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Yosemite
THE HIGHEST WATERFALL IN THE WORLD—THE YOSEMITE FALLS
The Upper Fall measures 1,430 feet as high as nine Niagaras.
The Lower Fall measures 320 feet. The total drop from crest to river,
including intermediate cascades, is almost half a mile
Photograph by A.C. Pillsbury
THE GATES OF THE VALLEY
Photograph by J.V. Lloyd
LAND OF ENCHANTMENT
WHO does not know of the Yosemite Valley? And yet, how few have heard of the Yosemite National Park! How few know that this world-famous, incomparable valley is merely a crack seven miles long in a scenic masterpiece of eleven hundred square miles!
John Muir loved the valley and crystallized its fame in phrase.
But still more he loved the national park, which he describes as including "innumerable lakes and waterfalls and smooth silky lawns; the noblest forests, the loftiest granite domes, the deepest ice-sculptured canyons, the brightest crystalline pavements, and snowy mountains soaring into the sky twelve and thirteen thousand feet, arrayed in open ranks and spiry pinnacled groups partially separated by tremendous canyons and amphitheaters; gardens on their sunny brows, avalanches thundering down their long white slopes, cataracts roaring gray and foaming in the crooked rugged gorges, and glaciers in their shadowy recesses working in silence, slowly completing their sculptures; newborn lakes at their feet, blue and green, free or encumbered with drifting icebergs like miniature Arctic Oceans, shining, sparkling, calm as stars."
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Last Modified: Mon, Oct 31, 2002 10:00:00 pm PDT
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