Upper Yosemite Falls
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Height of falls:
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1430 feet | ||
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Watercourse:
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YosemiteCreek | |||
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Elevation of crest:
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6525 feet | |||
| click for a larger picture | ||||
| Yosemite Creek originates in the high country north of the Tioga Road and follows a broad forested valley south for ten miles before abruptly plunging into Yosemite Valley. Its channel is only slightly notched into the lip of the cliff, which is one of the broadest and sheerest sections of the valley wall. Only one tiny obstruction, Fern Ledge, interrupts its plunge into the V-shaped gorge of the middle cascades.
Yosemite Creek dwindles to a trickle in late summer and autumn, but in spring it brings down a copious flood of snowmelt. The roar of Upper Yosemite Falls in spring can be heard, and felt, all through the valley. In winter a huge cone of ice builds at the base of the upper falls, composed of slabs that form during the night and fall off as the morning sun warms the granite. Yosemite Falls dominates most views from the upper part of Yosemite Valley's floor, and is directly opposite the Glacier Point viewpoint. To best appreciate it, though, one should take the trail that zig-zags up through oak forest behind Camp Four then cuts diagonally across over Columbia Point. The trail rounds a corner and brings one suddenly face to face with the thundering falls, on a level with its base. It then continues up a steep gulley to the valley rim, with a short spur leading to a vertiginous ledge at the very brink of the falls. |
Yosemite Falls from Sentinel Meadow -- a virtual reality panorama
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