Down and Up Yosemite's Tuolumne River

In August 2016, I hiked solo round trip from Tuolumne Meadows to what John Muir called Dome Dam, a tough granite wall that resisted the carving of the multiple glaciers that passed down this canyon over the last million years. Just beyond this granite dam, the Tuolumne River falls rapidly, and literally, in multiple cascades, Tuolumne Falls, and White Cascade-- on its way to the next flat of Glen Aulin.

I wanted to climb two of the domes that form this "Dome Dam". The first is 500-foot-high "Dingley Dome" and the second (about 800 foot high) that I call River Dome II. The first offers a fine view of the Cathedral Range peaks and the second a fine view down the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne. I made both climbs and wended my way back off trail by following the winding and singing Tuolumne River back to camp. The late-season Tuolumne was low but beautiful.

Enjoy these photographs of my day's adventure!

Rephotographing Yosemite's great Photographers at Tenaya Lake

In August 2016 my wife and I returned to Yosemite's Tuolumne Meadows for the third reunion of the U.C. Berkeley scientists who studied Yosemite's wilderness and black bears in the early 1970s. I led a day hike to Tenaya Lake where we rephotographed the juniper made famous by Edward Weston and found the lightning-like aplite dike photographed at the same time by Weston's friend Ansel Adams. Then we relaxed and picnicked at what I call Photographer's Beach, where Edweard Muybridge, Carleton Watkins, Edward Weston, and Ansel Adams in their own time photographed the spectacular view looking east down the lake to Pywiak Dome and Mount Conness.

I swam in the surprisingly mild water (at 8,150 feet above sea level), photographed the scene, and made a sumi ink painting. Enjoy these pics of a fantastic area.

My Ansel Adams moment at Tenaya Lake

Ellen claims her glacial erratic (now named "Ellen's Rock")

Joe prepares for his Edward Weston moment at Edward's Juniper

Joe frames Goliath

The gang at "The Crossroads" aplite dike

I frame "The Lightning Bolt" photographed by Ansel Adams

Finishing my sketch after a fine day at the beach

Exploring Yosemite's Upper Tenaya Canyon Cascade

In June 2016 I followed Tenaya Creek as it left Tenaya Lake and flows toward Yosemite Valley. My goal was to find the Upper Tenaya Canyon Cascade at full flow and to locate one of John Muir's journal sketch sites (which I found). Pywiack Cascade, below the cascade I was seeking, is too dangerous to approach. But the first cascade is not if approached via the saddle to the east of the creek. I followed Jeffrey Schaffer's advice in his "Yosemite National Park Hikers' Guide."

The three-hour round-trip hike was well worth the effort. Enjoy the photographs!