Hike Hetch Hetchy

Hetch Hetchy Trail

Almost no one living now remembers how Hetch Hetchy Valley looked before it was flooded with water in 1915. It certainly looks beautiful in the old photographs and paintings we can view today. Travel books of that early era, and descriptions by conservationists, including John Muir who struggled mightily to save Hetch Hetchy, say that it was second only to Yosemite Valley in grandeur.

When O’Shaughnessy Dam was completed and the waters of the Tuolomne river impounded, the valley became an eight mile-long reservoir, providing water for the city of San Francisco, a function it still provides today.

We can imagine how the pre-dam valley appeared while a hiking along its northern wall. Even with its floor flooded, the valley is something to behold.

Like Yosemite Valley, the Hetch Hetchy area is characterized by dramatic granite domes, cliffs and crags. Both valleys display the handiwork of ancient glaciers, and both boast mighty waterfalls.

Hetch Hetchy’s Wapama Falls spills 1,200 feet over a granite precipice. The falls are spawned by Falls Creek, a tributary of the Tuolomne River. At the end of the hike is tiny Rancheria Falls, providing a little water music for an inspiringly situated trail camp.

Linking the waterfalls is a path along the north side of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. It’s a fairly low elevation pathway, and therefore makes an enticing early-in-the-season Sierra jaunt. In the spring, Hetch-Hetchy’s falls are at their most vigorous.

The Hike: Proceed across the dam, reading en route the interpretive plaques detailing the dam’s and reservoir’s dimensions. Look to the north side of the canyon to view Hetch-Hetchy Dome and Wapama Falls.

Travel through a 500-foot long tunnel, emerging to join an old road that in turn leads over gray pine-dotted slopes.

A mile out, you’ll reach a junction and head right (east) as the road gives way to a footpath. In another half-mile, pass by seasonal Tueeulala Falls and in another half mile spot Wapama Falls, soon reached by winding trail.

With the falls roaring in your ears. you’ll cross a couple branches of Fall Creek on a series of wood and steel bridges, then carefully climb oak- and poison oak-covered slopes.

About 4 miles out, the trail levels, crosses a footbridge over a creek at 5 miles, then climbs past some inviting swimming holes and water slides located along the creek. 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. Enjoy the inspiring vista before retracing your steps back to the trailhead.

Yosemite Hiking Trails >>  
Hetch Hetchy | Mariposa Grove | Wawona Meadow | Glacier Point 4 Mile Trail
Glacier Point to Yosemite Valley | Half Dome Trail | Yosemite Falls | Vernal & Nevada Falls
May Lake | Cathedral Lakes | Clouds Rest | Gaylor Lakes | Lembert Dome | Lukens Lake
Merced Grove | Mirror Lake | Mono Pass | Mount Dana | North Dome | Taft Point
Ten Lakes | Tenaya Lake | Tuolumne Falls | Tuolumne Grove | Tuolumne Meadow