In 2015 Yosemite National Park enacted the remarkably proactive policy of allowing kayakers on the upper Merced River, specifically the stretch of river in the hanging valleys above Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls. From Merced Lake there is a 7 mile stretch of mostly runnable Class IV-V whitewater. A couple weeks earlier I was invited to join a group of three packrafters on a 3 day trip to hike into the Merced from Tuolumne Meadows. Unfortunately for them the gauge they were using to judge flows was way out of calibration and so they were presented with a committing raging torrent and thus had to portage about 90% of the whitewater. In particular they had to completely portage Echo Gorge. Lucky for me Jeff was keen to have another try and flows had dropped into what he deemed ideal flow to take on the run and he had done it recently enough that he remembered every needed detail to minimize our scouting. I was dying for some excitement and this run promised to deliver so I had a marathon solo drive to Yosemite Valley. Thankfully Jeff was able to secure an overnight wilderness permit and a spot at the backcountry walk-in campsite in the valley. I showed up at 9p, was asleep by 9:30p, and we were up and at it at 6a. We hiked with overnight and boat gear up the Mist Trail, passing countless tourists despite our somewhat weighty packs. There would be one piece of gear I wished I brought: water shoes with grippy rubber instead of only my gripless running shoes. I had all my gear stowed in my pack but Jeff's one piece paddle in his hand was the subject of many quizzical looks and comments from tourists. The sight of Vernal Falls, Nevada Falls and the granite dome of Liberty Cap were as awespiring as I remembered. Once we continued hiking past the top of Nevada Falls it was all new scenery for me. We soon arrived at our campground in Little Yosemite Valley where we happily deposited all our food and overnight gear- the campground fortunately was right at the take out of our run. We continued hiking across the hot, fire ravaged Little Yosemite Valley.
The upper Merced run consists of Class IV-V granite bedrock gorges interspersed with easier/briefier/mankier flat sections. The trail kept most of the run in sight allowing us to scout as we hiked (the advantage of hiking up versus Jeff's previous hike down traversing trip). The water level did seem about right but I was surprised at the amount of impassible boulder sections- we would still be portaging a lot. From the bottom we hiked the long open flats of Little Yosemite Valley, bypassed a short gorge into Lost Valley, bypassed the formidable Bunnell gorge, crossed another little valley portion, took the long bypass around Echo gorge, traversed Echo Valley, then finally hiked alongside the final gorge to the outlet of Merced Lake. It felt like a long way but at least our packs were light and the trail was great. It was after 2p by the time we reached the lake; fortunately we'd have light until about 8p.
Looking into Echo Gorge towards Merced Lake
A quick snack of a bar and some gulps of water and we started paddling. The water and air temperature were such that I was quite comfortable in some thin neoprene bottoms and a rashguard top. We put in immediately above the first slide which had a nice chute shape making it near impossible to screw up- a fun introduction! I would have happily lapped it multiple times if it weren't for everything we had below to contend with. Next up was about 1000 ft of mazy boulder rapids before things cleaned up at a bedrock gorge.
Here we had a nice series of slide drops. Some were read-and-run but most we chose to scout and have a safety, just in case. We both managed to cleanly run about 10 drops in this section (no portages) until the very last 300 ft long slide, which had too many variables and so we portaged. We made good time through this section and being able to run so many of the drops was a nice confidence boost.
Another 1000 ft of boulder rapids (including some too shallow bottoming out sections) led to a solid mile of mostly flatwater through the scenic Echo Valley. The trail bridge over the river signaled the start of the formidable Echo Gorge. Jeff and Co bypassed this entire section last time. We would commit to ticking off as much as we could and suffer any heinous portages we would need to endure. Portages and lots of scouting seemed guaranteed.
We had to portage an impassible boulder garden just below the bridge. Here I got the first of several appreciations into just how lousy my shoes were on slippery slabs. I was getting worried. We spent a good long time scouting the first picturesque double drop before we both ran it. Another 1000 ft of mostly runnable boulder rapids brought us to another bedrock section.
The first rapid in the sequence had a narrow pinch at the top, a weird mid-drop roostertail we couldn't make sense of, and a unpleasant hydraulic at its base- too many variables and so we portaged. The next drop looked to be clean other than a strong pothole eddy that we thought might be difficult to break free of. It turned out to be fine for both of us and was one of the cleaner drops on the run. Two more clean slides, one long pool, then yet another 1000 ft of boulders, this time about half of it needed to be portaged.
