On the other hand, the water was impressively high, and combined with the down-canyon wind, I got the "mist falls" treatment at both Tuolumne Falls and White Cascade in the morning. Also, the water was flowing over the bridge approaches at both the upper (twin) and lower (near the High Sierra Camp) bridges. However, the trail was definitely passable, and I would estimate passing 20 or so backpackers who were leaving on my way down--it seems like most had camped on the ridge above Glen Aulin or in the glen itself, which was quite nice, as the mosquitoes had not yet arrived. (I also passed forum member ttilley near the upper bridge, whose faint footsteps I followed on my way in, and whose not-so-faint footsteps I followed on the return...)
Of course, being a wet year, the lower portion of Glen Aulin--including the trail--was flooded by the beautiful outlet of Mattie Lake. This required maybe 300-400 yards of walking in mostly shallow water--cold, but nothing dangerous. There was the usual amount of early-season deadfall in the glen. Below California Falls, the trail was clear. (While returning and passing several quite nice campsites, it hit me that Glen Aulin has recovered quite well from the past fires, but it seems most people prefer to camp near the High Sierra Camp or down canyon closer to the falls, where there are few good sites--with one exception. )
Although there are three named falls below Glen Aulin, the river is more or less a continuous cascade from California Falls to Waterwheel Falls, and every bit of this cascade complex was impressive due to the high water. LeConte specifically was throwing some very high waterwheels; conversely, Waterwheel itself was a bit of a letdown compared to last year's trip--I suspect because the wind was blowing down canyon, so its waterwheel wasn't being blown up and back on itself.
Unforunately, I was on a schedule to meet up with my wife and friends, so I had all-too-little time to relax and enjoy the falls. The weather was perfect, and there are places where I could have spent hours resting on a rock, letting the sounds of the cascades lull me to sleep, but I had to keep moving.
Pictures: Waterwheel Falls
Oh, and one more rather embarrasing thing: I seem to have left my GPS unit at the Pothole Dome parking lot (long weekend, don't ask...) If anyone happens to have found it, I would love to get it back. It was black with a small orange carabiner attached to it.
