Part 2

The falls are at their fullest in May and June while the winter snows are melting. They are still running in July, but after that decrease rapidly in volume, Yosemite Fall often drying up entirely by August 15 when there has been little rain or snow. But let it not be supposed that the beauty of the falls depends upon the amount of water that pours over their brinks. It is true that the May rush of water over the Yosemite Fall is even a little appalling, when the ground sometimes trembles with it half a mile away, but it is equally true that the spectacle of the Yosemite Fall in late July, when, in specially dry seasons, much of the water reaches the bottom of the upper fall in the form of mist, possesses a filmy grandeur that is not comparable probably with any other sight in the world; the one inspires by sheer bulk and power, the other uplifts by its intangible spirit of beauty. To see the waterfalls at their best one should visit Yosemite before July 15.

HEIGHT OF WATERFALLS

Name Height of fall Altitude of crest Above sea Above pier level near Sentinel Hotel _Feet_ _Feet_ _Feet_ Yosemite Fall 1,430 6,525 2,565 Lower Yosemite Fall 320 4,420 460 Nevada Fall 594 5,907 1,947 Vernal Fall 317 5,044 1,084 Illilouette Fall 370 5,816 1,856 Bridalveil Fall 620 4,787 827 Ribbon Fall 1,612 7,008 3,048 Widows Tears Fall 1,170 6,466 2,506

GLACIER POINT AND THE RIM OF YOSEMITE VALLEY

Glacier Point, above the Valley rim, commands a magnificent view of the High Sierra. Spread before one in panorama are the domes, the pinnacles, the waterfalls, and dominating all, Half Dome, a mythical Indian turned to stone. A few steps from the hotel one looks down into Yosemite Valley, 3,254 feet below, where automobiles are but moving specks, tents white dots, and the Merced River a silver tracery on green velvet. From the little stone lookout, perched on the very rim of the gorge, by means of high-powered binoculars installed for that purpose one may study the detail of the High Sierra and its flanking ranges, miles distant, through a sweep of 180°, as though they were at his very feet. A ranger-naturalist is here in summer to assist visitors and to discuss the geology, trees, birds, and wildlife of Yosemite.

No visitor should leave Yosemite without seeing Glacier Point. It is the climax of all Yosemite views. It is reached by an excellent paved road which leaves the Valley just west of Bridalveil Fall, and then through the 4,233-foot tunnel to Chinquapin, from which point a good oiled mountain road leads through forests of fir and lodgepole pine to Glacier Point. The total distance is 28 miles, or about 1½ hours drive each way. The fire fall is a nightly feature and takes on an entirely different aspect from the top of the cliff. A short drive of a half mile from the main road above Glacier Point brings one to Sentinel Dome, 8,117 feet in elevation, where an unobstructed panorama of the southern half of the park may be had, from the coast range on the west to the snow-capped ridge of the Sierra on the east. A hotel, cafeteria, and Government camp ground are available at Glacier Point.

ALTITUDE OF SUMMITS INCLOSING YOSEMITE VALLEY

Name Altitude above sea Altitude above pier level near Sentinel Hotel _Feet_ _Feet_ Basket Dome 7,602 3,642 Cathedral Rocks 6,551 2,592 Cathedral Spires 6,114 2,154 Clouds Rest 9,930 5,964 Columbia Rock 5,031 1,071 Eagle Peak 7,773 3,813 El Capitan 7,564 3,604 Glacier Point 7,214 3,254 Half Dome 8,852 4,892 Leaning Tower 5,863 1,903 Liberty Cap 7,072 3,112 North Dome 7,531 3,571 Old Inspiration Point 6,603 2,643 Panorama Point 6,224 2,264 Profile Cliff 7,503 3,543 Pulpit Rock 4,195 765 Sentinel Dome 8,117 4,157 Stanford Point 6,659 2,699 Taft Point 7,503 3,543 Washington Column 5,912 1,952 Yosemite Point 6,935 2,975

THE BIG TREES

One of the best groves of giant sequoia trees outside of the Sequoia National Park is found in the extreme south of the Yosemite National Park and is called the Mariposa Grove. It is reached from the Wawona Road, which enters the park from the south. From the Yosemite Valley it is an easy drive of 35 miles over a paved, high-gear road requiring about 1½ hours each way. Unsurpassed views of the whole expanse of Yosemite Valley may be had from the east portal of the new 4,233-foot tunnel and, from the Wawona Road, an extensive outlook over the South Fork Basin and four or five ranges of foothills of the Sierra is a sight long to be remembered, especially at sunset when the mountain ranges turn to many shades of purple and gray.

All visitors to the Mariposa Grove should take the side trip to Glacier Point, a distance of 16 miles each way, the road branching off at Chinquapin. Here one may obtain an unsurpassed panorama of the High Sierra.

