Every Trail Tells a Story
Hetch Hetchy
A living chapter of conservation history – see the dam Muir fought.
Two big waterfalls, one booming in spring, one flowing longer.
A trail that feels both industrial and wild, past and present in dialogue.
Hetch Hetchy is Yosemite’s other valley – the one that got dammed. It’s a name that sparks debate even a century later: John Muir mourned the loss of this granite twin to Yosemite Valley, calling it a “holier temple” drowned for the sake of San Francisco’s thirst. The O’Shaughnessy Dam, completed in 1923, turned the Tuolumne River into an eight-mile long reservoir, and the argument over whether the valley should be “undammed” still rumbles on.
Politics aside, what remains is striking: sheer granite walls, waterfalls plunging into blue water, and a trail that lets you imagine what once was while appreciating what’s still here. Walking across the top of the dam is an odd experience – industrial concrete at your feet, Muir’s granite cathedrals rising all around. Beyond the dam, the trail becomes pure Yosemite again: wildflowers in spring, madrone shade in summer, and the steady rumble of Tueeulala and Wapama Falls.
Wapama is the goal, and when snowmelt is high, it’s spectacular – three tiers roaring down the cliff in silver veils. The trail’s footbridges let you feel the spray and the force of the water, sometimes too much (the Park Service closes the bridges when flows make them unsafe). When the falls are booming, it’s equal parts exhilarating and intimidating; when they quiet in late summer, you get more solitude and more of the reservoir’s mirror.
Hetch Hetchy isn’t Yosemite Valley – it’s its own place now, shaped by compromise, controversy, and enduring beauty. We can only imagine how the pre-dam valley appeared while hiking along its north wall. Even with its floor flooded, though, the valley is something to behold. Hike here with Muir’s ghost in mind, and with your eyes open to what’s still possible in a landscape that refuses to be tamed.
From Big Oak Flat Entrance, follow signs along Evergreen Road for about 16 miles to Hetch Hetchy Entrance Station. Continue to O’Shaughnessy Dam and the trailhead parking.
Cross the dam, marveling at the reservoir views, then travel through a 500-foot long tunnel blasted through granite. The path follows the north shore of the reservoir, contouring along cliffs with open views.
The road gives way to a footpath and, two miles out, reach Tueeulala Falls that plunges dramatically in spring. Continue west on the winding trail to Wapama Falls, where bridges cross the lower cascades (use extreme caution in high water).
With the falls roaring in your ears, cross a couple branches of Fall Creek on a series of wood and steel bridges and carefully climb oak- and poison oak- covered slopes. About four miles out, the trail levels, crosses a foot bridge over a creek at 5 miles, and climbs past inviting swimming holes and water slides.
At the 6-mile mark, reach a junction with a connector trail that leads to a ponderosa pine- and incense cedar-shaded campsite located below Rancheria Falls. Stick with the main trail for another half mile to reach a bridge over Rancheria Creek that’s located just above the falls.