Images of Yosemite National Park, Hetch Hetchy Valley – Central California, taken in June 2019.

This is a valley that John Muir called “a wonderfully exact counterpart of the great Yosemite”. Today in place of that valley there is an 8 mile long reservoir which supplies drinking water and hydro-electric power for San Francisco and the surrounding area. In the early 1930’s Muir led preservationists in the fight to oppose the building of the O’Shaughnessy Dam but lost out to dam supporters who touted the economic benefits and the need for water in the rapidly growing Bay Area.

The Hetch Hetchy Valley is still a spectacular place to visit and is by all park standards a ‘hidden gem’ as most people that come to Yosemite don’t venture beyond the Yosemite Valley itself. As Hetch Hetchy came into view the first thing I noticed was that the Tueeulala Falls was flowing; I expected this because of all the snowfall they had this year in the Sierras, still I was thrilled because when I was here last July it was dry with only watermarks on the cliff indicating that water had once flowed there. The other great waterfall, Wapama Falls was stronger than ever. It runs year round but was a torrent of water right now. So amazing to see both falls flowing and one can only imagine this valley before the dam was erected.

I took the trail that follows the north bank of the reservoir toward Wapama Falls and was thrilled that the area was awash in wildflowers and butterflies. For the most part this five mile trail is pretty easy although right now that includes fording runoff from the Tueeulala Falls forcing anyone wanting to hike to Wapama Falls to get their feet wet. Unfortunately this was also the reason that Search and Rescue teams were in the area as that excess snowmelt just the day before had swept a hiker off of the footbridge at Wapama Falls.