Tuolumne Cascades
Our top priority of the day was to photograph the cascades on the Tuolumne River. I saw an image of the cascades many years ago and searched Google Earth until I found its location. Last time we were here in the spring, we found the cascades while exploring around Pothole Dome. It quickly became one of our favorite locations.
Because of the heat, we waited to drive up to Tuolumne Meadows until the late afternoon to shoot the cascades during the Golden Hour. It was only a 1.5 mile hike into the main cascades, and most of the hike was pretty level. When we reached the first cascade, it was obvious why we liked this area so much.
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There are three sets of cascades as the Tuolumne River escapes Tuolumne Meadow and starts its drop into the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne on its way to the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.
At the top of the cascades, the river is funneled through a narrow gap in a granite ridge and drops into a flat, granite basin before making a sharp turn--twisting and turning through a second series of cascades. The third set of cascades goes over three drops in the river, and then over another wide expanse of granite. Since most of the area is a series of huge granite slabs, we could photograph from the edge of the river with no obstructions.
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We promised to stop shooting several times because the sun was setting, but we kept finding new angles and compositions to shoot. And then we made several more quick stops as we hiked back to the top of the cascades. We finally had to force ourselves to leave because we didn't want to get caught hiking in the dark. The trail was wide and easy, but we didn't want to be stupid.
As we crossed in front of the dome, we immediately drew the attention of the herd of deer feeding next to the river. Their heads came up, and their ears perked up as soon as we rounded the corner.
Today was a great day at the cascades.
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