Tueeulala Falls
   Tuolumne County, California, United States

Tueeulala Falls is one of two major waterfalls in the Hetch Hetchy Valley which can be seen from the Hetch Hetchy Dam. The USGS has marked the falls as occurring along an unnamed seasonal stream about half of a mile west of Wapama Falls but this is incorrect. Tueeulala Falls actually occurs along a channel of Falls Creek, which produces Wapama Falls just to the east. When Falls Creek is swollen with snow melt, the excessive volume of the creek spills into a second channel about a quarter mile upstream of the top of Wapama Falls. This second channel runs approximately 3/4 of a mile southwest where it turns south and plunges a nearly sheer 880 feet in between Wapama Falls and the unnamed stream to the west.

Because Tueeulala Falls is fed by Falls Creek, one of the largest tributaries of the Tuolumne River, it's seasonal characteristics behave quite differently than an independently fed stream. Falls Creek can swell to immense size in the spring that large quantities of water can spill into the Tueeulala Falls channel, allowing it to turn into one of Yosemite's most powerful waterfalls. However, as the snow melt subsides and the volume of Falls Creek drops, Tueeulala Falls will diminish in flow faster than practically any other major waterfall in the park. By July the falls are usually dry (outside of exceptionally heavy snow years).

Both Tueeulala Falls and Wapama Falls have been said to have been truncated by the construction of the O'Shaughnessey Dam and Hetch Hetchy Lake. While it is certainly true that the lake flooded portions of Falls Creek below each of these waterfalls, neither Tueeulala Falls nor Wapama Falls were altered or shortened in any way by the construction of the dam. Estimates of the height of the falls have often stretched as high as 1,200 feet but this is simply a gross exaggeration. Topographic data is very clear on the height of the falls being between 850 and 900 feet.

HISTORY AND NAMES

---

• Tueeulala Falls is the Official name of this waterfall

View this location in Google Earth

Tueeulala Falls is shown in the center. The 10 closest waterfalls within a 8km radius are shown as well (if any). Click any icon or see the list below for more information.

Additional Nearby Waterfalls

Name of Waterfall	Distance
Hetch Hetchy Falls	0.24 mi / 0.38 km
Wapama Falls	0.46 mi / 0.73 km
Falls Creek Cascades	1.82 mi / 2.91 km
Tiltill Falls	2.65 mi / 4.24 km
Lower Rancheria Falls	2.91 mi / 4.66 km
Upper Frog Creek Cascades	2.95 mi / 4.71 km
Middle Rancheria Falls	3.06 mi / 4.9 km
Rancheria Falls	3.46 mi / 5.54 km
Lower Frog Creek Cascades	3.47 mi / 5.56 km
Eleanor Creek Falls	3.96 mi / 6.34 km
Or Find More Nearby Waterfalls within:
Select One 1 Mile (1.6 km) 5 Miles (8 km) 10 Miles (16 km) 20 Miles (32 km) 50 Miles (80km)

Find More media

---

Search for pictures of Tueeulala Falls on: Flickr Pbase Smugmug Webshots Google Images Photobucket

Search for video of Tueeulala Falls on: YouTube Vimeo Flickr Photobucket Yahoo Video

 

User comments

---

We will be adding the ability for registered users to post comments about waterfalls they have visited in the future.