Hetch Hetchy Valley, Yosemite

Your yosemite pictures are really something Pete. I always love looking at your work.

Awesome as usual.

What a beautiful place!

Looks amazing - almost unreal, as if it were computer generated (but not at all in a bad way).

Amazing.

Great shot Pete. This is a grand view of a beautiful place!

Hetch Hetchy Valley has a very interesting history for those that don't know. It created a huge controversy in the early 1900's that continues to this day. The City of San Francisco built a dam flooding the valley for a water reservoir. The valley was considered by many as a sacred part of our National Park system that was violated and ruined by the dam.

John Muir was on of the most popular people in the time that fought hard to prevent the dam from being built. Congress allowed the building and flooding of the valley in 1913.

This controversy continues and there are many lobbying for the dam to be removed.

http://www.sierranevad​aphotos.com …ry/hetch_hetchy​/index.asp

http://california.sier​raclub.org/hetchhetchy​/


I am on the side of removing this dam and allowing the valley to return to a natural state and be available for generations to come.

Lovely shot and well composed, Pete!

I've only spent half a day there but your pictures make me want to spend a whole lot more time than that. It goes back onto my list of places to visit.

Great shot. I'd say a large print must look amazing.

Not one of my most favorite places in the park, but you've captured it well!

Duder, someday I'd like to have the opportunity to see one of these images of yours in a large print, to really appreciate the details. They are beautiful, but I can only imagine what they look like printed.

thanks guys.

I'd never even heard of Hetch Hetchy until July last year, but since then I'd been very eager to take a trip to see Yosemite Valley's twin. It doesn't get many visitors though. To put it in perspective, out of the 3.5 million people that visit Yosemite National Park annually, less than 50,000 visit Hetch Hetchy every year. When we were there, there were 3 other people the whole day.

Anyway, I found it to be a stunningly beautiful place, but I couldn't shake off a feeling of mild indignation that such an incredible valley had been turned into a water tank to provide drinking water for a city 160 miles away.
I'm fully behind efforts to remove the dam and restore the valley to it's natural state. Here's more info on the Restore Hetch Hetchy campaign: http://www.hetchhetchy​.org/index.html

thanks for those links Julio, I hadn't seen the first one before. the before and after photos are a good example of what we're missing.

I too am a big fan of the Hetch Hetchy Valley. Everytime I am there I try to imagine what it looks like underneath all that water. I have spent time fly fishing below the dam in the small river they allow to run through the valley. It is obvious that there was once a lot more water.

If I am not mistaken, Muir took many photos of the valley.

joayne

Duder, just out of curiousity, do you visit these places while backpacking, camping from your car, or just driving through for the day?

It's not always easy getting to these sights, and most times the best shots are those that are taken away from the public view.

I've been to Yosemite, and my shots look like any other tourist... Facinating, but still from a tourist viewpoint. I hope to do better one day.

i feel like i'm there. really nice work. its incredibly sharp