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I had been wanting to explore Hetch Hetchy for a long time, but had never found the time to go there. Mélody was free this weekend, so we decided it would be a perfect opportunity to check the place out. As usual, we left Friday night, but upon reaching Hardin flats, we discovered a plethora of RVs, some of which even had the temerity to use OUR camping spot! How dare they! So we had to explore further afield, and found another really nice spot up the road a bit. It will make a good fallback position if this happens again. After a leisurely breakfast the next morning (for some reason, it seems that I have developed a reputation as a gentleman camper), we drove to the reservoir. It takes a good 20 minutes to get there from 120, longer than I expected. The sun was warm, the sky was blue, and the water was spread invitingly before us. Pity that no swimming is allowed.

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We hiked for a few hours, passing the first waterfall, and decided to stop for lunch at the second. However, our hunger got the best of us, and we never made it. In retrospect, it was a good thing we didn't keep on hiking, as in fact we had in fact long since passed it - the first fall that we saw was in fact the second one that we were looking for, the first being all dried up, and we were several miles past it when we finally decided to stop for lunch. We sat around for a while, relaxing and admiring the view, before finally turning back and returning to the car.

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Hetch Hetchy is a very beautiful area, and probably even more so in the spring, when the waterfalls are flowing, though then you have to contend with the mosquitoes. However, I'm very conflicted by the area - the damn is a huge eye sore, and the filling of the valley was an unconscionable act of destruction of a pristine area. The valley would be so much prettier if it wasn't full of San Francisco's water. I'm hoping that one of these days it'll be decommissioned, and the area can return to it's original state. That evening, we whipped up an elaborate, 4 course dinner, that included pork chops with rosemary accompanied by wild rice and stir fried veggies, and finishing with bananas flambe (courtesy of Senor Bacardi's 151). While I was chopping and sautéing, Mélody kept me entertained by reading a 43 (!!) page short story aloud in French. Afterwards, we went for a long walk on the mysterious dirt roads around Hardin flat, and amazingly enough succeeded in not getting lost. We slept late the next morning, and woke to another elaborate breakfast, before tossing a disc around for a while. My forehand needs a lot of work, but with expert coaching, was showing some signs of improvement. Eventually we broke camp, and took Hardin flat road the long way back to 120. Mélody had an ultimate game that afternoon, so we couldn't dawdle too much, but did manage to stop for some ice cream along the way. Mmmmmm raspberry....