The National Park Service has announced its reservations policy for 2025. Most entrances will require advance reservations on weekends beginning May 24 and during the peak summer season, while Hetch Hetchy will be managed on a case-by-case basis.
It’s good news all around. These decisions appear to have been made as a result of public input, so it’s great to see that both the National Park Service and the Department of Interior are listening.
Reservations will not be required to visit Hetch Hetchy in 2025, but visitors will be denied entrance if there is no parking.Photo: Joe Braun
Yosemite officials had paused their decision pending approval by the Trump Administration. The decision to move forward with the plan came only after Senator Alex Padilla, among others, wrote to Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum asking that it be approved.
Senator Padilla (right) met privately with Secretary Burgum prior to his confirmation hearing and voted in favor of his appointment.
There is widespread support for requiring reservations to enter Yosemite. While it is unfortunate that we cannot enter all of our national parks whenever we like, places like Yosemite do need to manage and limit crowding. (Note reservations are required only in late spring and summer and affect private automobiles only – visitors can always enter using public transportation.)
We are especially pleased that, as we and others asked, Hetch Hetchy will be handled differently. The National Park Service’s draft plan had indicated that the same regulations would be applied to the Hetch Hetchy entrance but changed course – perhaps after realizing that use patterns at Hetch Hetchy are different and that public transportation is not currently an option at Hetch Hetchy. (See Restore Hetch Hetchy’s comments sent last September along with a letter signed by hundreds of supporters).
2025 should be a great year to visit Yosemite. This week’s snowstorms should bring the snowpack up to average, so the waterfalls will be spectacular when the weather warms.
It’s always wise to plan your travel carefully. Make a reservation if necessary. And enter the park early or late in the day to avoid lines at the entrance stations.
Note that it is very likely visitors to Hetch Hetchy will be turned away during weekends this spring when the parking spots are all filled. If you go to Hetch Hetchy, and we hope you will, avoid the weekend or get there early!
“The mountains are calling and I must go.” – John Muir.
Wapama Falls from across the reservoir is a fine sight, but it’s not the same being there – and getting a bit wet.
Yosemite’s waterfalls are world famous, and rightly so. The eponymous Yosemite Falls, as well as Vernal, Nevada, Bridalveil, Ribbon and so many others all possess their own combination of grace, power and beauty. They are at their finest during spring snowmelt.
Installed in December 2024, the new bridge will make viewing Wapama Falls safer for park visitors. Photo: San Francisco PUC
Wapama Falls at Hetch Hetchy is no less special. Standing beneath Wapama, gazing upward evokes images of thickly braided hair continuously unfurling in a windstorm. It’s a sight to be experienced up close.
Visitors to Hetch Hetchy can see Wapama as they arrive. It beckons. To see the falls up close, hikers first cross over the top of O’Shaughnessy Dam then walk 2 plus miles. Wapama is suddenly right around the corner, but cannot really be seen without stepping out onto the westernmost of a series of footbridges. It’s a thrilling moment.
At left, a sign warns against crossing the bridge and viewing Wapama Falls. At right, The National Park Service transports Boy Scouts around the falls as they return from a backpacking trip.
There have been times, however, when visitors have arrived at the falls only to be confronted by a sign warning that crossing the bridge is not safe. Too much of Falls Creek is flowing over the bridge. Indeed hikers have been swept off the bridge to their deaths.
Fortunately, that bridge has been replaced. In December, the National Park Service installed a new, safer bridge, which should be passable at peak snowmelt in almost any year. San Francisco officials proudly note that the City paid for its cost.
We’re pleased as punch, and look forward to seeing Wapama and its new bridge in April.
But it is disappointing that it’s taken so long. After all, the project was approved by the Superintendent more than 5 years ago.
And is the funding for the bridge a result of San Francisco’s benevolence? Or is it an obligation under the Raker Act, which reads in part “this grant is upon the further condition that the grantee shall construct on the north side of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir site a scenic road or trail“? Once constructed, who bears the burden of maintenance and safety?
There are other areas where San Francisco has not fully complied with and/or the National Park Service has not full enforced Raker Act. Until the statute is amended Restore Hetch Hetchy will be pursuing improvements so visitors will be able to better enjoy and appreciate Hetch Hetchy.
But this new bridge is exciting indeed. Go to Hetch Hetchy and see it for yourself!
The Restore Hetch Hetchy board and staff will be visiting Hetch Hetchy April 26-27. Early spring, just after Earth Day and John Muir’s birthday, is a beautiful time of year and we’d love to have you join us.
We are planning three events. Come to one, two, or (best yet) all three. But let me know so we can plan and send you details – email spreck@hetchhetchy.org. (If you have already RSVPed, no need to do so again.)
Ackerson Meadow – NPS photo
Here is our schedule:
On Saturday, April 26, at 2:30 we will meet at Ackerson Meadow, on Evergreen Road about 4 miles from Highway 120. Ackerson Meadow was recently acquired by the National Park Service and was restored a few years ago. We will take a short walk and hear a bit about the process of restoring the meadow.
On Saturday, April 26, at 5:30, we will convene at the Evergreen Lodge for an informal reception and buffet dinner. This will be outside (the only area that can accommodate a large group), so we will want to dress warmly.
On Sunday, April 27, we will meet at 9:30 at the picnic tables near the “Chalet” at Hetch Hetchy. We will chat briefly then walk out to Wapama Falls – about 5 miles round trip. Wapama is a unique and spectacular waterfall indeed. The end of April should be a very good time for viewing the falls as well as wildflowers.
