yosemite Valley feels. Different flowers, different trees, and different rocks help tell the story of what elevation you’re at now. Corbin and I decided to give Muir Gorge a go. The trail moves up off the river for about 2 miles and traverses high before joining back with the river. This section is so narrow with the rock walls coming straight to the waters edge requiring mandatory river swims to pass through. I had read a trip report from a drought year in 1997 online. They had done the Gorge in September and said there was one 100ft mandatory swim. I knew we were going in June so the water levels would be much higher and as a classically bad swimmer I was nervous on our ability to do it but Corbin was dead set on the adventure.
We moved off the trail and hugged right side of the river moving quickly over big river rocks and doing a little dirty scrambling on the hillside. This went on for awhile before we got to our first impasse. Corbin did a little scoping before saying okay we can either turn back and join the trail or do this 4 foot jump off of this rock over this water fall on to this other rock. But if we do this we can’t undo it so we are fully committed to continuing down this gorge. I looked at the jump I was totally capable and not even nervous. If this was the worst of it I could easily do it. We made the jump. At this point I knew we were committed but I wasn’t prepared for what was up next. We moved down the left side of the river now doing some slab scrambling before we eventually cliffed out. The best way forward is to jump into this rapid and try to make the eddy on the otherside. I stood watching the fast moving water rushing down the river. It was a small water fall if you didn’t make the eddy. It would be very dangerous. I knew how to read rivers I had done a bit of kayaking and tubing in the white water park in Golden during college. The rapid was pushing in the wrong direction. You would need to be a strong swimmer to catch the eddy on the other side or be able to jump into the rapid directly. Neither of which I was stoked on.
I told Corbin I wasn’t comfortable and I wanted to go back. At this point we had already wasted 30 minutes of indecision on my part. We retraced our steps back to the 4 foot jump we had done looking for a better river crossing. There wasn’t one. I knew there wasn’t one. I shouted from behind “Let’s just swim the rapid”. We didn’t have any other choice. I knew that at this point. The second we did that 4 foot jump we were committed. I was committed. I needed to focus and swim like my life depended on it. Because it did. Corbin and I were able to climb down some rocks to the rivers edge. I then did a 3 ft jump across to get myself more inline with the rapid so that I could really try to jump out across it and make the eddy. We took our shoes off and put all our belongings in Corbins backpack. It was risky because if we lost the backpack we would loose everything and could put ourselves in an even worse situation. But we were committed.
Corbin jumped first with the backpack. He’s an incredibly strong swimmer and made it across quickly. He put the backpack in a safe place and then waded into the water to grab me if I was close enough and struggling. I nervous peed a couple of times on the rock before launching into the rapid and swimming like hell. I made it to the other side and Corbin grabbed my arm and pulled me on to a safe rock. My adrenaline was spiking through the roof as I smiled and let the panic move out of my body. I had made it! I was fine. Corbin and I put our shoes back on and moved down the river but it was only a matter of time before we were cliffed out again and had to cross the river. At this point I knew every move we made was taking us further into the gorge and more and more committed. This time we went into the water first and hung out in the eddy. Corbin did the swim across first and I followed after. They were getting a bit easier than the first one but my adrenaline was still rushing so intensely that after each rapid I would be shaking. We decided to not put our shoes on since we knew we would have to cross again inevitably. We had barely made it anywhere before we had to cross again. This crossing was probably the most mellow. The rapid was calmer and the run way to the other side longer but it still made me nervous pee. Corbin swam first again and I followed after. As I kicked like my life depended on it I could feel the rocks under the water grabbing for my legs. White water is a world I feel very uncomfortable in. When we finally got out of the water this last time I saw a break in the rock walls that led out to the trail. As we looked down the remaining 100 feet of the gorge we could see what appeared to be some water falls and decided it would be safest during this time of year with high waters to take this bail out opportunity so we don’t get stuck in a really bad situation.
We laid on the waters edge having moved one mile in the course of two hours. Everything in our packs was soaked and I was having a serious adrenaline crash. I joked to Corbin that one more adrenaline spike would surely cause my heart to stop working. My phone had died entirely and we would be relying on Corbins for any navigation issues. Because we had spent the better half of the hottest part of the day in or very near to the water we hadn’t realized just how hot the day had become. The rocks were scalding on our bare feet and I was beginning to feel very hot as my clothing was almost instantly dry. We packed up our stuff and headed back to the trail. I’m super glad we got to experience the Muir Gorge and have a little adventure but at this late in the day and only half way done I knew it was going to be a late night.
Corbin and I made silent progress for the rest of the way. We had to stop often in the river to cool off as the temperatures were rising as we neared 3k feet in elevation. It was important at this point that we stayed cool, hydrated, and feed as we inevitably headed into the night time. As we left the Tuolumne River and started our finally climb out to White Wolf we heard low growl from close by I jumped back as what I think was a mountain lion. I clung to Corbin as he retrieved his pocket knife from his backpack. We gotta get out of her fast I exclaimed. White wolf has been closed for several years now and this trail hasn’t been traveled much. As the sun was setting my biggest fears were slowly coming true. My heart could take another adrenaline rush yet here we were again.
We stuck close and made good progress getting as high as we could before the sunset. At this point we caught a beautiful glimpse of Hetch Hetchy with the setting sun. What a day. Corbin was moving slow as his knees were bothering him and I gave him some ibuprofen to help with the swelling. The climb out to white wolf drug on forever. The trail was over grown and almost tropical. The mosquitos were out in full force and Corbin was moving slow. As the sun finally disappeared the full moon rose almost immediately and we opted to not pull out our headlamps. I was essentially blind in those forests so I held on to a little rope behind Corbins backpack and followed. Eventually we topped out the ridge and I pulled my head lamp out for the final 3 miles. We walked through the White Wolf lodge and out on to the closed road before finally reaching the car. As we walked out the road Corbin said he had a new appreciation for ultra runners. He said he has no idea how I did the Tahoe 200 and didn’t understand how I could keep such a positive attitude the whole time. It was nice to get to share something like that with him. Even though I know he’ll probably like never do it again.
We reached the car at about 16hrs just shy of 11pm. Corbin laid down in the back of the van and I drove us to Tuolumne Meadows to connect back up with his truck. I felt great. It’s a truly special feeling to move for such a long period of time and then to keep moving. Neither one of us was in any shape to continue driving so we slept in the van and woke up in the morning and headed back to Yosemite West. Even though I could have done the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne solo in probably half the time I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world. These adventures aren’t about time but about being out there with people you actually want to spend time with. It’s always been the people for me. I’ll never forget this mission. Not because of how gorgeous it was or the rattle snake, rapid swimming, mountain lion adrenaline rushes, but because of the 16hrs I got to spend with Corbin just walking around in the woods together and swimming in beautiful river holes.