Re: Tuolumn Meadows to Glen Aulin trail condition and alternate options?

I am planning a trip to Glen Aulin campground with some friends and wondering if anyone has insights about the current trail conditions. I am new to the area and plan to be in the TM area from Saturday May 18th early morning to Sunday evening. I am a little concerned as I am going with some beginner backpackers and ranger just mentioned that delaney creek and dingley creek are tricky this early in the season. Also heard about substantial standing water just past the Glen Aulin cmapground on the way to California falls and Le Conte falls.

If I decide to skip this, what are my alternate options in that area as I am camping at Hodgdon on Friday night and going to TM on saturday early morning. Thanks

The road has only been plowed and open for a couple of days so you may not get feedback from anybody who has hiked the Glen Aulin trail yet.

I've done the trail shortly after the road opened in past years and conditions are probably similar now.
The trails are quite wet and muddy. Once you get into the trees there will still be some snow on the ground. Delaney and Dingley are wet fords, water will be up to your knees. And yes the area beyond Glen Aulin will have flooded trails. All that being said there is nothing like the Glen Aulin hike in spring. The waterfalls are majestic, it is just a wonderful experience.

If you want to do a different hike out of Tuolomne Meados that doesn't involve much fording, although still wet and muddy trails, I'd recommend the hike through Lyell Canyon. Easy flat hike, great scenery, but no waterfalls. These two are really the only ones I'd recommend out of Tuolomne right now. Everything else will have a fair amount of snow still on the ground.

For dry trails and less snow you need hike at lower elevation. Hetch-Hetchy to Rancheria Fall is a great option as are hikes out of Yosemite Valley.

Thanks, I really appreciate your inputs. Especailly as I moved here from WA and have only been to Yosemite Valley in previous trips. Based on your comments, I will go ahed with Glen Aulin

I was looking for previous year TRs from June to correlate, so this is perfect. How easy is it to find trail beyond Glen Aulin in the flooded section? I am debating whether to head to falls on Satuday afternoon or Sunday morning and being vary about the water level and stream crossings later in the afternoon.

Do you recommend yaktrax or microspikes for the snowy section? I am totally comfortable in snow but going there with a group of 8-10 friends and some of them do not have much experience in the backcoutnry. Also, how were the bugs/mosquitoes at this time of the year?

Thanks a lot.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2020 11:35PM by nwhkr.

Take a look at this:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,26056,26056#msg-26056

There may be other TR on this site. There's def. some pix of Dingley and Delaney in that one.

Have fun and good luck.

Shouldn't be any bugs yet. Just plenty of soup.

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chick-on
Shouldn't be any bugs yet. Just plenty of soup.

Not sure about Glen Aulin and bugs, but I day-hiked Shealor Lakes along CA-88 Saturday (pics still on camera). I was surprised to see bugs quite active at the trailhead, they weren't active (yet?) elsewhere. It was summer-like last weekend, I'm guessing the bugs' wake-up call will depend on whether we start seeing more normal temps or whether it stays warm.

I wouldn't bother with yaktrax or spikies. It will most likely be slushy snow and not that much of it. More of an annoyance than anything. Mostly you want to make sure you don't loose the trail. Keep your group hiking together so that nobody gets lost.

The TR chick-on linked to is a good one and has some photos. The one of the guys crossing Delaney is exactly how I remember it, knee deep but not wide and more importantly the water isn't moving very fast. Contrast that to the picture of Register Creek, now that one is moving fast, I would turn back at that point. But Register quite a few miles down the trail, I don't think you'll be heading that far on a weekend trip.

Make sure your friends know that there are going to be creek crossings and that they are going to get their feet wet. They should have shoes they can wear in the water, either water crossing shoes they brought or just crossing in their trail boots / shoes and being OK about walking the rest of the day in wet boots / shoes. Again, to be safe it is important to keep the group together.

Don't worry about timing the water levels. When you continue beyond Glen Aulin the creek crossings are all bridged until you get to Register, and you probably won't go that far. The trails themselves are flooded in a section below Glen Aulin, not too hard to navigate, but your feet will get wet.
There are bears at Glen Aulin so use bear canisters, they can be rented at the wilderness center where you pick up your permit.
Enjoy your trip and come back here after and tells us all about it.

