Yosemite: Leaving Hetch Hetchy

(Continued from Yosemite: Hetch Hetchy, After the Flood)

Featured Photo: “Hetch Hetchy Reservoir with Cliff Goldenbush”  Yosemite National Park, California—2023

Perhaps I should address the elephant in the room. In my post last week, I ended with a modest “cliff-hanger” (pun intended), which was meant as little more than a transition to this follow-up post. Nevertheless, my good friend from college provided some very imaginative speculation on “…what might lie beyond the darkened, gaping entrance to the rough-cut tunnel in the rock on the other side of the dam.” I must simply respond, no, there was not a mystical creature lying in the darkness of the cave; nor did my sister and I undergo a reverse anthropological narrative, as we journeyed into the tunnel! These suggestions were far more interesting than the reality, as you will soon see.

From the half-way point along the dam’s crest, my sister and I continued our walk, approaching the granite wall on the far side.

Leaving the water’s surface behind, and now safely secured above the rocky wall, we looked again to the right, getting a different view of the reservoir…

…and to the left, where water gently trickled down the face of the dam, with more side-released spray cascading from the rocks near the river below.

Then, we turned to face our darkest fears, peering into the perilous entrance to the vast, pre-historic cave and glimpsing…

…wait, wrong narrative…(although my movie-loving friend might possibly wonder whether the figures approaching from the other end of the tunnel were modern humans, ancient Neanderthals, or some belligerent creatures from “Planet of the Apes”. And no, we did not encounter any “Jurassic Park” dinosaurs along the way.) It turned out, the shadows in the distance were just hikers returning from their morning excursion along the trails, which began on the other side.

As my sister and I ventured into the damp, sand-and-gravel-floored darkness of the 500-foot-long access tunnel—which was apparently created during the original dam construction—we were glad electric lights had been strung up every 50 feet or so, even if they were not as bright as we might have liked. We re-emerged at the far end of the tunnel to a bright day along a tree-lined pathway that provided another view of the reservoir and the surrounding granite walls.

We walked a short distance along the trail, stopping occasionally to view the reservoir edged by a variety of trees and other plants.

When I snapped today’s Featured Photo, my sister offered to get a shot of me…

…posing beside the colorful cliff goldenbush near the water’s edge.

Farther along, the path widened then made a turn where the trees leaned away from the granite rock, reaching toward the cool water…

…and I moved closer, gathering additional evidence of trunks burned by fire.

A sign marked the trailhead for the 5-mile roundtrip hike to Wapama Falls—the trail that followed the shoreline of the reservoir with spectacular views, which had first sparked my interest in Hetch Hetchy. But even before exiting the tunnel, I had already decided I would not make the two-hour trek to cross the footbridges and see the falls; I felt I’d made enough solo walks during our trip and did not want my sister to have to wait for me again. I was not too disappointed since I was still tired from our long excursion to Tuolumne Meadows on Sunday.

I turned to capture one more photo out across the reservoir…

…then approached the water’s edge and looked back along the craggy, granite shore in the direction of the tunnel.

I retraced my steps and was drawn to one more view of the reservoir, ringed by rocks, pine needles, and branches.

I found my sister resting on a rock, waiting for me near the tunnel’s entrance. When she stood up, her bright purple shirt created a vibrant contrast to the gray and brown rocks around the dark entrance to the passageway.

We walked back through the tunnel to return to the concrete dam…

…and looking down below the dam, we had a clear view of more water being released in a forceful jet aimed at the rocky wall across the river.

Before we had walked back to the construction crane near the beginning of the dam’s crest, I captured a photo with a prominent view of the cone-shaped granite dome named Kolana Rock, which still soars 2,000 feet above the surface of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.

As we returned to our parked car, I took one last picture of the impressive—and controversial—O’Shaughnessy Dam…

…then our thoughts turned to lunch, naturally. On our drive along Tioga Road the day before, we had eaten at a lovely picnic area near the east shore of Tenaya Lake. But this morning, during our drive into Hetch Hetchy—this remote and protected part of Yosemite—we had not noticed any picnic or parking areas where we could pull over for lunch. We followed the same road that had delivered us to the dam, driving away from the reservoir that supplies San Francisco with water, stopping once to take in the view…

…and by the time we reached the Hetch Hetchy exit gate, we had confirmed the absence of a suitable lunch spot. Just past the Ranger Station, we saw an open area where we could have eaten, but it did not seem particularly inviting. Then my sister reminded me of the small bridge on Evergreen Road where we had crossed earlier over the South Fork Tuolumne River on our drive to Hetch Hetchy and we set out to see if there might be a picnic area nearby.

Crossing the bridge again, we saw a sign for Carlon Road to our left and a narrower service road to our right, which we followed a short distance to a parking lot with a few rustic cabins scattered around the perimeter. There were no other cars, no other people, and no picnic tables. There were, however, a few rocks that were large enough to sit on, so we carried our meager bag of goodies to relax beside the narrow, gently flowing river and shared a ham sandwich and chips.

As we ate, I took pictures of our view: a fallen tree reflected in the water…

…and a photo-worthy tree trunk near where we sat.

Then I wandered around the area—not venturing too far—to take a few more photos of the peaceful, babbling water…

…and a wider view of the South Fork Tuolumne River.

We continued our return drive along Evergreen Road, once again reaching the intersection with Big Oak Flat Road, and soon re-entered the better-known parts of Yosemite. Not far along, we saw a colorful National Park sign and I stopped in the hope of getting a picture of my sister standing beside it. The drivers from several other cars had the same idea. As one group of tourists followed another to pose by the marker, our patience wore thin. I waited for a moment when three young men were walking away, before a family of four arrived in my frame, and at least captured an unobstructed photo of the Yosemite sign.

It was just past noon when we got back on the road, and we found ourselves with unexpected free time before our 6:00 dinner reservation. We decided to return to our hotel room to freshen up a bit. And it will probably come as no surprise that more photo-ops were awaiting us and—despite my better judgment—I would strike out on yet another solo hike before we made our way over to the Ahwahnee Hotel.

(To be continued…)