6/26/2011
Sam and I hiked around
Hetch Hetchy today, which is a reservoir that provides water for the San Francisco area.
Apparently it was quite a controversy when people decided that the Hetch Hetchy valley should be dammed, probably because it was part of Yosemite National Park.
Before the reservoir there were cliffs taller than El Capitan.
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| O'Shaughnessy Dam |
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| Sam and I on the Dam; Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is behind us |
Even with the reservoir, Hetch Hetchy is a beautiful place. We went to look for salamanders and bears, but found neither. There is one part of the trail that is a series of wooden foot bridges that go in front of Wapama Falls; because of all the snow melt the waterfall was falling on the footbridge instead of behind it, so we had to run across and get thoroughly soaked – it was pretty fun once you got used to it!
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| Sam and I on the flooded footbridge at Wapama Falls |
It was a fine herping day. At Hetch Hetchy we found a whiptail and a gartersnake (actually 4 garter snakes, but I only caught one, which musked all over me). Back at Sam’s place we visited a stream nearby and found Pacific treefrogs (the ones that call at night!) and a western toad . We weren’t even looking for the toad, but stumbled across it on our way back from the stream.
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| Sierra Gartersnake Thamnophis couchii |
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| California whiptail Cnemidophorus tigris mundus |
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| Pacific tree frog Hyla regilla |
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| Western toad Bufo boreas |
All in all, another fine day. Tomorrow I leave for my friend Mary’s place north of Sacramento.
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