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nwhkr
Do you recommend yaktrax or microspikes for the snowy section?

I don't think you'll need them. Any snow will be soft and not icy.

Katy/Chick-on/ttilley/eek - Thanks a lot for all the helpful information and I am all set for this adventure. I had checked on Chick-on's link and picasa pictures earlier and went through it in more detail now. I should be all set now and definitely everyone in my group will have bear canisters. The current plan is to do overnight at Glen Aulin campground including a trip to the three falls.

Thanks again and excited to find this website as I've been looking for something similar to what we have in WA - www.wta.org and www.nwhikers.net. Will post the details after I am back early next week.

Glen Aulin is a backpackers campground with established bear boxes. If you are only camping there you will not need the canisters. Check with the Rangers!

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"It is all very beautiful and magical here - a quality which cannot be described. You have to live it and breath it., let the sun bake it into you" - Ansel Adams

Thanks, yes I will check with the rangers and there was at least one TR that mentioned about bear lockers being inaccessible due to high water level. Will double check, thanks.

Wuz gonna mention that... but then I recalled about ... I think Tom's trip that way early last year...
and the bear boxes were covered in snow or the water too high or something or another... and
he ran into a bunch of people who hadn't brought bear cans... and the bears went crazy...
and those people owe me a video player, a Neo Air, and a pair of long johns...

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It was the year before last (very heavy snow year), Conness Creek was too high for a safe crossing.

June 2011 Glen Aulin Trip

A group arrived at dusk without sufficient bear canisters, lost a loaf of bread while setting up camp (not far enough from my camp), then "hung" their food with a plastic grocery bag 4 feet or so up, bear came by the next morning and ate from it.

Did the bear who got your Neo Air have cinnamon fur and a yellow ear tag? Sorry, didn't read the number on the tag.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2013 02:05PM by ttilley.

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Jayabrams
Glen Aulin is a backpackers campground with established bear boxes. If you are only camping there you will not need the canisters. Check with the Rangers!

It has bear boxes now? I haven't camped there in almost 20 years, all they had then was a tall pole thingy and a place to hang your stuff.

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hotrod4x5
I haven't camped there in almost 20 years, all they had then was a tall pole thingy and a place to hang your stuff.

You know........I thought the same thing about Illillouette Creek, at the junction coming from Mono Meadow. From 20 years ago I remember some sort of structure and/or cable thingy that wasn't there this past year. I wonder it that's the same thing you're talking about? No bear boxes at Illillouette though, thank goodness.

They have 2 bear boxes near the lower campsites and close to the restroom. We stayed at the upper campsites and trekked back n forth about 100'.

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hotrod4x5

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Jayabrams
Glen Aulin is a backpackers campground with established bear boxes. If you are only camping there you will not need the canisters. Check with the Rangers!

It has bear boxes now? I haven't camped there in almost 20 years, all they had then was a tall pole thingy and a place to hang your stuff.

Hi All,

Thanks a tonne for the detailed information about the trail and the conditions around Glen Aulin. Our group of 8 had a wonderful overnight trip at Glen Aulin after spending Friday night in the Hodgdon Meadows campground. Falls, river, and streams were beutiful and in full force with perfect weather during the day and nigh time temperature in 20s

The trail from the TH to Glen Aulin campground was in great shape with hardly any snow and very few muddy spots. The Delaney and Dingley stream crossings were easily passable, without getting wet, on the upstream side within 10-30 feet. We reached the campground on Saturday afternoon and stayed at the upper campgrounds with breathtaking views of the river n mountains on one side and lush green trees on the other.

