Re: Illilouette Fall and Gorge

Had get out of jail free card ... and had seen Z classic view of Illiouette frostied up
a few weekends ago and had to... Tanks to Death Valley Steve for original posty on this.
You'll quickly ... or maybe not so... find out if this hike is for you.

Actually wanted to re-create some old pictures from stereographs. Unfortunately getting
into Tuloowack Grotto deemed not worth putting crampons on for and chancing
a 5lb chunk o ice come a crashing down and ending things.

Anywho. Too Faux Toes:




Make a photosynth thingie... it's ok... needs more work...
Illiloutte Fall and Gorge Photosynth
(it killed some trees) (check out the monster truck rock perched above) (dangit.. now want to go see that from above)


Anywho.

Have fun out der

o... DavidK... hiked the Old Wawona Road from Alder to Wawona CG... you gonna LOVE it.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2013 04:17PM by chick-on.

For da Chick-on Lubbers:

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Quote
chick-on
Had get out of jail free card ... and had seen Z classic view of Illiouette frostied up
a few weekends ago and had to... Tanks to Death Valley Steve for original posty on this.
You'll quickly ... or maybe not so... find out if this hike is for you.
....


.....(it killed some trees)....

OK. Now you've got me wound up again. What killed some trees? The ice? The big rock? Your camera?

I didn't realize that there was a great amphitheater up there. Now I'll have to go. In the Spring. The only time that I have been up in that gorge, I was turned back by a combination of huge boulders and a raging creek. Do you have some route that is up and away from the creek in that section? Or did you climb on the giant icy boulders in the creek? Or was there a snow bridge?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2013 11:51AM by wherever.

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wherever
OK. Now you've got me wound up again. What killed some trees? The ice? The big rock? Your camera?

I didn't realize that there was a great amphitheater up there. Now I'll have to go. In the Spring. The only time that I have been up in that gorge, I was turned back by a combination of huge boulders and a raging creek. Do you have some route that is up and away from the creek in that section? Or did you climb on the giant icy boulders in the creek? Or was there a snow bridge?

I thought I'd have you wound up on the Old Wawona comment.

Killed some trees... I was just talking about the Photosynth link... if you look closely...
something is seriously wrong with a couple of the trees

You have no choice but to cross at least a bit of creek with a decent amount of water flowing.
In spring... as you found out... it's just not happening... truth of the matter is... I moved a log
with my hurculian strength and then constructed a bat hook with a rope to avoid getting
my flippers wet (wife said I should bring my scuba booties... but I forgot them in the car)
(along with leaving my window open for the day) (guess I'm getting old) (hey the car was
locked though)

There's a grotto way up yonder... I'll post the picture of the couple of old photos was going for
when have more time.

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Thanks for postin! I assume you follow the north side of creek past the water tank? This one is now on the list!

To boldly go where this one will not be able to go. Thanks for the pictures.

We did this hike one winter ago....but had to turn around because it was getting dark, so we didn't make it all the way to the base of the falls. Here are a few photos...



M sitting pretty in front of Half Dome



The view across the way at Vernal Falls



Where we turned around because it was getting dark .

There was a LOT of bear scat in this area. Now we know where they go...

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Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Paul-Wagner/dp/0984884963

Balz,
Just want to point out that very little water was in the creek when you went there.
Believe me... no way would you be crossing the creek right now. Water very close
to freezing. Flowing pretty decent.
I looked at your photos ... and you can compare the gorge and waterfall down below
to this photosynth:
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=52dde02f-6f25-40f4-a961-18f1293338a9
The waterfall is a good ... I'd say 40 ft. and the boulder below it is bus size.

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Here's the link to Steve's Trip.
Hopefully his website is back up when he says it will be.
Just a great resource for Death Valley.

http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?1,4620,4620#msg-4620

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Couple of videos took there:







Click play... you'll like...

Now where were those old stereographs...

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Good stuff. That one rock you zoom in to looks precariously perched, but it'll probably be there for a long time. Thanks for the trip report.

Cool vids and TR. Thanks for re-posting the link to these.

Yay...I finally got to watch the videos!

Loved these! Thanks and definitely 1080p looked great! Got a little motion sick, actually!

Awesome. Another one of my favorite falls.

What wanted to get:


Got close enough for my satisfaction:

or zoomier


Also wanted to get in the Grotto:


only went up this far: (look at the video above for why) (yes, some big chunks o ice fell when I was there)


Thanks for those who said thx - much appreciated

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Notice the big honking crack in that ice sheet.

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Old Dude

Fabulous photos and videos. Thanks for posting all of them!

If you crop the non-zoom replica photo of the stereograph you'll get dang close to the original (minus the trees in the foreground). You did a fantastic job matching your photo with the stereograph!

And for everyone who haven't done so already, view the chick-on's two videos of Illilouette Fall on YouTube so you can view them in Full Screen 1080 HD. When filming any scenes with snow, 1080 HD makes a huge and noticeable difference in the video. Both the snow and falling water pop out in 1080 HD! Just love those two videos. Freaking awesome!

.

Fantastic! Do you know if the Tuloowack Grotto is easily accessible? I had thought that you were talking about something under and behind the falls, but that stereograph shows otherwise. It looks to be pretty high up on the wall....

