![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flyminion
For the fifth and sixth days of our trip, Cade and I ended up revisiting two of our favorite swimming holes in the Stanislaus National Forest: God’s Bath and Blue Streak. However, that was not our original plan. Yesterday, we met up with Swimming Holes of California author Timothy Joyce to explore some swimming holes on upper Cherry Creek, and today we had planned a creek walk on the Clavey River to check out a potential swimming hole upstream of God’s Bath. If we had extra time on either day, we also wanted to check out some waterfalls on the South Fork Tuolumne River downstream of the Rainbow Pools, but none of these excursions panned out as expected.Yesterday, Cade and I got up at 5:30am so we could meet Tim at the Cherry Lake dam at 7:30. It was supposed to be a group hike, but we were the only ones besides Tim who showed up. The plan had originally been to hike to Miracle Mile, which is a world-famous kayaking run where Cherry Creek drops through a sheer granite canyon through a series of cascades and rock tubs. However, the guide who was supposed to lead this hike was unavailable, so Tim elected to take us to some of the lower potholes just upstream of the mouth of the lake. We hiked for about 7 miles total on the trails and roads above the east side of the lake, but the directions from Tim’s contact didn’t match up with what we were seeing, and we were unable to find the side trail down to the creek.
We drove back down to the dam and swam there instead.
The water was clear and blue, and it was 74 °F. We could see the granite domes that formed the mouth of Cherry Creek at the upstream end of the lake. So close, yet so far away.
Tim headed home after this. It was only about 1pm, so we decided to go ahead and do the Clavey River walk since the access point was only 30 minutes from Cherry Lake. I wanted to go about a mile upstream of God’s Bath to an apparent swimming hole at the confluence with Hull Creek. Tim had said he’d been there and found it mediocre, but I still wanted to satisfy my curiosity. We parked at the bridge over the river and hiked the half-mile upstream to God’s Bath. We were hot at this point, so we swam there first.
We then tried surmounting the cascades above the bathtub, but the rocks were smooth and a little too high for me to get up confidently without a rope, so we took a long, poison-oaky detour around the swimming hole on the river-left cliffs. The terrain just upstream of the bath continued as cascades into pools that were too cliffed-in to bypass on shore and required full-body swims to get through.
I had my backpack, which was a major hindrance to keep dry. I ditched it and made it to the top pool before the bend, which was over my head in spots and strewn with boulders, so it was hard to swim in without kicking rocks. The river-hike to God’s Bath was so easy that I was able to do it without getting my feet wet, but that certainly didn’t seem to be the case going forward. It was still over a mile to Hull Creek, and I was leery of continuing due to the effort required to get just 500 feet upstream of the bath, plus the rocks were smooth and slippery. I was considering calling it quits and letting God’s Bath be our consolation prize for the day (it’s certainly not a mediocre one). Cade then got stung by a bee, and although he’s never been allergic, we decided it was best to turn back. I saw a possible steep climb around this pool on the river-right, but that would have to wait for another day. I probably wouldn’t try this again unless we had more people, and I had my pack that can get wet.
We sunned and swam at God’s Bath for a while, and I jumped into the hole next to the main tub, which requires swimming under a rock bridge to get out of (photo from 2017):
After we were finished there, we headed back to Buck Meadows. On the way, we stopped at the Cherry Lake Road bridge over Cherry Creek for some quick scouting. This section of the creek is downstream of the lake and looked very similar to the Tuolumne River along the Preston Falls Trail, with clear-but-dark water and green algae on the rocks.
When we went to the Lucky Buck Cafe for dinner, I was debating on whether to get the ribeye. I felt like I might have done it before, but it was covered with salt and peppery seasonings. I asked them to leave it off this time, and it was pretty good (and still sufficiently salty).
