34 |
WAPAMA |
DISTANCE: 5.0 miles round-trip
HIKING TIME: 2.5 hours
SEASON: March–June
DIFFICULTY: moderate
Wildflower and waterfall lovers will treasure a springtime trip to Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. The key is to visit early in the year, no later than June. By mid-July, the notorious summer heat and low elevation at Hetch Hetchy (3,800 feet) has taken its toll.
Walk across O’Shaughnessy Dam and enter the tunnel on the dam’s far side. Exit the tunnel into a leafy oak and bay forest. Waves lap the reservoir’s shore. Where a trail forks left at 1.0 mile, continue straight along the reservoir’s edge. Enjoy plentiful wildflowers, including Indian paintbrush, mariposa lilies, purple brodiaea, blue penstemon, and yampah. Shade-giving trees include oak, bay, ponderosa pine, and incense cedar.
Tueeulala is the first waterfall you reach at 1.5 miles out, but it’s usually only a wisp. The showpiece is Wapama Fall on Falls Creek at 2.5 miles. The trail crosses over Wapama’s flow on a series of sturdy wood and steel bridges. In spring, you can get soaked from the tremendous amount of spray and mist created by the 1,000-foot-tall waterfall. Retrace your steps to return to the trailhead.
From Groveland, drive east on Hwy. 120 for 22.5 miles to the Evergreen Rd. turnoff on the left, signed for Hetch Hetchy Reservoir (it’s 1.0 mile west of the Big Oak Flat entrance to Yosemite). Drive north on Evergreen Rd. for 7.4 miles, then turn right onto Hetch Hetchy Rd. and drive 16 miles to the dam and trailhead.