We had now turned the corner and were staring down the final stretch to the end of the gorge. Four more drops to contend with. Jeff didn't like the look of the hydraulic at the bottom of the first drop. It did not look great but the portage traversing high on wet slab with frictionless shoes turned out to be even more terrifying for me and I had wished I had run it instead. This portage took quite some time and began to kill my enthusiasm for this run. We were having to portage too much for this to be a classic run. The second drop had a funny rock halfway down but ended up being quite a clean rapid- no issues. The third drop looked like nothing special and came shortly on the heels of the final drop (so we skipped it for a less stressful setup), the biggest single drop we would do, a solid 20 ft. Jeff went over sideways but otherwise managed to stick the landing. I zapped myself with adrenaline climbing the borderline slab back up to my boat. I was mentally exhausted by the time I pushed off and knew something bad would happen. Almost immediately the current pulled me off my line and as I tried to compensate I began to spin around backwards. I got in enough strokes to face downstream just in time as I was launched off the steepest leftmost edge of the drop (not where I wanted to be). Impact with the water was rough and it flipped me and pushed me under for two cycles before I was able to clear it. I beached myself on a rock. I had lost my paddle and the boat was stuck in a corner. After about 30 seconds my paddle appeared and I was able to retrieve it. After 5 minutes my boat was still bobbing in its corner. Jeff managed to carefully downclimb into the corner and free the boat. I had one more long slippery slab portage to contend with and we were clear of the gorge. I was a little shaken up and getting to be pretty over this run. About 1200 ft of rocks followed, then two more slides. The first slide sped you right into a terminal rock and so we passed on that one. The second was long but straightforward. We bumper boated down some more rocks and then peeled out onto the trail to bypass the worst of it.
Jeff had one long look at the menacing triple drops of Fear. It looked fun but potentially easy to screw up and hard to protect. Being late in the day was probably also a factor. We portaged this section but both decided to run Bunnell Cascade, a steep 200 ft long slide that starts in a ledgy waterfall and has another halfway down. We push into the slide just below the top drop. Jeff had a clean run and made it look easy. He gave me advice of angling into the flow at the top which I followed. This did not have the affect he suggested and as I picked up speed the flow spun me around backwards as I headed for the ledge drop. Some serious adrenaline kicked in and I managed to get in a couple adjusting strokes to spin around to face forward at the last split second before dropping over the ledge, careening down the rest of the slide, and skimming across the pool at the bottom. That was a little scary! Fun in hindsight but I didn't feel like I needed to lap it to try and screw it up worse!
Almost a mile of shallow boulders, minor drops, and flatwater brought us to the final slide, the one I had been looking forward to. Man this slide looked fun! A wide smooth 300ft long slab of granite that leads you in and then rolls over to a steep finale the last 100 ft. We took time to scout, Jeff pointed out his line just right of the prominent roostertail and had first go. With a tad of adrenaline I lined up, blasted right through the roostertail, and picked up considerable speed; in the last 50 ft I managed to somehow go sideways and recklessly ricocheted across the pool, dramatically flipping. I had fun up until the end and wanted to redeem myself so I lapped the slide again. The second was flawless. And so was the third. This was easily the best slide I've ever done- the sheer speed and steepness of it were unmatched. For all the effort and portaging we had to face on the run above I felt like I could have (and perhaps should have) spent all day just lapping this final slide. The run was OK. This slide was truly world class.
We undoubtedly would have taken several more laps on this slide except it was already 8p and we were losing light fast with 2.5 miles of loggy flatwater to go to reach camp. Logs required a few in-river portages. Several shallow logs made navigating in the low light difficult. I probably made it about a mile before deciding to pull out my headlamp. Paddling in the evening was still remarkably comfortable- I don't recall a single thought concerning temperature crossing my mind. All was still and peaceful. The worst log jam was just before the campground and so we detoured over to the trail and walked the final bit to camp. I was tired, sore, and moving pretty slow but eventually managed to sort gear, eat dinner, and settle into my sleeping bag.
Nevada Falls
We woke up about 7a and were soon hiking back down the Mist Trail. Not much to note except now we where hiking against the flow of tourists presenting an extra nuisance. We made it back to the cars in good time. Jeff still had a couple days to kill before his next excursion but I was feeling the pull of work and so said my goodbye and drove on to home. Thanks to Jeff for yet another memorable trip. Thanks to Yosemite for making such stunning whitewater open for low impact boating; hopefully other parks like Yellowstone eventually follow suit.