In December 2024, the National Park Service (finally) replaced the westernmost bridge at Wapama Falls, making it safer to cross during peak snowmelt.
If you have not seen it, check out Dennis Wyatt’s recent column: Time to Make America’s Parks Accessible again. Wyatt suggests California take over the national parks within the state. It seems unlikely the idea will catch on but its always nice to see outside the box thinking – especially from journalists sympathetic to our campaign.
And we were especially pleased that Wyatt has included many of the same points about lack of access to Hetch Hetchy that we have been making:
Despite public access being a main tenet of the Raker Act, the City of San Francisco has successfully limited access to the Hetch Hetchy area.
Its access gate is not open 24 hours as are the other four gated access points to the national park.
At the same time, fishing for-all-practical purposes is prohibited or even using the water for boating, whether it is a non-polluting electric boat or kayaks.
San Francisco has also blocked camping at Hetch Hetchy, prevented the expansion of trail systems on the north side including to the top of Hetch Hetchy Dome, and rejected any consideration of whether weighing lodging at Hetch Hetchy is in the public’s interest.
In a 5-4 ruling, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency exceeded its authority in its efforts to keep San Francisco from dumping raw sewage into the Pacific Ocean. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, surprising some observers by siding with Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson in dissent, wrote “The entire function of (the provision the EPA seeks to enforce) is to ensure that permitted discharges do not violate state water quality standards. San Francisco’s permit only authorizes discharges that do not degrade water quality below the applicable standard.”.
Unlike most west coast cities, San Francisco’s wastewater treatment combines storm water and sewage. During periods of heavy rain, the treatment plants can be overwhelmed.
A sewage spill at San Francisco’s Southeast WTP after 2.66 inches of rain fell on February 4, 2025.(Video captured by the SF Baykeeper)
The ruling does not mean that the Environmental Protection Agency lacks authority to require San Francisco to reduce its spills. But EPA does have to find a better way of writing its regulations.
EPA’s regulation took aim at the water quality of the ocean, rather than what San Francisco was actually dumping into it. We hope Justice Alito’s claim is correct that “The agency has adequate tools to obtain needed information from permittees without resorting to end-result requirements,” and that, if so, the EPA will develop robust criteria to protect the ocean and the bay that will pass legal muster. The SFPUC’s press release is posted online.
We wish this case had never gone to the Supreme Court. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors urged the SFPUC to settle with EPA rather than ask the Supreme Court to diminish its authority but was ignored. Even if San Francisco makes system improvements and becomes a better steward of its wastewater, what might the precedent of this decision be in other cities across the United States?
Ironically, the Supreme Court’s ruling coincides with the announcement of San Francisco’s “NEWEST OCEANFRONT PARK“, only 1/2 mile from its Oceanside Water Treatment Plant.
Restore Hetch Hetchy remains focused on improving San Francisco’s water supply system so Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy Valley can be returned to its natural splendor. But it’s impossible to ignore the sewage spills in the bay and ocean that threaten both people and wildlife.
Our campaign to restore Hetch Hetchy is deeply rooted in the sanctity of our national parks, that Hetch Hetchy’s damming was a singular historic insult, a wrong that must be made right.
Hetch Hetchy in 1908 (Photo Matt Ashby Wolfskill)
Recent massive widespread terminations of Rangers are a modern day insult, as we realize our wildly popular national parks cannot handle visitors without adequate staff, especially with the busy summer season approaching.
Let’s restore Hetch Hetchy. And let’s ensure we have enough full-time and seasonal Rangers to protect our lands as we welcome visitors, and let’s treat those Rangers with the dignity they deserve.
Hetch Hetchy’s place in history extends beyond the flooding of the valley. Less than three years after sacrificing the valley to a dam and reservoir for San Francisco, Congress passed the National Park Service Act – legislation that created the National Park Service itself and helped to insure that our parks would be better protected from parochial interests in the future.
So the story of Hetch Hetchy is directly linked to today’s Rangers.
As President Franklin D. Roosevelt explained, “There is nothing so American as our national parks … the fundamental idea behind the parks … is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us.”
In a 2005 editorial opinion for the San Francisco Chronicle, Congressman John Garamendi wrote “As we encourage economic growth in California, we should also make a commitment to cherish and sustain our spectacular natural heritage. I can think of no better way than restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley for our children and grandchildren.
Yes, our national parks belong to all of us – a venerable part of our identity that dates back to Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the Yosemite Grant in 1864 “upon the express conditions that the premises shall be held for public use, resort, and recreation [and] shall be inalienable for all time.”
Yet these conditions are threatened today as the Department of Government Efficiency has terminated positions in Yosemite and other parks from thousands of miles away with disregard to staffing needs and job performance. As NBC notes, fewer employees could mean longer entry lines, dirty bathrooms and unsafe conditions for hikers and campers.
Still, what happens next is uncertain. 2025 will be an interesting year at Yosemite National Park. Will a new Superintendent be hired? Will a reservation system be in place. Will there be staff to open the Tuolumne Meadows Campground? How much public access will be allowed at Hetch Hetchy? Inquiring minds want to know, but we will have to wait.
Let’s get Yosemite and all our parks back to their “normal” operating status. Then let’s return to what needs to be done to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley to its natural splendor
