MF Tuolumne

BETA

Stream: This is another one of those high sierra experience runs, without the need to run class V rapids.  I really enjoyed it and hope to go back.  We took a bunch of photos, but someone broke into the vehicle we were driving not long after the trip (in Bakersfield) and stole the camera that still had the SD card in it, so Iv'e only got a couple cell phone shots that don't show the character of the run well.

The run is broken up in about half by the highway that leads to Hetch Hetchy.  Above the highway the run is mostly boulder gardens, while below the highway there is more bedrock.  If I wanted to do a quick run and only do a couple miles, I'd do the section below the road.

From the parking area near the put in, Priscilla sniffed her way down the hillside and found the path of least resistance.  Anywhere else would be a bit of a pain, but it was not bad at all with the route she found.

At the put in was a series of three slides, class IV in nature.  It was hot so we jumped into the water to cool off before getting started.

Around the corner more rapids continued, quickly turning into class IV boulder rapids that might be more IV+ with additional flow.  We were able to find our way through with a number of scouts.  We would jump into the water to cool off whenever we got a good chance during a scout (it was over 100 degrees). 

 One rapid did stand out, with a scout on the right.  We both portaged most of the rapid, but class V boaters probably wouldn't think twice about running it.

As I recall, things eased below here, but stayed worthwhile and engaging.  We knew we were close to the Hetch Hetchy road when we started seeing people, and had a quick portage for wood near here.

Below the bridge the run turned to bedrock, and the signature drop of the run is just downstream, this can be scouted beforehand from the day use area.  There were lots of roosters, but we both found a clean line through.  

More notable whitewater continued with a couple scouts, then there was a short class II section with lots of swimmers near a campground.  There was another wood portage below here, then things went back to bedrock and there were a series of fun ledges.

These culminate with the biggest rapid on the run that we portaged on the left.  The rapid created an obvious horizon line with gorge walls.  The eddy situation might be iffy here at high flows, but I can't be sure.  At low flows the eddy was easy to catch, but not obvious from above the lead in section of class two.

Below here more good whitewater continued, we scouted plenty and everything was runnable as I recall.

The takeout would be easy to miss, the river becomes non-descript and is lined by brush.  To make sure we didn't go too far, I marked the take out with a pair of brightly colored boxers on a tree spanning the river.

The next day we did some hiking around Hetch Hetchy. 

 The MF Tuolumne was probably the best river we ran this year, despite how uninspiring the photos make it look.

  
Flows:  We had about 150 cfs.  We ran it at that flow because that was when we were there, and we didn't want to wait until next year to try it out.  This was the minimum floatable level, and while it might be considered "in" if it was a rainfed run in the SE (or by my standards), I'd surmise that most California boaters would consider this below the minimum enjoyable level.  I do not know what the ideal levels would be, my intuition says the friendliest class IV(V) flows are going to be in the 200-300 cfs range, and class V boaters would want more than that.  But I just don't know for sure.

Flows from our run:  July 15, 2023

Access:  Access is pretty convenient for the Sierra's, with a 4 mile shuttle for a 4 mile run.  The take out and put in are both on dusty fire roads, so clearance is a good thing to have.  We didn't run into any obstacles, but a saw wouldn't be a bad thing to have along.  There were gates on both the put in and take out roads, signs on the road say they are open April 15 - Dec 15.

Neither the put in or take out roads were on google maps in 2023 (though you can see them in satellite imagery), so I'd either print out this map, or make your own.

Click on the map to increase resolution.

To get to the area, take Highway 120 about half an hour east of Groveland, and turn left onto Evergreen road towards Hetch Hetchy.  In about 4.3 miles you'll cross the MF Tuolumne at about the halfway point in the run (37.85645975113769, -119.86514931690131).  Just shy of 2 miles later, turn left onto a fire road and pass through a gate to head towards the take out (Take Out:  37.870189698667936, -119.88948087519134).

If you don't stray off the main track (having a map or satellite imagery downloaded helps a lot), the road will dead end in an open area, and a short path leads to the take out.  It is worth marking the take out so you don't miss it.

To get to the put in, return to Evergreen rd and turn left.  In half a mile, turn right onto Forest Rte 1S32.  In 0.9 miles veer right, then in another 0.7 miles turn right again.  Follow this small track about 1/4 mi or so and park on the right.  Priscilla was able to intuit a path down to the river from here (37.86846439832222, -119.83631995549985) that was low hassle.  If you put in higher, it does look like there is more bedrock.

 

Arroyo Seco

 

                                             BETA

                                   Class IV.  2.5 mile hike, 3 miles of paddling. 

Stream: The hike in is about 2.5 miles long, and mostly on a gated road with a gentle grade.  Views of the creek allow you to get a feel for water levels, but the crux of the run is not easily visible.

