Yosemite Part 3 - Hetch Hetchy Valley

A few miles after entering the south gate into Yosemite is a beautiful National Historic Landmark. The Wawona Hotel has been feeding and housing travelers since the 1850's.

We enjoyed a delicious lunch in the Victorian Dining Room.

Being Saturday and the Park was busy, we planned a visit to the Hetch Hetchy area of Yosemite. It was here in this little visited region of the park that we found our "Hike of the Week".

From the overlook you can view the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, O'Shaughnessy Dam along with the Wapama Falls.

The project began in 1914. The Hetch Hetchy Project - a complex system of pipelines, tunnels, powerhouse, dams and reservoirs first delivered water to the San Francisco Bay area in October 1934. There was much controversy over the flooding of this beautiful valley, which John Muir likened to Yosemite Valley. The reservoir is estimated to contain 117 billion gallons of high quality drinking water to supply 2.6 million residents.

A five mile hike to Wapama Falls begins by crossing the dam and walking through the tunnel.

The views along the reservoir trail were outstanding.

The Wapama Falls are just around the corner.

Pictures do not due justice to the absolute beauty and power of these magnificent falls.

The pristine water collected here is snow melt and precipitation originating on the snow capped granite peaks of the Yosemite protected wilderness area.

Water stored here is safe for drinking. No filtration is necessary. So we proceeded to refill our water bottles out of the falls. The high elevation of the reservoir allows the regional water system to move water from Hetch Hetchy to the Bay Area using only gravity. This not only provides water but also generates electricity. No boating or swimming is allowed in the lake. This lightly used pristine area is well worth the journey. Most times we didn't see any other hikers. After spending the previous couple days in the very busy main park, it was nice.

The Lights of Wawona Hotel shown into the night as we passed by on our way home.

Yosemite Part 2 - Yosemite Valley

The next morning we awoke to clear skies. A great day to drive into Yosemite Valley for day hikes.







After parking near the Happy Isles Nature Center, we took a Park shuttle bus to the Vernal Falls Footbridge trail head. It was a two mile round trip hike beginning with a 400 foot climb off the valley floor.

The trail continued on to the top of Vernal Falls and then on to Nevada Falls. Having achieved most of the scenic views, we chose to stop at the bridge as did many others. Even though we are retired, we still find it necessary to balance our time against the endless number of possible things one can do in a day. Some days it seems a pity that there are so few hours of daylight in a given day. It makes you wish for the endless daylight hours of Alaska summers.



We closed out the day with a short hike to Yosemite Falls. It's a 2,425 foot drop, the tallest in North America and the fifth tallest in the world. To imagine the height, it is 10 times taller than Niagara Falls and twice the height of the Empire State Building.

Using the free National Park Shuttle Bus, we returned to our car.

 

Yosemite Part 1 - Mariposa Grove & Glacier Point

We pulled our home into the Park Sierra Escapees Park in Coarsegold, California on Wednesday. This lovely private park is located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains just 25 miles from the south gate of Yosemite.
This park was built in the late 80's by Escapee Volunteers. As a result there was a lot of experience put into developing the layout. It is very accommodating to large rigs while providing a picturesque full hook up site complete with cable TV.

We began our tour of Yosemite at the Mariposa Sequioa Grove located just inside the south entrance of the park.






The California Tunnel Tree was cut through in 1895 to allow horse drawn stages to pass through. There used to be two tunnel trees in the Park. The other one, being weakened by the hole, fell over in 1969. As all Giant Sequoias are now protected, fortunately, desecration of these beautiful trees is no longer permitted.

Nevada and Vernal Falls as seen from the Glacier Point
Overlook high above Yosemite Valley

We took an afternoon hike up to Sentinel Dome. From this vantage point you have a 360 degree view if the skies are clear. We waited at the top for clouds to pass. Although not very clear it was a very moody, unique and interesting hike.

We are thinking we may try this one
again on a clear day.

Tulare, CA Part 4 - Wrap-up

We drove back to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks on Monday to hike some of the trails we missed. The Big Stump Trail reveals remains of early logging in the area. This 26 foot wide, 1700 year old tree, took two men 13 days to cut down in 1891.

We took another look at General Grant,
because it is so impressive.

When you are this close, General Grant takes
two pictures to capture it.

Hume Lake, a beautiful high mountain lake, was originally
built for logging, but is now used for recreation.

Giant Forest Museum opened for the summer season
just two days before.

We took a quiet walk around Round Pond which is in the
middle of Giant Forest. Giant forest was named in 1875 by
explorer and conservationist John Muir.
This grove is home to over 2,000 Giant Sequoias
with a diameter of 10 feet or larger.

A marmot enjoying the quiet of the forest.

Mother's Day

Hundreds of murals are found all around the towns of the San Joaquin Valley.

These are examples of a couple of our favorites.

This valley is covered with fruit farms and nut trees. We have been enjoying freshly picked cherries, peaches, nectarines, oranges, grapefruit, strawberries, blueberries, apricots, tomatoes, avacados and sweet corn purchased straight from the grower. Pistachios, almonds, walnuts, pecans, grapes and olives are also grown here, but are not in season now.

Tulare, CA Part 3 - Sequoia National Monument

Since the National Parks are very busy on the weekends, we decided to go to Sequoia National Monument south unit on Saturday to avoid the crowds. The Trail of 100 Giants is a highlight of the national monument. It is a beautiful walk through several hundred Giant Sequoia trees, which range in age from 2 to 1500 years old.

Kurt couldn't resist entering the small room inside the tree trunk.

Our trail brochure stated:

Look Skyward. Wow...look how they are "leaning".
How much longer will they stand?
It appears they are being undercut by the stream.

Since the needles on the tree were still green, this giant
tree had fallen very recently. It looks like they will have to
reroute the path and update the brochure. 
Since it takes many 100's of years for the sequoia to break
down they will have plenty of time. 

Sitting on the Giant's Knee

View from the top of Dome Rock

Tulare, CA Part 2 - Sequoia National Park

Friday we visited the south side of Sequoia.
A bit of trivia.
Sequoia is the only word that includes all 5 vowels.

Moro Rock


We took the .25 mile vertical trail up 400 steps to the top of Moro Rock, a large granite dome in the Giant Forest area.

The View from the dome offers an unparalleled view of
the Great Western Divide and its Canyons.



At the end of the trail you are standing
at the very top of the dome.

  

Picture window view of the snow capped mountains of
the high Sierras.

Auto Log

Tharps Log
Hale Tharp built a simple summer cabin from a fallen
fire-hollowed Sequioa Log in the 1860s.

Yes, our Yaris is very small, but these old trees are VERY BIG.

A neat view from inside a set of triplets.