___
This morning we checked out of the Yosemite Westgate Lodge without a firm plan. We needed a swimming hole to bridge the gap between Buck Meadows and Folsom. I thought about checking out some swimming holes on lower Cherry Creek I had seen on Google Earth, but they were an hour round trip out of our way, and I wasn’t sure if they’d be worth it. Tim said yesterday that they were reasonable, but he didn’t think they were anything to write home about.
I was also curious to check out a series of waterfalls on the South Fork Tuolumne River a short distance downstream of Rainbow Pools, which was only five minutes from our hotel. I proposed that we check that out, and if it didn’t look worth it, we would go to our favorite California swimming hole: Blue Streak. We had to pay a $10 day use fee just to drive into the Rainbow Pools area. I took the water temperature just above the pools, and it was 71 °F. When we reached the gravel road that led down to the lower falls, a sign on the gate said it was part of a mining claim and was closed to all use. I didn’t feel like getting cited, so we blew it off and headed to Blue Streak.
This was our sixth time going to Blue Streak, which is on the North Fork Stanislaus River near Murphys. The water temperature there was 70.5 °F. I didn't take any new pictures today, but here are a couple of clips Cade took of me jumping:
We stayed until a little after 4pm, and then we decided to hike to Candy Rock, which is another swimming hole about three quarters of a mile upstream. A trail continues upstream from Blue Streak about halfway to Candy Rock, and the rest of the hike is through the river. I had forgotten how long this takes, as the last time we had visited both swimming holes in the same day was in 2018. We noticed one potential swimming hole along the way that we didn’t recall seeing before.
This was our first time back to Candy Rock since 2019.
The currents in the rock tubs seemed stronger today than on previous visits.
We’ve always felt that Blue Streak is awesome while Candy Rock is just okay, and today’s visit did nothing to change that. One thing I had forgotten was the hike from the riverbed to the (former) Candy Rock parking area. I thought I remembered it being a short, straight climb up crude stairs, but it was a series of tight switchbacks and wooden stairs that gained at least a couple hundred feet of elevation over about a quarter mile. The hike back along the road was fairly easy, though.
We headed out and continued to Folsom for the night, stopping at Mel’s Diner in Jackson for dinner. This is one of my favorite restaurants when I’m in the area. The menu has pretty much everything. I got a bacon cheeseburger and cottage fries (which are basically house-made potato chips), and a strawberry milkshake. I also discovered that they have a mint chocolate chip shake, so now I need an excuse to come back and try that.
We drove back down to the dam and swam there instead.
The water was clear and blue, and it was 74 °F. We could see the granite domes that formed the mouth of Cherry Creek at the upstream end of the lake. So close, yet so far away.
Tim headed home after this. It was only about 1pm, so we decided to go ahead and do the Clavey River walk since the access point was only 30 minutes from Cherry Lake. I wanted to go about a mile upstream of God’s Bath to an apparent swimming hole at the confluence with Hull Creek. Tim had said he’d been there and found it mediocre, but I still wanted to satisfy my curiosity. We parked at the bridge over the river and hiked the half-mile upstream to God’s Bath. We were hot at this point, so we swam there first.
We then tried surmounting the cascades above the bathtub, but the rocks were smooth and a little too high for me to get up confidently without a rope, so we took a long, poison-oaky detour around the swimming hole on the river-left cliffs. The terrain just upstream of the bath continued as cascades into pools that were too cliffed-in to bypass on shore and required full-body swims to get through.
I had my backpack, which was a major hindrance to keep dry. I ditched it and made it to the top pool before the bend, which was over my head in spots and strewn with boulders, so it was hard to swim in without kicking rocks. The river-hike to God’s Bath was so easy that I was able to do it without getting my feet wet, but that certainly didn’t seem to be the case going forward. It was still over a mile to Hull Creek, and I was leery of continuing due to the effort required to get just 500 feet upstream of the bath, plus the rocks were smooth and slippery. I was considering calling it quits and letting God’s Bath be our consolation prize for the day (it’s certainly not a mediocre one). Cade then got stung by a bee, and although he’s never been allergic, we decided it was best to turn back. I saw a possible steep climb around this pool on the river-right, but that would have to wait for another day. I probably wouldn’t try this again unless we had more people, and I had my pack that can get wet.
