Tuolumne River

Lumsden Campground (Meral’s Pool) to Ward’s Ferry Bridge · Class IV · CA

Reservation

—no reading

No reading

Snapshot from Oct 22, 2026. Live reading loading.

Runnable range 700 to 4,000 cfs. This is a draft estimate that paddlers have not reviewed yet.

Season: Permit season May 1 to Oct 15, with releases scheduled through the summer
Character: About 18 miles of the Tuolumne Wild and Scenic River in a steep canyon, with continuous Class IV rapids.
Watch for: Flows depend on releases from upstream dams and snowmelt, and no single USGS gauge represents the run. Check the release schedule before you go.
Gauge: No gauge linked yet.
Permit: ReservationReservations open Jan 1 on Recreation.gov. Next release: Jan 1, in 59 days.
No lottery. Reserve on Recreation.gov from Jan 1, up to the day before launch.
Apply on Recreation.gov Official page
Fees and rules
$6 non-refundable reservation fee per reservation, plus $2 recreation fee per person (refundable 7 or more days before launch).
A permit is required May 1 to Oct 15. Trips are limited to 26 people, and a permit covers up to three days. A permit holder may hold no more than four reservations at a time, and a no-show can lose all future reservations for the season. Managed by the Stanislaus National Forest, Groveland Ranger District.
Source: Recreation.gov permit page.
Snowpack: No snowpack basin is linked to this run. Flows here are mostly set by dam releases, so snowpack is a poor guide.

Trip reports

Wavetrain is an early build. Flow readings are USGS provisional data and may be revised. Runnable ranges and run details are drafts for paddlers to review. Permit dates and rules come from the agency pages linked on each permit and can change. Snowpack figures come from NRCS SNOTEL stations, are provisional, and are grouped into basins by watershed, so they may differ from official NRCS basin reports. Nothing here replaces scouting, local knowledge or a conversation with a nearby outfitter.