It’s a stunning shot, and a view rarely seen. Restore Hetch Hetchy board member Mecia Serafino scrambled 1800 vertical feet to the top of Kolana Rock to get a clear view of the entirety of Wapama Falls. Mecia reports she didn’t mind getting a bit of poison oak while bushwhacking along what might generously be called a trail.
Mecia Serafino
Mecia’s photograph has been entered in Firefall Ranch’s Spring Renewal contest – please vote for it.
Wapama Falls from the top of Kolana Rock – photo by Mecia Serafino.
Few people who have visited Hetch Hetchy have seen the entirety of Wapama Falls. You can only see the lower portion from the O’Shaughnessy Dam. Even when you hike to the falls and cross the stream beneath Wapama (an exhilarating experience), you cannot see the top.
Were the valley undammed, of course, it would be simple to saunter across the meadow to see the full waterfall. Or even, as Congress expected, visitors would take a boat across the reservoir and see the whole thing.
Mecia’s view is special. It is all of Wapama Falls – not from below but from the top of Kolana Rock. Let’s be honest. Few of us are likely to hike to the top of Kolana – poison oak or not. Thanks to Mecia for doing this.
The entirety of Wapama Falls (during peak snowmelt) from the reservoir – a perspective not available to the public.
Kolana Rock, before Hetch Hetchy was dammed, rose 2100 feet above the valley floor.