We sunned and swam at God’s Bath for a while, and I jumped into the hole next to the main tub, which requires swimming under a rock bridge to get out of (photo from 2017):
After we were finished there, we headed back to Buck Meadows. On the way, we stopped at the Cherry Lake Road bridge over Cherry Creek for some quick scouting. This section of the creek is downstream of the lake and looked very similar to the Tuolumne River along the Preston Falls Trail, with clear-but-dark water and green algae on the rocks.
When we went to the Lucky Buck Cafe for dinner, I was debating on whether to get the ribeye. I felt like I might have done it before, but it was covered with salt and peppery seasonings. I asked them to leave it off this time, and it was pretty good (and still sufficiently salty).
___
This morning we checked out of the Yosemite Westgate Lodge without a firm plan. We needed a swimming hole to bridge the gap between Buck Meadows and Folsom. I thought about checking out some swimming holes on lower Cherry Creek I had seen on Google Earth, but they were an hour round trip out of our way, and I wasn’t sure if they’d be worth it. Tim said yesterday that they were reasonable, but he didn’t think they were anything to write home about.
I was also curious to check out a series of waterfalls on the South Fork Tuolumne River a short distance downstream of Rainbow Pools, which was only five minutes from our hotel. I proposed that we check that out, and if it didn’t look worth it, we would go to our favorite California swimming hole: Blue Streak. We had to pay a $10 day use fee just to drive into the Rainbow Pools area. I took the water temperature just above the pools, and it was 71 °F. When we reached the gravel road that led down to the lower falls, a sign on the gate said it was part of a mining claim and was closed to all use. I didn’t feel like getting cited, so we blew it off and headed to Blue Streak.
This was our sixth time going to Blue Streak, which is on the North Fork Stanislaus River near Murphys. The water temperature there was 70.5 °F. I didn't take any new pictures today, but here are a couple of clips Cade took of me jumping:
We stayed until a little after 4pm, and then we decided to hike to Candy Rock, which is another swimming hole about three quarters of a mile upstream. A trail continues upstream from Blue Streak about halfway to Candy Rock, and the rest of the hike is through the river. I had forgotten how long this takes, as the last time we had visited both swimming holes in the same day was in 2018. We noticed one potential swimming hole along the way that we didn’t recall seeing before.
This was our first time back to Candy Rock since 2019.
The currents in the rock tubs seemed stronger today than on previous visits.
We’ve always felt that Blue Streak is awesome while Candy Rock is just okay, and today’s visit did nothing to change that. One thing I had forgotten was the hike from the riverbed to the (former) Candy Rock parking area. I thought I remembered it being a short, straight climb up crude stairs, but it was a series of tight switchbacks and wooden stairs that gained at least a couple hundred feet of elevation over about a quarter mile. The hike back along the road was fairly easy, though.
We headed out and continued to Folsom for the night, stopping at Mel’s Diner in Jackson for dinner. This is one of my favorite restaurants when I’m in the area. The menu has pretty much everything. I got a bacon cheeseburger and cottage fries (which are basically house-made potato chips), and a strawberry milkshake. I also discovered that they have a mint chocolate chip shake, so now I need an excuse to come back and try that.
In summary, even though our attempts at finding new swimming holes over the past two days were a bust, our revisits to God’s Bath and Blue Streak were fine consolation prizes. I might try the Clavey River hike again if we can find more people to go, but it seems too remote and treacherous for only two people to attempt. We also have some loose ends on Cherry Creek, both above and below Cherry Lake, so we might return for further explorations on a future trip after I’ve done some armchair route-finding. The South Fork Tuolumne Falls are probably a no-go in the near future, since the area is now closed to the public.
