John Muir, in describing the upper Tuolumne region, writes:
It is the heart of the High Sierra, 8,500 to 9,000 feet above the
level of the sea. The gray picturesque Cathedral Range bounds it on
the south; a similar range or spur, the highest peak of which is Mount
Conness, on the north; the noble Mounts Dana, Gibbs, Mammoth, Lyell,
Maclure, and others on the axis of the range on the east; a heavy
billowy crowd of glacier-polished rocks and Mount Hoffmann on the
west. Down through the open sunny meadow levels of the Valley flows
the Tuolumne River, fresh and cool from its many glacial fountains,
the highest of which are the glaciers that lie on the north side of
Mount Lyell and Mount Maclure.
A store, gas station, garage, post office, camp ground, High Sierra
Camp, and Tuolumne Meadows Lodge make the Meadows an ideal high-mountain
camping place and starting point for fishing, hiking, and
mountain-climbing trips. Tuolumne Meadows is 67 miles or about a 4-hour
drive over the Big Oak Flat and Tioga Roads from Yosemite Valley. Saddle
horses are available, and many fine trips may be made to Waterwheel
Falls, Mount Lyell, Mount Conness, Glen Aulin, Muir Gorge, and hundreds
of good fishing lakes and streams. Stage service to Tuolumne Meadows,
Tioga Pass, Mono Lake, and Lake Tahoe is maintained daily throughout the
summer months.
[Illustration: Lambert Dome and Mount Dana are conspicuous landmarks
of Tuolumne Meadows.]
Fishing is usually very good in nearby lakes and streams. The Waterwheel
Falls, Muir Gorge, the Soda Springs, the spectacular canyon scenery,
jewel-like Tenaya Lake, and the Mount Lyell Glacier are a few of the
interesting places to visit near Tuolumne Meadows.
John Muir writes this interesting description of the Grand Canyon of the
Tuolumne and Waterwheel Falls:
It is the cascades or sloping falls on the main river that are the
crowning glory of the canyon, and these, in volume, extent, and
variety, surpass those of any other canyon in the Sierra. The most
showy and interesting of them are mostly in the upper part of the
canyon above the point of entrance of Cathedral Creek and Hoffmann
Creek. For miles the river is one wild, exulting, onrushing mass of
snowy purple bloom, spreading over glacial waves of granite without
any definite channel, gliding in magnificent silver plumes, dashing
and foaming through huge boulder dams, leaping high in the air in
wheel-like whirls, displaying glorious enthusiasm, tossing from side
to side, doubling, glinting, singing in exuberance of mountain energy.
Muir’s “wheel-like whirls” undoubtedly mean the celebrated Waterwheel
Falls. Rushing down the canyon’s slanting granites under great headway,
the river encounters shelves of rock projecting from its bottom. From
these, enormous arcs of solid water are thrown high in the air. Some of
the waterwheels rise 20 feet and span 50 feet in the arc. Unfortunately,
the amount of water in the river drops with the advance of summer and
the waterwheels lose much of their forcefulness. Visitors should see
this spectacle during the period of high water from June 15 to August 1
in normal years.
The Waterwheel Falls may be reached by a good trail 5.5 miles from the
Tioga Road down the Tuolumne River Gorge to the Glen Aulin High Sierra
Camp, where meals and overnight accommodations are available, then 2.8
miles down the river to Waterwheel Falls. Saddle animals may be rented
at Tuolumne Meadows for this trip.
Below the waterwheels the Tuolumne Canyon descends abruptly, the river
plunging madly through the mile-deep gorge. Trails built a few years ago
down the canyon from the Waterwheel Falls to Pate Valley penetrate the
very heart of the gorge. The Muir Gorge, a vertical-walled cleft in the
canyon a half mile deep, is, as a result, but 2 hours below Waterwheel
Falls and the same above Pate Valley by the new trails. The entire
canyon may be traversed with ease either on horseback or on foot.