A lawsuit to get Hetch Hetchy back?

Sitting in a Fresno coffee shop just after the Nov. 6 election, I heard a conversation that was just too delicious to ignore. I'm paid to be nosy anyway. And it was a pubic place.

OK, so I felt like I was peeping.

But this was just too good. Two guys -- I'm sure they were lawyers -- talked about San Francisco voters rejecting a study to restore Hetch Hetchy in Yosemite National Park.

To me, it was no surprise -- the vote, not the conversation. SF has used water from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in the national park for nearly a century now. Why should they vote to give it back and pay higher rates for water from a lower reservoir.

Who volunteers for something like that?

It's a volatile subject and far more complex than I just stated it, but you get the picture. The only upside for SF would be a claim to be top greenies in the country. Well, that didn't happen. 

You need to know Hetch Hetchy bitterness runs very deep among some environmentalists. This is a gorgeous glacial valley filled with Tuolumne River water. San Francisco gets some of the purest big-city water in the country. It's a stinging environmental loss that has festered a long, long time.

You need to put that emotion in context every time you talk about Hetch Hetchy. Now, I'll play back the conversation from memory.

Says one lawyer: “Well, I’m not surprised San Francisco turned it down. Do you think people living here would vote to even consider restoring the San Joaquin River?”

Answers the other: “No, but …”

“Do you think Los Angeles would vote to restore the Owens Valley?”

“No, but there are big differences between those examples and San Francisco," says the second guy. "The San Joaquin is a mess downstream. It needs fresh water. It needs to be restored.

"And LA stole the Owens Valley water. People in the Owens Valley were put out of business over it. There’s no comparison to Hetch Hetchy.”

“You don’t think Hetch Hetchy damaged anything?” asks the first guy.

“Not legally. Show me the damaged party, and we can suggest they file suit. The San Joaquin River and the Owens Valley were both settled by lawsuits. I don’t see a lawsuit here.”

First guy: “But don’t you think people have a right to see Hetch Hetchy Valley? It’s a national park, for crying out loud. People are fighting mad about it.”

Second guy: “I’m with San Francisco on this one.”

"So the public's right to see that valley doesn't matter? We need a lawsuit to restore something important to us?”

“Yeah.”

"Even something as big as a glacial valley that the whole world would see?"

"Yeah. And, yeah. You need a lawsuit."

Yeah. Pretty much.

Might not need to worry about snow patches this August

Last August, there was still snow all over the place in the high Sierra. This photo was in the Southern Sierra, just east of the crest.

Trust me, unless the winter gets rolling a little bit soon, this snow patch will not be around.

The hiker's name is Tim Crosse, a 20-something guy who likes seeing nature up close. By the time we were finished with this backpack, he knew what a Sierra glacier looked like. He had listened to the gentle drip at night as the snow and ice melted. He drank ice-cold water from a glacial tarn.

He's one of those youngsters who likes to check things out before he makes decisions -- like casting a vote. I won't get into the connection between water and California voting. That's a subject for a different blog.

Back to the high Sierra, I think it's really important to show the next generation what's up here and connect the dots. I know plenty of people, young and old, whose world is inside four walls. That was true for me when I was 20 years old.

I'll have a few more blogs soon about seeing California up close. And you don't have to put your phone on vibrate. I'm hoping to get you into places where there is no cell coverage.