I spent most of Saturday driving around Yosemite, and unlike my last visit, this time, I was able to visit Hetch Hetchy. This beautiful valley, the twin to Yosemite Valley, was John Muir’s favorite part of this National Park. Its unnecessary destruction for sake of water storage and power generation is, fortunately, now recognized as folly and there’s growing interest in removing San Francisco’s intrusion into what should’ve been a protected area.
The incessant noise created by releasing enough water to keep the Tuolumne River flowing was quite shocking. In what would otherwise be a very peaceful area, there’s this disruptive din.