There is a spot along the hike where a game trail leads down from a pull out to a view of Big Cajones.  This is not a necessary side excursion.  36.225020303697065, -121.49795711544319

At high flows, paddlers sometimes but in at the bridge over Santa Monica Creek to avoid "The Recirculator" just upstream.

At the end of the good part of the road, this sign marks where to head down the trail to the put in.  The vehicles in the photo were Forest Service employees with a key to the gate.

The put in, when we were there the footbridge had collapsed.

Things start off easy, with one or two small rapids but mostly class II.

The first notable rapid is "The Recirculator".  It looks like a nice boof, but can develop a nasty hole at high flows, and non-precise lines can end with contact with the left wall.  When we were there, the tannins in the water were creating lots of foam.  The deep recycle from this ledge kept the foam from moving downstream, and the depth was such that even if we had landed the ledge upright we wouldn't be able to breath while paddling through the foam.  Then we thought about how hard it would be to rescue someone if they swam, so Priscilla and I both portaged.

Just downstream Santa Maria Creek enters on the right in a small boulder garden, then come the flume rapids.  At our flow we were able to easily scout them on the left, this may be tricky at high flows.

The line through was center left through the main flow for all three.  The third it is worth noting had two channels, we went center-left in the right channel.  This photo shows the first a second flume.

Shortly downstream is Little Cajones.  A fast ramp with a rock on the bottom left leads quickly into a shoulder boof to avoid some rocks on the right.

Next up is Mucho Cajones, the tallest drop of the run.  There is a hole along the landing on the right, that is next to a slightly undercut right wall, so be sure to boof out and away to the left, which is fairly straight forward to line up.  The higher the water level, the further left you can be and the easier the line.  

Just below the water exits through a narrow cleft in the rock, which has reportedly been swum through, but it is nice to be in your boat for.  There is a pocket on the left at the top of the cleft that would be dangerous at higher water, and is worth noting that gear has been pushed into it in the past and made for a tricky retrieval.  At our flow it was trivial.

Below Mucho Cajones the bedrock is left behind and there is a good bit of rock dodging class II and III, with at least one small surprise ledge.

After this waterfall can be seen entering on the left, be ready for a blind boulder jumble. 

 It would be possible to shore scout the boulder jumble, but the line is hard to see.  If you look in the following photo you will note the large rock at the bottom of the rapid, this is a good marker.  Priscilla is running the only good line I am aware of in the rapid.

Below here it's all breezy down to the take out at the bridge and day use area.

  
Flows:  The level we had felt ideal for a first-time run.  It was the first large rain of the fall, so the water was rather murky and the tannins created lots of foam, which created hazards in some areas.  We were particularly worried that the slot below Mucho Cajones would fill in with foamand be unpassable but fortunately, it was not.  I have read 100-500 cfs is the range people shoot for.  I have seen photos of people running the creek at levels lower than what we had, as well as higher.

Arroyo Seco NR Greenfield CA - 11151870

Access:  There is a $10 day use fee to paddle this run, or do what we did and pay about $40 to camp there.  If you camp at the Arroyo Seco Campground, it is possible to hike to the put in.  Then, at the end of the trip, walk from the takeout back to your camp.

Access points as related to the following map

Take Out:  Arroyo Seco Recreation Site (36.23572656637525, -121.47815919446326)

Trailhead: Gorge Parking (36.23376860146424, -121.48745736046857)

Put In:  Marble Peak Trail footbridge (36.218931277872464, -121.50201161871438)

The Campground is adjacent to "The Lakes"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Story/Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Arroyo Seco had not had water for many months, we just happened to be driving through when the first storm of the season hit, and took advantage.

Briggs Creek: Middle

 BETA

2.7 mi hike and paddle, no shuttle.  Class III-IV(IV+)

Stream: A short, quality hike-in run not too far from the Rogue Valley.  After hiking in, boaters decide whether to tackle the put in rapid or not.  The top of the rapid is fun, a set of narrowing ledges.

The second part of the rapid is a hallway with an undercut boulder blocking most of the water, the line appears to be to the right of the boulder, but I walked this part when I paddled the creek.

Downstream the creek enters a boogie section with a few fun ledges that pop up amidst the boulder gardens.

When the creek steepens slightly the next notable rapid appears at an island and should be scouted.  The left line is a fast flume that pillows off the left wall, and a right channel that is runnable at higher flows.  This pushes quickly into a small ledge best run left.

Downstream the whitewater continues with read and run, and another ledge or two down to the confluence with Red Dog Creek.

Below Red Dog Creek it's class II-II+ down to the take out.

  

Flows:  Like a lot of the small creeks in the area, flows can be hard to nail down.  Here are the 3 data points I have, using the two most common proxy USGS gauges in the area.

-Yellow bars are dates that were just barely floatable, too low for a repeat trip.  