Sunday morning we were off to California Falls at 8am and got there around 10:30am after some minor adventures. The bog after the campground was not that bad though we skirted to the left and some log jumping on flat ground helped us bypass the bog. At California Falls, I ran into JustKeepWalking and BasilBop who were very helpful and encouraging with their tips about the trail and the Waterwheel falls. On the way back, some of us walked through ankle deep water in the bog. Rest of the trip was uneventful and we were back at the TH by Sunday 5:20pm.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2020 11:31PM by nwhkr.

for coming back and saying wutt you did
(you have no idea how many don't) (best guess is they end up eating humble pie)
(humble pie is a good thing to eat though to be honest)

Anywho... pictures? Cmon... don't make the Perret do it

One other item... no need to be putting up cairns... if you lose the trail...
it will appear in no time... with minor searching... Rangers will just knock them
down...
Somebody put them up on way into Lower Cath... I knocked them all down...
mainly b/c they didn't even follow the trail... and they led a bunch of lemmings
the wrong way thru the mush.

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Edit - Pictures resized
Thanks for your help with this. Yeah I was trying to upload pics earlier as a pic is worth a thousand words. Good point about not making it a highway with cairns.











Next to the Glen Aulin - upper campsites


Pictures above - courtesy my fellow backpackers

Near the base of Waterwheel Falls




Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/2013 03:03PM by nwhkr.

Thanks. In my browser ... they are so huge that I miss some of the photo...
So I'm posting the links so peeps can click on them and see them in full.

http://photos1.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/6/c/4/highres_238141732.jpeg
http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/8/a/e/highres_238442222.jpeg
http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/8/7/c/highres_238442172.jpeg
http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/7/5/3/c/highres_238530012.jpeg
http://photos1.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/5/1/b/0/highres_238280912.jpeg

Really love the waterwheel one

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Thanks, yeah I noticed that but I was running for a meeting. Resized it now...

Lovely! Thank you! Beat us to it, but we'll probably post something soon. Busy busy.. It WAS a glorious weekend down there! So glad you all made it!

You nailed it. The conditions look perfect. It looks like the river put on quite a show!

Thanks for coming back to share!

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"It is all very beautiful and magical here - a quality which cannot be described. You have to live it and breath it., let the sun bake it into you" - Ansel Adams

Good stuff! Thanks for the report and photos.

Thanks for the trip report and photos!
Looks like you had a glorious time out there.

Thanks, the trip worked well because of tips from all of you including two groups that there - JustKeepWalking & Basilbop at California Falls and another photographer couple at the Glen Aulin campgrounds. Here's a cool video from one of my fellow backpacker Charles. It covers the journey from Glen Aulin TH to California Falls as he skipped Le Conte and Waterwheel falls.

Oh well, there goes my productivity for the day. I was doing such a good job, but after that video all I can think about is the trip next week.

Looked like beautiful hiking weather--what was the weather like at night?

Check the weather... it varies greatly... cold front last weekend... quite cold up der.
Dropped to the 20s at Lower Cath.

To keep you thinking....



Next morning...



Have fun

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I'm guessing that ice was too thin to skate on.

Nice! Those are gorgeous shots and perfectly sized. Thanks for sharing.

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chick-on
Dropped to the 20s at Lower Cath.
Have fun

Thanks. It was little chilly and we had the campfire going until 10ish. Down jackets and hats did the work and night time low was in upper 20s. We woke up to some frost on our tents.



Here's the link that I used for weather around Glen Aulin.
Weather around Glen Aulin

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Etrain

Looked like beautiful hiking weather--what was the weather like at night?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/2013 08:59AM by nwhkr.

We stayed further down in the canyon between California and Le Conte, and it didn't seem that cold... It was breezy, though, and that kept us free of any condensation on our bivy sacks overnight... Totally dry, no frost nor dew on any gear sitting out- which was all of our gear, basically. I put my puffy hat on, but that was more for wind protection.. Wonder if it really was warmer down there... I didn't bother to look!

Quote
Etrain
Oh well, there goes my productivity for the day. I was doing such a good job, but after that video all I can think about is the trip next week.

Looked like beautiful hiking weather--what was the weather like at night?

Watch the weather forecast, low temps still look OK but current forecast has a 8700' snow level on Monday.

Tuolumne Meadows Forecast

Cathedral Lakes Forecast