Hetch Hetchy Valley

[AllergyDoc]

The Hetch Hetchy Valley lies several miles northwest of the Yosemite Valley, in the Yosemite National Park. It's a glacier-carved valley, like Yosemite, but is much smaller than it's bigger sister.

The City of San Francisco was given permission to construct a dam, the O'Shaughnessy Dam, across a gorge as the Tuolumne River exits the valley and begins it's 30+ mile run down to the Don Pedro Reservoir. The water stored in Hetch Hetchy is so pure S.F. doesn't have to filter it.

The flooding of Hetch Hetchy Valley broke the heart of the naturalist, John Muir, who had campaigned against its construction. There is a movement today to take the dam down and restore Hetch Hetchy to its original state, which, of course, is impossible. More on that later.

I visited Hetch Hetchy last month to take photos and look around.

Looking at the dam from far away, then closer as I zoomed in:

The white "bathtub" ring around the reservoir was caused by the pure water leaching minerals out of the granite walls.

Like all modern dams, the O'Shaughnessy is an engineering marvel:

This pipe draws water from the bottom of the dam where there is tremendous pressure. The water exits with great force and the "roar" can be heard far

up the access road.

I'm not sure why there is a boat on the lake. No water sports are allowed (it's S.F.'s drinking water, after all) and fishing is allowed only from the shore. You can see some shades of Yosemite, with the mountain formations. They all have Indian names, of course.

There are two magnificent waterfalls that can be seen in the spring, but were dry in Sept.

Here is a group called Restore Hetch Hetchy. A group of them had just finished a 30-40 mile hike up through the back of Yosemite Park, and the Sierras. They just happened to be there on the day I was there. They're a small group, with not a lot of money. The big money groups are the Sierra Club, founded by John Muir, and the Environmental Defense Fund.

See? Not a lot of people there:

I was impressed that the Ranger had a Canon D5, but disappointed he wasn't sporting a nice watch, or any watch for that matter.

The issues for S.F. are, cheap, clean water and power generation. Their drinking water runs downhill, across the valley where I live (right through town, as a matter of fact) in underground pipes, all the way to the East Bay, where they're pumped into a series of small reservoirs. There are 3 pipes carrying water to S.F. now, but the city's grown a bit since 1930, so they're laying another pipe this year. The water is run through 3 hydroelectric plants on its way to S.F., generating enough electricity to satisfy the City's municipal needs.

Environmentalist and naturalists would like the dam taken down the valley allowed to return to its native state. This is impossible as the plant life would be different, never the same. Estimates put removing the dam at about $1.3B; not a popular request during a bad recession.

They have figured out how to store most of the water held in Hetch Hetchy but they haven't figured out how to replace the lost electricity. S.F. was given rights to the water via an act of Congress, so it would take an act of Congress to remove the dam.

I think it's kind of silly. The dam is in excellent shape, with only 10 feet of silt behind it. It provides clean water and clean power generation. The damage has already been done to the valley and it would like take 50+ years for it be somewhat regenerated after the dam was taken down.

Not that I care too much for the people of S.F. or their power needs, I don't. S.F. is the biggest collection of looneys and nut balls outside of Europe.

[vlydog]

Thank you doc for sharing these breathtaking photographs.

[KB]

Very nice.

Was the ranger there to monitor the protesters or was he in with them?

Ken

[AllergyDoc]

Was the ranger there to monitor the protesters or was he in with them?

There were 5 rangers there, 4 of them armed. Some kind of automatic rifle in their trucks.

I heard that guy, who seemed to be the senior officer, say he was curious about the Restore Hetch Hetchy people and the end of their long hike. I also got the distinct impression that because there were 5 of them there, they wanted to make sure the marchers didn't start placing charges around the dam, or some such eco-terrorism nonsense.

RHH is a pretty mellow group.

Lee Stetson was there. He does John Muir impressions and was featured in quite a bit of Ken Burns's recent PBS broadcast on the U.S. National Parks.

[Demsey]

Beautiful Doc.

I have a lot of smart assed sass talk for ".......not a lot of people......after a 30-40 mile hike", ".....boats" and "......the Sierra Club", but just this once I'm gonna demure to the photographer's eye. Purdy. Thanks.

[dluddy]

Awesome shots and history lesson Doc. Thanks for sharing

[Nanuq]

Very nice! Thanks for taking the time to post this, it's a beauty.

[omni]

Thanks Doc, much appreciated. Stirred deep nostalgia for the first half of my life's upbringing in & around California & the Sierra Nevadas. Hope we can hookup next year.

[jeff g]

PBS has a fantastic series on the National parks available right now.

The episode featuring Yosemite had much to say concerning the flooding of this amazing place.

Sad, very sad.

Reminds me of the tale of Glen Canyon Dam in Utah, flooded to create Lake Powell, a primary water source for all of southern California. By flooding Glen Canyon the feds wiped out more history and beauty then it will ever preserve. The trade off is water. A good deal?

Thanks for the photos.

[Toadtorrent]

Beautiful. Thanks for that! It makes me want to travel.

[AllergyDoc]

Thanks guys!

I watched that PBS series, Jeff. Well, most of it. They served it up through John Muir's eyes, which gave me a different perspective. I gained a lot of respect and admiration for him, his work and what he stood for.

California is in a pickle with regards to water. We have a water management system built to serve many millions fewer than our current population. And, so typical, our legislature can do nothing more than quarrel about it.

The odds of the O'Shaughnessy Dam being taken down anytime soon are very slim.