Yosemite Falls

You will get wet.

The proclamation from the man in black polyester, wet from head to toe, fades from our heads as rapidly as his damp footprints dry behind him. It is in the 90’s but the trail along the Hetch Hetchy shore is fairly level, easy to walk, and his wetness is more than just perspiration.

We have just left the more shaded part of the trail and are now in the sunshine on a slight downward path along large exposed granite faces amidst small boulders bigger than ourselves. We continue along the trail and soon find a intermittent waterfall normally dry by this time of year. We join a few families splashing in the pools at the bottom of falls. The water is cool but not cold like we expect from snow melt. Cyndi waggles her toes in the water for a bit and then we continue along. You could get wet here but we don’t.

Falls are everywhere, springing out of the sides of mountains, rushing over the edges of cliffs, cascading down boulder filled valleys. The snow pack is very heavy this year, spring very late. The snow melt from the sudden heat is filling normally dry falls and streams. The Merced river, just starting to rise and already near flood stage, jumps and rooster tails downstream, the river white and roaring for fifteen miles out of Yosemite Valley.

In contrast, the Hetch Hetchy reservoir looks tranquil. Blue mountain lupines bloom along the trail in the company of yellows and purples. Smiling hikers pass us returning to their cars. You will get wet comes from a mother happy because her kids are happy, the kids just recently splashed and cooled in some water ahead of us, but the mother wishing she had brought harnesses as she watches her kids tumbling and scrambling everywhere. Somehow, I don’t know how, maybe magic, she herself is also everywhere, gathering the kids and returning them to momentary order only to see them quickly darting towards other distractions. We are getting hot and are tiring, glad we had stopped for a hearty and tasty lunch at the Cocina Michoacana.

Soon we are at Tueelala Falls and watch it fall 800’ before it cascades another several hundred feet to our level. Tueelala is also normally dry by this time of year but now the water is falling onto the stone footbridge and rushing down the trail on both sides. Hiking in wet shoes seems a bad idea, so I remove my shoes, roll up my pants and walk over the bridge through fast moving water nearly a foot deep and spray everywhere. The downhill cool breeze created by the waterfall feels great and we gasp and smile. We manage to stay reasonably dry.

We rest a bit and dry our feet. High above us the booms and cracks from the falls crashing along the cliff sound like rock slides. Two attractive young women approach and naturally I engage them in conversation. They tell us Wapama falls is about another half mile along the trail and it is beautiful. As they leave they toss over their shoulders You will get wet. I am disappointed they aren’t wet.

A bit further down the trail a recent rock slide half covering the trail is attended by several NPS staff. One woman -- sweating, tired, panting -- slowly lifts and drops a ten pound mall on a rock while standing in the sun. Two more sensible, older workers stand in the shade strategizing. Two younger men are hand rolling knee high granite blocks downhill. The rocks roll only a couple feet, then come to rest and the men push and grunt again. Downhill Sisyphus. Like Sisyphus, an amazingly beautiful place to toil and like Sisyphus, this work will never end.

Hetch Hetchy is part of Yosemite National Park and is every bit as beautiful as Yosemite Valley but unlike the Valley, lightly touristed. The Valley had NPS staff directing jammed traffic at several intersections; thirty minute waits for a space to open at parking lots; lines 20 deep at restrooms; uncontrolled tumbling children knocking down caned ancients. Yet everyone was happy, content to wait for their chance to stand in the spray of the falls. Old, young, even the blind were enjoying the cool, ionized air, roaring water, chirping birds and mixed pine and floral scents.

Moving again along the Hetch Hetchy trail, we can hear Wapama Falls but cannot see it. We head down switchbacks and pass a couple sets of hikers coming up. You will get wet is followed by Cover your camera. At the bottom of the switchbacks we see the spray. A rainbow is in the spray. We photograph the rainbow. I tuck my camera under my shirt. We go around the last corner.

And we get wet. Drenched. Instantly, completely, head to toe. The four bridges normally over Wapama falls are now inside of Wapama falls. Here the water is cold, the waterfall's breeze is now a wind, a cold wind. It is loud. It is beautiful, a bit scary and a lot exhilarating. We are shivering and laughing.

Photographing a waterfall from inside is difficult to do. Actually, it isn’t a good idea. The camera didn’t like it and refused to work for the rest of the day. But standing in the waterfall is fun, even though it can be enjoyed only for a few minutes at a time. I recommend it.

I ring out my shirt and we head back. Our water soaked clothes now keep us cool and because we are refreshed and it is getting late, we quickly and lightly walk the 2.5 miles back to the car cheerfully telling other hikers You will get wet.


See more waterfalls pics here