National Parks
Portfolio

Cover

Contents

Foreword

Parks vs Monuments

Acadia

Bryce Canyon

Carlsbad Caverns

Crater Lake

General Grant

Glacier

Grand Canyon

Grand Teton

Hawaii

Hot Springs

Lassen Volcanic

Mesa Verde

Mount McKinley

Mount Rainier

Platt

Rocky Mountain

Seqoia

Wind Cave

Yellowstone

Yosemite

Zion

Monuments

National Parks Portfolio

Yosemite

ITS NAME IS SELF-EVIDENT—THE BRIDALVEIL FALLS
Photograph by H.C. Tibbitts

The VALLEY INCOMPARABLE

THE first view of most spots of unusual celebrity often falls short of expectation, but this is seldom, if ever, true of the Yosemite Valley. The sheer immensity of the precipices on either side of the peaceful floor; the loftiness and the romatic suggestion of the numerous waterfalls; the majesty of the granite walls; and the unreal, almost fairy quality of the ever-varying whole can not be successfully foretold.

This valley was once a tortuous river canyon. So rapidly was it cut by the Merced that the tributary valleys soon remained hanging high on either side. Then the canyon became the bed of a great glacier. It was widened as well as deepened, and the hanging character of the side valleys was accentuated.

This explains the enormous height of the waterfalls.

The Yosemite Falls, for instance, drops 1,430 feet in one sheer fall, a height equal to nine Niagara Falls piled one on top of the other. The Lower Yosemite Fall, immediately below, has a drop of 320 feet, or two Niagaras more. Vernal Falls has the same height. The Nevada Falls drops 594 feet sheer, and the celebrated Bridalveil Falls 620 feet. Nowhere else in the world may be had a water spectacle such as this.

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Last Modified: Mon, Oct 31, 2002 10:00:00 pm PDT
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