Middle Earth, Canyoneering Down Yosemite Falls

Sep 16

The massive plunge basin at the base of Upper Yosemite Falls.

I’ve enjoyed the view of Yosemite Falls from a variety of angles in my life but I have never thought about exploring the granite canyons they pulverize out of the earth. I am incredibly grateful to have been included in this canyoneering trip from the base of Upper Yosemite Falls right down to the observation bridge where everyone takes their postcard images from.

We had a great team of friends and were grinning ear to ear almost the entire journey. I am especially thankful for Matt for setting most of the rigging up, for Michel for doing the not so fun job of cleaning the rigging behind us, for Thomas for documenting the trip so well (a bunch of the photos in this album are his) and for my son Gavin for being willing to go on an adventure like this with his Dad. The captions to the photos tell more of the story so be sure to read through them. If you are interested in researching this trip here is a link to some pertinent information: http://ropewiki.com/Yosemite_Falls_(Middle_Earth).

An overall view of our route down Middle Earth, aka The Inner Gorge.

The journey begins on the Valley floor.

The route in quickly becomes steep.

The views of Yosemite Valley are unbelievable.

Getting glimpses of our goal.

Gavin above the Sunnyside Benches.

Thomas on the approach. Some sections of the use trail get a little exposed.

The largest swirlhole I have ever seen by a factor of 1000 lies near the base of Upper Yosemite Falls.

We arrive at the base of Upper Yosemite Falls. For about 4 weeks a year the falls dry up allowing safe passage through Middle Earth.

Resting at the base of Upper Yosemite Falls after the approach. The Lost Arrow Spire can be seen high above.

Base of Upper Yosemite Falls

Our team at the base of Upper Yosemite Falls preparing to start out descent.

The massive plunge basin where we begin our descent into the Inner Gorge.

Group shot at the very base of Upper Yosemite Falls. In Spring and Summer this area is pounded by the thunderous water from above.

Gearing up for our descent.

The upper reaches of Middle Earth carved out of Yosemite granite by the awesome power of Yosemite Falls. Zoom into this shot to see our team members for scale.

It is hard to imagine the chaos that reigns here in the spring and early summer.

Thomas captures a shot of father and son at the top of Garden rappel.

Thomas' shot of Gavin making the third rappel into the gorge.

Rappeling into frigid water.

Dwarfed by the massive granite walls.

Rappeling into frigid water.

Pools of water surrounded by the granite cliffs were constant obstacles we had to swim through to continue our descent.

Thomas' shot of Greg enjoying Yosemite's best swilling hole.

A great shot by Thomas that captures the variety of ways we navigated Middle Earth.

Thomas Stargaard's shot of me lining bags across a pool proving that I don't only take photos! ;)

Thanks for capturing this shot of me Seth!

Thomas captures me taking the plunge.

An AMAZING shot of Greg taking the plunge by Thomas Stargaard.

Gavin traverses the water polished granite at the top Lower Yosemite Falls to rappel down to Matt so they can establish the second rappel station halfway down the 350 foot cliff.