It's the same Willow Creek that flows into Bass Lake and moves through five powerhouses generating twenty-seven kilowatts of electricity for California. It's the same Willow Creek that rises at eight thousand feet in the Sierra Forest, crashes through narrow granite canyons and meanders through serene mountain passes on its journey to its confluence with the San Joaquin River twenty-five miles below. Logging railroads have carried their loads alongside and over Willow Creek. Native tribes made their homes along its banks. Each year, thousands of people swim and boat and fish in its waters. In this history of Willow Creek, local author Marcia Penner Freedman shares the amazing story of these moving waters and the people whose lives have been touched by Willow Creek.
Author Marcia Penner Freedman is a lifelong hiker, backpacker and camper. After leaving city life in 1999 and relocating to Oakhurst, just outside of Yosemite, Freedman began to collect the history of Willow Creek and the region. Freedman received a PhD in Educational Psychology from USC and currently teaches psychology at a community college.