Last week, I paid a visit to Hetch Hetchy. I recently joined the team with Restore Hetch Hetchy as Engagement & Development Director. Feeling I needed to speak to the Valley before I could truly begin this work, I drove up from the Bay Area for the day to say hello. I’ve shared the vision of restoration for quite some time, and I’m honored to be on board making it a reality. It was important to me to spend some time with Hetch Hetchy as I step into this new position.
I visited on President’s Day, one of the busiest times for Yosemite National Park. The drive up from the Bay Area was crowded. I was in a line of cars from the moment I got on Highway 120 – up until the moment I pulled off onto the road to Hetch Hetchy.
I anticipated this area of the park to be quiet. It usually is. It was a pleasant surprise that the day-use parking lot had a few more cars than I anticipated. Despite the draw of Yosemite Valley, others shared my desire to spend at least part of their holiday in this underappreciated area of the park! I was encouraged as I began my hike, which would only be a short 5-mile roundtrip to Wapama Falls. Though I would have loved to spend more time with Hetch Hetchy, I was constrained by the limited access hours. I needed to be out of the area before the gate was closed at 5 PM.
The small crowd would dwindle the further out I walked. Many of these visitors would walk onto O’Shaughnessy Dam, gaze out into the reservoir, and leave. A few walked through the tunnel and out to what is considered the trailhead. Fewer still would continue on to Wapama Falls.
There is no trailhead signage or hiking information until you walk through a rather long, dimly lit tunnel at the opposite end of the dam. I wondered how many people were even aware that the hike to Wapama Falls would only take a couple of hours of their time. From the viewpoint of the dam, it seems far away. How would you know otherwise, when there is no obvious trail information in the small part of this area that most visitors stop?
Restore Hetch Hetchy believes that improving the limited recreational access to the area will inspire others to embrace the vision of restoration. By building deeper connection with Hetch Hetchy for people, we are confident that more will understand that a reservoir should not exist in this special place.
We can imagine what Hetch Hetchy used to look like. There are a few photos and paintings from a time before O’Shaughnessy Dam. It was much like its southern twin. The Tuolumne River ran through like the Merced River runs through Yosemite Valley. Its meadows were full of wildlife. The granite walls would have seemed to tower even higher above.
With these things in mind, I walked the trail that lines the reservoir. The effects of the storms that touched California in early January were still evident. Even weeks later, unnamed waterfalls cascaded down the walls of Hetch Hetchy. Streams crossed the trail, flowing down the granite before tumbling off the rocks into the water below.
Before the flooding of Hetch Hetchy, this water would have flowed down to the valley floor. It may have met with the Tuolumne River as it ran through. Instead, I watched it quietly disappear into the reservoir.
After a bit of time, I reached Wapama Falls, where I was only joined by a handful of other hikers. Wapama is as beautiful as the more highly visited waterfalls in the park, such as Yosemite, Vernal, and Nevada Falls. Despite that, it was quiet; enjoyed by just a few even on a holiday. I hope that this can change; that many more people will come to realize an incredible valley much like Yosemite Valley has been lost for a century; that even still, pieces of its beauty remain and can be enjoyed.
At the time of writing this blog, Yosemite National Park is closed due to a winter storm. The 4000 ft. elevation Yosemite Valley is anticipating 55 to 84 inches of snow between today and Wednesday. Hetch Hetchy is forecast to receive only slightly less. This adds onto the above-average snow year the Sierra Nevada has experienced so far.
As I watch the weather forecast for Yosemite, my mind can’t help but wander to the Tuolumne River. My heart has a familiarity with the river, knowing it from much time spent in the high country of the Sierra. It begins with the snow on some of the highest peaks in the park and crosses down through Tuolumne Meadows. Thousands of hikers have come to meet it as the Pacific Crest Trail winds around its path. Many – maybe most – have never seen where it is dammed.
Restore Hetch Hetchy continues towards our goal of increasing access to Hetch Hetchy, encouraging people to discover, re-discover, and enjoy the area. We hope that visitors will imagine the valley restored. Hetch Hetchy can be brought back to its natural state. There are other options for San Francisco’s water storage outside of Yosemite National Park. The Tuolumne River can flow unimpeded if we work for change. It will certainly be an incredible future.
If you’d like to get involved to improve recreational access to Hetch Hetchy, you can sign our letter to Yosemite National Park’s Superintendent here. To learn more, check out Keeping Promises, our document outlining this need for change. Read about recently introduced legislation to improve access here. Hetch Hetchy is currently accessible from 8 AM to 5 PM. Overnight camping is only allowed with a wilderness permit. Boating and swimming in the reservoir are prohibited.
Photos by Marissa Leonard.