Hetch Hetchy Revealed

I know that it’s part and parcel of a travel writer’s job to let the world know about unusual places to go. But sometimes when a writer places a story in the Travel section about one of these undiscovered places, a jewel that is shining but hidden from the omnipotent ravages of mankind’s destruction, isn’t it perhaps your duty to keep it a secret?

Writer Michael R. Boldrick remarks with wonder in his article about the Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National Park (“Tapping Hetch Hetchy,” Weekend Escape, July 9): “But most remarkable: We were on the bridge on a summer weekend, and not another tourist was in sight.” If I had experienced this hidden moment, as a writer for any company, and loved the wilderness as Boldrick seems to, I might have thought twice about unleashing yet another path to one of our last unspoiled places here in California.

Isn’t it true that, while people in the media think the public has to know everything, some things are better left alone?

JEANNIE WHITE

Playa del Rey