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Yosemite National Park 2007

Our First Look At Hetch Hetchy |

Got up around 9am and ran some errands. Had some really good California White Peaches from the grocery store across the street. When Chris got up around 10 we left for Hetch Hetchy to get our wilderness pass and to look around.

We took a back road there and ended up going the wrong way. we ended up at a power station along the Tuolumne river and decided after looking at the map that we were in the wrong place. We turned around and lost about one-half hour.

We finally got to Hetch Hetchy around 11:30 and talked to a female ranger at the wilderness center. She was nice and actually had a personality. We got all of our questions answered and headed about 8mi. further down the road to O'Shaughnessy Dam and the H.H. Reservoir.

I can definitely see why people want to drain the reservoir and bring Hetch Hetchy back to its original state. the rock formations around the water were just as impressive as Yosemite valley.

We took a bunch of pictures of the falls and of Hetch Hetchy Dome and Kolana Rock. We went through a tunnel (no bats, kinda disappointed) to the trailhead. We'll be back tomorrow, so we didn't go any further than the other side of the tunnel.

We got back into town (Groveland) around 3pm and putzed around town. We had lunch at the oldest Saloon in California (The Iron Gate). The food was ok, but the service was terrible. But... they had a bunch of cool stuff to look at: buffalo, deer, bear, coyote, and bobcat mounts, old pictures of hetch hetchy before it was dammed, and perhaps coolest of all, hundreds of dollar bills pinned to the ceiling.

After Lunch we didn't do much. Mostly we packed our bags and got ready for the trip tomorrow. We're planning on leaving tomorrow around 6am (we would go earlier but Hetch Hetchy road doesn't open until 7am) so we got an early dinner (at P.J.'s again) and will be in bed by 9pm.

Locations Visited: Mather


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