Hetch Hetchy Valley is a glacial valley in the northwest corner of Yosemite National Park in California. It is currently completely flooded by O'Shaughnessy Dam, forming the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. The Tuolumne River fills the reservoir. Upstream from the valley lies the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne. The reservoir supplies the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct. The damming of the valley in the 1920s, and the creation of a reservoir, were at the time, and since, a major environmental controversy in the Western United States.
The Hetch Hetchy Road drops into the valley at the O'Shaughnessy Dam, but all points east of there are roadless, and accessible only to hikers and equestrians. Wapama Falls 1,700 feet (520 m) and Tueeulala Falls 840 feet (260 m), both among the tallest waterfalls in North America, are both located in Hetch Hetchy Valley.
Read more about Hetch Hetchy Valley: History, Geology, Proposed Restoration
Famous quotes containing the word valley:
“I will frankly declare, that after passing a few weeks in this valley of the Marquesas, I formed a higher estimate of human nature than I had ever before entertained. But alas! since then I have been one of the crew of a man-of-war, and the pent-up wickedness of five hundred men has nearly overturned all my previous theories.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)