Doing this run has been one of my dreams since I moved to CA. This is called Cherry Creek, but cherry creek section below Holm power house is only one mile. The rest of 7.6 miles to Merals Pool takeout is on main Tuolumne river. I did this run with JesseCG, LynnM and DavidM two days in August, 2007. This is classic and popular summer classV run, since there are always flows at 1,200 cfs by dam release from Mon through Sat in July, August and early September. Average gradient of 105 fpm (2%) and 1,200 fpm flow make this run really hard, scary and amazing. At mile 4~5 called as Miracle mile, the gradient is 200 fpm. The other reason making this run very hard for me than other classVs was that we did not scout at all except for the Mashroom rapids because of time limitation of dam release. The maximal release from Holm Powerhouse was scheduled to begin at 7 am and end at as early as 11 am. Unless we finish by 12:30 or 1 pm, the flow would be lower while paddling. We putin at 9:45~9:50 am in both days and finished at 1:20 pm at Merals pool takeout (known as putin of Lower Tuolumne run) as well. When we finished, there were still 1,200 cfs flow (by gauge) at takeout in two days, but the release stopped at 12:00 in both days.
For doing this run, there is always a big problem or transportation, since the shuttle road to takeout is unpaved, rough, dusty and long, and requires high clearance vehicle. Driving usually takes longer than 30 min for one way. In one day, we could be offered a kind ride by another party. In another day, we made a great deal with unknown people who did the lower Tuolumne run. They drove down to the putin of lower Tuolumne run, which is the takeout of Cherry creek run. We drove up their vehicle to Casa Loma.
Usually I take lots of photos, but this time I could not have chances to take photos. Lynn, who is a professional photographer, took some nice pictures (see below). More pictures are seen at Lynn’s website(click other photo adventures, a dreamflows photo gallery, and a rafting company’s website. Nice video by someone else is here. More river information is available at cacreeks.
Dam release. 1,100 cfs was supposed to be released from 7 am to 11 am, but it actually happened from 8 am to 12 pm. 100 cfs was added from main Tuolumne after the confluence. After the max release of the day, there were release of 900 and 750 cfs on Fri (Aug10) and Sat (Aug11), respectively. In next year, I wanna spend the entire day to run Cherry creek by scouting and taking photos even if maximal release ends by noon.
Putin. Holm powerhouse is right back in this picture.
Lynn entering Mushroom rapid (V).
Lynn in the middle of Mushroom rapid.
Me in the upper of Toadstool, class IV+ or V- (photo by Lynn Myer)
Me in the middle of Toadstool (photo by Lynn Myer)
Me at the boof that is the end of the Toadstool (photo by Lynn Myer).
