Days 21-24 Hetch Hetchy (Yosemite National Park)

Sunday, May 16th - Wednesday, May 19th

• For our backpacking adventure this week, we visited the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, which used to be the Hetch Hetchy Valley until the city of San Francisco dammed up the valley to secure a water source in the early 1900's. John Muir died of grief over the decision. I thought the reservoir looked like an awesome place to waterski, but I'm sure both the city of San Francisco and the National Park Service would not agree.

• We hiked 6.5 miles past the dam to Rancheria Falls, passing the thunderous Wapama Falls on the way and getting soaked by its spray.

• The only bear we saw was on Monday morning in the backpacker's campsite at the trailhead, and it completely ignored us. We did see a lot of red salamanders, some butterflies, a few deer, and a snake, which Jennifer stepped right over as it sprawled on the trail.