-Blue bar was from the friendly medium flow day.

Chetco @ Brookings USGS gauge

Illinois @ Kerby USGS gauge

There are some more flow musings on the Lower Briggs report.

Access:   

Put In:  42.40131014049408, -123.73591864665532

Take Out:  42.37701161080251, -123.76343377340532

It's good to mark the take out when dropping the vehicle.  Then, cross Soldier Creek and start following the old road uphill and upstream, a map is nice for the first quarter mile.

Once moving upstream the hike along the road is easy-going (you could drive it with an ATV if you can cross Soldier Creek), eventually reaching a slightly open area and the road starts to drop to the creek.  Don't follow the road, instead head off to the right and find the trail. 

 Follow that trail upstream another mile or so and you will pass the obvious put in rapid.

If you walk another 100-200 yards, a trail will head sharply uphill to the right, stay left and put in when the trail reaches the creek in less than a minute.

Watch out for poison oak, it can be avoided but is often present.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Story/Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had run lower Lower Briggs Creek years ago, and while that last section before reaching the Illinois River is the obvious whitewater run, my eye had drifted upstream on Briggs Creek as well.  Up there the gradient was lower, and the access less obvious.  I had written it off as likely class III with wood.

Fast forward a number of years and I'm more interested in class III-IV than I once was, and while visiting Priscilla's parents in Grants Pass decided to have a look.  The first time we checked it out, we thought flows would be too low so just went for a hike.  Turns out the flows looked ideal, and we should have given it a go.

Yann on the scouting trip, shortly before his dog found a discarded diaper full of diarrhea, which the dog found delicious.

The next time we were in the area, we weren't going to miss another opportunity, so when the Illinois gauge (the default gauge for an area without many gauges) showed higher flows than our scouting trip we set out with an ambitious plan.  The shuttle was very roundabout and would have been 2 hours one way, so instead of spending many hours in a car that day, we drove to the put in, with the plan to hike back up the trail from the take out.  I did as much searching the internet as I could to ascertain the condition of the trail, but it seemed people hadn't reported hiking it straight through in many years, so I was worried about the middle section being overrun as many trails in the area are not maintained.

We put on to lower water than we had hoped from, and drifted downstream. 

 The first bit was pretty and intimate, but lacking much whitewater.  There was a log portage or two, but nothing problematic or annoying.  In fact, the first few miles were rather unremarkable whitewater-wise, so we just enjoyed the setting; an unmolested forest with clear water and pitcher plants.

Eventually, we reached the middle section of the run, which turned out to be the good part.  This is the section described on this page in the "Stream" section, and the part I would return to with the better logistical situation and better whitewater.

We worked our way through this section, which I thought was high quality intermediate whitewater with a couple more notable rapids that Priscilla walked and I paddled through.  We wished that flows had been at the level of our scouting trip, but it is often the case that our exploratory trips are done at low water and I'm ok with that.

We reached Red Dog Creek and while we could have started our hike back upstream here for a shorter hike, I wanted to paddle down to the more logical take out "for the sake of completeness" as Pete G would say.

After the last mile of boulder bars we set up our packs and began the 5-6 mile hike back up to our vehicle at the put in.  The first couple miles were easy, and we had done it before on our scouting trip (this is the hike recommended for the run, starting at the take out, and hiking up to the intersection with the Phone Trail).  Once we passed the put in for the middle section, I ferried across the creek to see if the trail still existed on river-right as shown on the maps.  It did not.  So we took the backup option which was to climb steeply uphill on the Phone Trail, we crossed our fingers it connected like it showed on the map and grunted out the 800' vertical gain over 1/4' mile and were glad to see it meet up with a marked road. 

High above the creek.

 It was here that I worried the trail would not continue, but I felt relief to realize that it did, so back down we went as the trail headed upstream, and we completed the bypass of the discontinued section of trail, reaching Briggs Creek near the Courier Mine and Onion Creek confluence.  Here we descended a little further than we should have, and Priscilla did not walk to retrace or route, so we hiked up the banks of the creek for 45 minutes or so until the map showed that the trail was not too high above us and we headed up the hill and regained the trail. 

Orange dots show our detour route.

 It was in a burned area, so we would lose it at times but eventually, we were out of the recent burn and the trail became easier to follow.

The trail became a two-track mining "road" for ATV's at some point, and crossed the creek a couple more times.  We made it back to the put in with light to spare, tired and beat, but satisfied.  

We headed out along Taylor Creek, instead of the Onion Valley route we had come in on, and checked the Taylor Creek gauge as a reference for next time.

Too low for Taylor, too low for a repeat of Middle Briggs.

We had a cool adventure, but I'd recommend any boaters with interested in these parts of Briggs to stick to the middle or lower sections and avoid the upper half of what we did.