Yosemite Falls (Upper)

THIS IS A BIG WALL MULTI-PITCH EXIT RAPPEL. THIS IS NOT A CANYONEERING ROUTE. The Yosemite Falls canyoneering route is named Middle Earth. Some mountains have "climb me" written all over them. Some waterfalls have "descend me" written all over them, and Upper Yosemite Falls is one of them. The question is just how to descend a 1500 foot waterfall on an otherwise blank looking face? The horizontal extent is about 200 feet from the observation deck at the top to the pool at the bottom. And the waterfall is seasonally so powerful that even standing near the bottom is like being in a hurricane! Descending Upper Yosemite Falls safely takes serious logistical planning, proper skill set for building anchors on big walls, being able to handle long rappels, and the falls in mostly dry conditions.

This is the easy part! :) Find Yosemite Falls Trails at the back of the Camp 4 parking lot, and hike 3.6 miles up the 2700 feet gain to the observation deck with your massive amounts of rope and gear. And if you are just hiking up for the view with no gear, that's cool too. Because the view along the trail in spots, and from the various viewpoints of top is world class, especially when the water flow is way up!

After touchdown on 450 foot R4 (the last rappel), pendulum over West on the slab using extra rope (thus 500 recommended) to avoid going into the big pool. Once the first person is down, the rope end can be anchored off to the side to make it easier each person down to pull off plumb and avoid the pool. With the water flow up, the whole area will be wet with spray, and so going into the pool may be the only realistic option. Of course in such wet conditions, the whole party will be using full body wetsuits and or drysuits, so it likely will not matter to go swimming at the end. Getting out of the pool on the pour-over side looks easy enough but has not been verified. With significant water flow, this may require some ground base rope work and a throw line to assist with safe pool exit. Once away from the slick slabs, cross the boulder field to the West back to the main Yosemite Falls trail. Note that the boulder field can be quite slick with water spray when the water flow is up. In very low flow, the slabs and boulder field are totally dry and trivial to cross. Also, under very low flow it's easy enough to traverse under the waterfall to the East, hike down to the last Rappel of Middle Earth (may need a rappel to get to the last rappel) and do the 400+ foot Lower Yosemite Falls rappel in one shot. And for those with time to burn and already dressed to kill (wetsuit / drysuit), do Middle Earth as a bonus canyon exit! :)