A few days ago I took on an epic adventure and hiked the 19 mile round-trip trek to Waterwheel Falls. These falls are one of those kind of mythic, storied places in Yosemite National Park that many people talk about, some have actually been to, and few have seen during peak flow. I now am one of the lucky few. It's a hike I've been thinking about for a long time now, something I had hoped to do last summer but the peak flow came early and my hiking confidence came late. This year was a completely different story. Tioga Pass didn't even open until June 5th this year and though it has now been open for almost a month much of the high country is still completely snowed in. However, because you're hiking downhill to Waterwheel Falls, it opened up a bit earlier than many of the other hikes out of the meadow. However, my confidence still wasn't all there - I was nervous about taking this long of a hike, especially one I was pretty unfamiliar with, by myself. As a result, I left relatively early - I was on the trail by 8:15 - and I hustled my way down.

The hike to Waterwheel Falls begins in Tuolumne Meadows either at the Visitor Center or at the trailhead to Dog Lake. I'm not sure which one is shorter. I took the Dog Lake trailhead route because I was a little wary of the mosquitos, though I think it would have been more beautiful to hike across the meadow from the visitor center.

The first five miles are relatively flat - a nice jaunt through an alpine meadow along the Tuolumne River. There are about five stream crossings, four of them wadable with waterproof boots. The first crossing is kind of tricky - it's doable over a log a few hundred yards upstream, but then you're stuck on an island and still have to find your way across the other channel while keeping your feet dry. I would probably recommend bringing Chacos or some other kind of water shoe because in addition to the stream crossings, there's about an eighth of a mile section of trail that is a complete lake this time of year. That comes later on. The Tuolumne River is relatively flat and mellow during this section of trail, and there are many places to pop off the trail and take a dip. Because I was in a bit of a hurry, I didn't do this though I saw many people who did and it looked heavenly.

At around mile 5 the trail takes a pretty steep drop down along Tuolumne Falls. If you don't have enough time to hike all the way to Waterwheel Falls, I would still recommend coming this far. The trail isn't phenomenal but Tuolumne Falls is spectacular - it's your quintessential waterfall with layers of rock creating a chute that forces the water together and thunders down a two-tiered drop into a large pool below. Again, because I was nervous about time I didn't linger too long here on the way down.

At this point, the trail branches into three. You can either continue on toward Virginia Canyon following just below the Tioga Crest, you can stop to camp at Glen Aulin, one of the High Sierra Camps, or you continue down the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne towards Waterwheels Falls. The signs say it's 3.3 miles beyond Glen Aulin and on the way down it feels like a mile and a half. You're walking next to a series of falls and cascades - White Falls, California Falls, and LeConte Falls all line the trail and you get pretty good looks at them as you walk. Somewhere between White Falls and California Falls is the swampy trail section I mentioned previously. It's directly below a beautiful cascade that flows down the granite on the North side of the trail and all the water collects in a meadow that's criss-crossed with deadfall. It's possible to log-hop your way across this section as long as you're comfortable with getting up close and personal with the Lodgepole Pine saplings that are beginning to recolonize the area. I found myself swinging, Tarzan-like, between saplings to reach the various logs that I could then precariously shuffle across until I could grab hold of the next young tree. This part of the trail is probably navigated much more easily simply by bringing along a pair of water shoes. After this point, you begin a steep descent towards LeConte and Waterwheel Falls.

At this point I had been hiking for about 2.75 hours and was pretty tired and hungry. I was initially a little fooled by LeConte Falls, maybe I was just being optimistic about how far I'd already hiked, and thought it was Waterwheel Falls. I was really disappointed. That's not to say that LeConte isn't beautiful, but it certainly doesn't live up to the hype of Waterwheel. Because of that, I figured I'd keep hiking just to make sure I wasn't missing something down below. The Tuolumne at this point is hardly a river. It's more like a series of cascades because the grade is so steep and as soon as I got to a better vantage point where I could see a little way down the trail I knew that all the excitement was coming up ahead. Even before I could see the falls themselves, I could see the mist and whitewater rising up from the crashing water. As I crested the rise, the falls extended themselves below and before me. With such high water, it was an amazing site. I would definitely recommend hiking down the last 400 or so feet to get to the bottom of the falls because they are difficult to see from the trail and the view isn't as impressive from above or alongside.

I reached the bottom of the falls by 11:15 and was the first day-hiker of the day to set up shop near the falls. I got a prime perch right across from the two waterwheels. Aside from the absolute beauty and awesomeness of seeing so much water crashing by, to me one of the most incredible things was the sound. These are noisy falls to be sure so that even if people had been hiking along the trail a few hundred yards away, I would not have heard them.

Having never seen this area when there wasn't tons of water gushing down it, I'm not totally sure what the rocks underneath look like. But because of the way the water acts, I'm guessing that there are huge divots and ledges that stop the flow and force it up and over. Then wind takes over and blows the water back onto itself creating a waterwheel-like rotation. I sat to write in my journal a bit and wrote these words - I wonder why people are so enthralled with waterfalls. Could it be that they serve as a rare glimpse of a power larger than us, a force exerted to a much greater and more beautiful degree? I think that could be. All the time we hear about the remarkable power of the forces of nature - glaciers, water over time, wind - but waterfalls somehow encapsulate that power. I've never been to a waterfall that didn't make my heart race, make me catch my breath and smile. The pure, unadulterated power and noise of waterfalls somehow inspires both awe and fear in me every time I am near one.

Nine miles in and totally rejuvenated by the light mist and churning water, I packed up my backpack and headed back toward Tuolumne Meadows. I ate a delicious lunch of peanut butter and Nutella, an apple and some almonds when I reached Tuolumne Falls and made it back to my car by 4:15. Eight hours and 19 miles later I was both exhausted and exhilarated by my experience at Waterwheel Falls. It's a difficult hike, but one that I highly recommend doing while the water is high.