By Christopher Reynolds, May 16, 2024
The Hetch Hetchy Valley is full of granite walls and tall falls, and it’s part of Yosemite National Park. Yet it remains half-forgotten – because this spot, about 40 miles’ drive south of Yosemite Valley, is where the Tuolumne River was dammed in 1923 to feed San Francisco’s thirst.
Hetch Hetchy makes a great day trip if you’re already headed to Yosemite or Gold Country towns like Groveland, Jamestown, Sonora or Columbia, or if you’re staying at the park-adjacent Evergreen Lodge. In fact, that’s where the builders of the O’Shaughnessy Dam stayed a century ago, before the lodge had aromatherapy.
