Hiking the high sierra

“Hetch Hetchy is the name of a valley, a reservoir and a water system in California in the United States. The glacial Hetch Hetchy Valley lies in the northwestern part of Yosemite National Park and is drained by the Tuolumne River. For thousands of years before the arrival of settlers from the United States in the 1850s, the valley was inhabited by Native Americans who practiced subsistence hunting-gathering. During the late 19th century, the valley was renowned for its natural beauty – often compared to that of Yosemite Valley – but also targeted for the development of water supply for irrigation and municipal interests.

“In 1923, the O'Shaughnessy Dam was completed on the Tuolumne River, flooding the entire valley under the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.[2] The dam and reservoir are the centerpiece of the Hetch Hetchy Project, which in 1934 began to deliver water 167 miles (269 km) west to San Francisco and its client municipalities in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.” from Wikipedia article.

San Franciscans today are probably regretful that the valley was drowned, but whether their guilt will lead them to demolishing the damn any time soon is doubtful.

We began our hike at the east end of the trailhead at Tuolumne Meadows hiking west toward Hetch Hetchy.

Following the Tuolumne River starting out, the trail takes a few detours all worth seeing. The high Sierra country is beautiful–and wonderfully quiet after the crowds in Yosemite proper. We saw a handful of through-hikers, though most were like ourselves–doing what we could in a day out and back. We might have been able to cover more ground, but one of us kept stopping for pictures…
The photos are shown in sequence. The very last one is back to where we started.

Enjoy.