Quote
wherever
Fantastic! Do you know if the Tuloowack Grotto is easily accessible? I had thought that you were talking about something under and behind the falls, but that stereograph shows otherwise. It looks to be pretty high up on the wall....

Wait. Is it that black thing that you can sort of see next to the talus?

Quote
wherever
Fantastic! Do you know if the Tuloowack Grotto is easily accessible? I had thought that you were talking about something under and behind the falls, but that stereograph shows otherwise. It looks to be pretty high up on the wall...

I'm pretty certain that it is way up yonder on that snow field. I was headed up that way.
(take a look at the video above)
I think there may actually be a cave there too. Tried really hard on 4 Mile/Panny trip with wife
in November to spy it. I think I see what looks like a hole in the wall there but really hard to tell.

Looking down:


People bored with that may enjoy this photo instead:

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great picture as usual. gonn have to look for that cave this summer

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ryanmj
great picture as usual. gonn have to look for that cave this summer

Hopefully it doesn't disappoint. Try to get the same shot as the stereograph.

For fun... here's one of the crux spots on my way up... the rock there is
easily 4 ft. tall. Moved that log from behind me to in the creek there to
help me get my booty up. The surface of the rock could easily hold a
party on. A couple other spots were a bit tricky but beyond there and
before... just boulder hopping (def. was not hiking in the creek though)
(way too much water) (and near freezing temp)

With spring runoff... you're just not getting thru here.

Have fun

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Great stuff, Chick-on!

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Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Paul-Wagner/dp/0984884963

Great vids and pic! Man I wish you had done this before I went, I would have gone there. That fall is beautiful from that angle, especially with the snow!

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chick-on
o... DavidK... hiked the Old Wawona Road from Alder to Wawona CG... you gonna LOVE it.

Cool! That stretch is a contender for my next visit! Sounds like it should make my final cut!

Love the Illilouette shots, too...thanks (as always) for posting them!

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DavidK42

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chick-on
o... DavidK... hiked the Old Wawona Road from Alder to Wawona CG... you gonna LOVE it.

Cool! That stretch is a contender for my next visit! Sounds like it should make my final cut!

Love the Illilouette shots, too...thanks (as always) for posting them!

Don't worry... I'll get to the Wawona Rd... with a new thread...
But... to get you excited.... I made one of those photosynth thingies just for you... click on this and enjoy (I know you will):
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=8781c544-116f-4360-85b0-8cf08eff682b

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Thanks, chick-on! Of COURSE I love it! Looks fairly clear at that point...where exactly was this taken (looks like it should be very easy to find the OWR here which, as you know, is not always an easy feat!)

Although we probably should continue this on another thread since we are nowhere near the topic of this thread (either geographically or in type-of-hike) now!

Awesome as usual!

Pretty cool.

What it looked like on Feb 17, 2013 and why I really want to go see it below:


and finally... for fun... what the Gorge looked like from the JMT on way to Vernal Falls footbridge on Dec 27, 2012:


Have fun

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Thanx for the chick-on pix fix...awesome!

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hikerchick395
Thanx for the chick-on pix fix...awesome!

Ewe need to watch da Vids. Purty shure ewe and hubby will enjoy.

To all:
Steve Hall's website is back up. Unfortunately the link to his "real' trip report is not in same spot.
Bummer. Might have to email him.

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Dang. I so screwed up the Photosynth in the first post.
Used a set of two pictures as one.

Here's the two Photosynths:
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=91f2f781-bb6e-4962-b772-5a89cd4f8f48

http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=423c47ec-0543-499f-87fc-b8d958dfabe5

I know not many click on these.. (which is one reason why I just quit making photo sets btw)

So to make you look... har har har... here's the panny of one of them:

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At a loss for words about how cool these are. Yosemite and this site just keep outdoing themselves.

Silhouette is certainly something. So awesome that it can render a person speechless. Only thing missing is a half moon over that dome.

Steve Hall's website is back up and here is the link to his trip:
http://www.panamintcity.com/yosemite/illilouettefall.html

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Thanks for the link.

I haven't thoroughly researched this, but is there a non-technical route down to the base of Illilouette Fall from anywhere along the Panorama Trail?

Looking at the nearby craggy cliff walls on the westside near Illilouette Fall, I thought there might have been at least a Class 3 route and scramble, or at worst, a Class 4 route down from somewhere off the Panaroma trail. Though if it's Class 3 or 4, it might be a route safer to ascend from the base of the waterfall, than to descend to the base of the waterfall.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2013 07:22PM by plawrence.

No

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Found pix of mine from Pan trail area looking into the cave.
(cropped and whatnot)
Looks fairly deep and somewhat cave-like.

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Nice job and great pictures! What amazing shots with the snow and ice!

Sorry, I hadn't checked in here in a few weeks and hadn't noticed this thread. This hike is quite difficult and impossible during certain times of the year.

Not sure how this thread got bumped to the top, but just for reference my original report can now be found here:

http://www.panamintcity.com/yosemite/illilouettefall.html

My four other Yosemite reports include Sierra Point, Rainbow View, Ribbon Fall, and The Diving Board. Those can be found on my Introduction Page.

Hoping to figure out a new sixth report/hike that can be done perhaps this year.

Wow, these are just stunning photos! We are finally going to see Illilouette from the Panorama Trail in June, but your vantage points in the gorge are just incredible! Thanks for posting!