Poopenaut Gorge of the Tuolumne

By Darin McQuoid

Photos

After finishing the epic Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, the highly motivated Ben Stookesberry arose at six am the next day to check flows for Poopenaut section of the Tuolumne. We had gathered minimal beta about the run, that it had been done perhaps once, was also of questionable legality because of it’s location on the Yosemite Park Border. Before putting on to the Grand Canyon Ben had checked flows and found it way too high. At six thirty he woke Chris and I up with words of “perfect flows” and “sneak of a lifetime”. Although we were already exhausted, these words had us up and within a few minutes hiking to below the dam and on the water, for fifteen miles of exploration. On the water we found the river to be a mix of good rapids and many portages around sieved out rockpiles. Since we still had gear in our boats and the run was fifteen miles long, we kept our boats loaded up in case we had to camp out. Thankfully we were deep in expedition mode and blazed through the run, but it was still a long day with a handful of good rapids and a few too many portages…

Darin