Hetch Hetchy
As a long time Bay Area resident, I have been to many parts of Yosemite National Park; however, recently I was invited to the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, which collects water from the Tuolumne River, whose source starts 13,114 feet high above Yosemite. Completed in 1934, the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct is a 167 mile gravity-driven network of dams, reservoirs, tunnels, pump stations, aqueducts and pipelines that deliver 239 million gallons of water per day from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir behind the O’Shaughnessy Dam to residents of San Francisco and beyond.
Ok, so you’ve seen a dam or two in your lifetime and were really thinking that your summer trip would be better served by heading to Yosemite Valley and climbing Half Dome. Yes, Yosemite Valley is breathtaking, and yes, it is something you will want to see, but going to Hetch Hetchy can be done as part of the same trip to Yosemite due to its proximity, and while maybe not as grandiose, it is much more relaxing.
Getting there: The road to Hetch Hetchy Reservoir begins about a mile east of the Big Oak Flat entrance to Yosemite, on Hwy 120. You'll travel several miles on a paved road before you reach the day use area. Much of this road is outside the National Park, but you'll pass a Yosemite entrance before you get to the lake.
What to do: Visitors can walk across the impressive O’Shaughnessy Dam and view the amazing torrents of water draining into the Tuolomne River below, as well as read information about the dam, the surrounding valley and the Hetch Hetchy system. Additionally, there are several hiking trails ranging from 2 to 13 miles long accessing Wapama and Rancheria Falls which, depending on the season, drop incredible amounts of water to the valley below. While it is a lower elevation (3,800 feet) and there is a long hiking season, one of the best times to go is in late spring/early summer when the snowmelt begins to unleash the water that will soon be filling the glasses of San Francisco residents.
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