The new Big Trees Lodge in the upper grove is located in a beautiful grove of sequoias, 20 to 30 feet in diameter, and affords excellent accommodations, with cafeteria service available to all. The Government provides a public camp ground near the entrance to the Big Tree Grove. Hotels and camp grounds are also available at Wawona, 9 miles north of the grove on the Wawona Road. Stages are run daily throughout the summer to Glacier Point, Wawona, and Big Trees. Visitors to the grove are urged to take plenty of time and really grasp the significance of these giant trees, the oldest and largest living things on earth.

The Grizzly Giant is the oldest tree in the grove, with a base diameter of 27.6 feet, girth of 96.5 feet, and height of 209 feet. There is no accurate way of knowing the age of the Grizzly Giant but its size and gnarled appearance indicate that it is at least 3,800 years old.

A ranger-naturalist is on duty at the Big Trees Museum and gives talks on the trees. Near the museum is the fallen Massachusetts tree, an immense sequoia, 280 feet long and 28 feet in diameter, that was blown over in the winter of 1927. As the tree is broken into several sections, it provides a fine opportunity to study the rings and the character of the wood. By climbing the length of this fallen tree one receives a graphic impression of the size of these monarchs. In August 1934 another giant, the “Stable” tree fell. It is located just above the museum. Visitors should continue up the road to the famous tunnel tree, the Wawona, and drive through the opening 8 feet wide that was cut in 1881. This tree is 231 feet tall and 27½ feet in diameter. A little farther up the road a wonderful view over the Wawona Basin and South Fork Canyon may be had at Wawona Point, elevation 6,890 feet; especially fine are the views at sunset from this point.

There are two other groves of Big Trees in Yosemite. The Tuolumne Grove, located on the Big Oak Flat Road, 17 miles from the Valley, contains some 25 very fine specimens and also a huge tree 29½ feet in diameter through which cars may be driven. The other grove, one of unusual natural beauty in a secluded corner of the park, is the Merced Grove of Big Trees, reached by a good dirt road. It is about 5 miles west of Crane Flat off the Big Oak Flat Road.

THE WAWONA BASIN

The Wawona Basin of 14 square miles, added to the park in 1932, provides an extensive area for recreational use. Here camping, riding, and golfing may be enjoyed in a perfect setting along the South Fork of the Merced River. Wawona is located in a beautiful mountain meadow on the new Wawona Road, 27 miles south of the Valley and near the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees. Superb views are obtainable from many points on this road, which leaves the Valley just west of Bridalveil Fall. Saddle and pack animals are available at popular prices for trips to the fine fishing lakes and streams in the southern part of the park. There are also tennis courts and swimming pools. The Wawona Hotel provides both European and American plan service, and operates a coffee shop. Stores, meat market, garage, gas station, and post office are available, and along the river near Wawona is a free camp ground. An emergency airplane landing field is located near the Wawona Hotel.

HETCH HETCHY VALLEY

A good oiled mountain road makes the scenic Hetch Hetchy Valley a short, 2-hour drive by car from Yosemite Valley, a distance of 38 miles each way over the Big Oak Flat Road. This road is a 1-way control road for the first 4 miles after it leaves the Valley near El Capitan. This one-way section is a road of rare charm and beauty with superb views over the Valley. It passes through fine stands of Sugar Pine and Red Fir and the Tuolumne Grove of Big Trees. The road continues on through one of the finest stands of sugar pine left in the world.

A fine paved road extends from Mather down to the Hetch Hetchy Dam, a distance of 9 miles, where one may see San Francisco’s gigantic 300-foot Hetch Hetchy Dam and water supply. The valley is similar to Yosemite, with tumbling waterfalls and precipitous cliffs surrounding a lake 7 miles long. The San Francisco Recreation Camp is located at Mather, near the park line.

Visitors using the Big Oak Flat Road are urged to see the wonderful panorama of the High Sierra from the fire look-out tower, 1½ miles over an oiled road just west of Crane Flat. The fire guard on duty will be glad to explain the points of interest and show visitors how fires are located and put under control.

TUOLUMNE MEADOWS

John Muir, in describing the upper Tuolumne region, writes:

It is the heart of the High Sierra, 8,500 to 9,000 feet above the level of the sea. The gray picturesque Cathedral Range bounds it on the south; a similar range or spur, the highest peak of which is Mount Conness, on the north; the noble Mounts Dana, Gibbs, Mammoth, Lyell, Maclure, and others on the axis of the range on the east; a heavy billowy crowd of glacier-polished rocks and Mount Hoffmann on the west. Down through the open sunny meadow levels of the Valley flows the Tuolumne River, fresh and cool from its many glacial fountains, the highest of which are the glaciers that lie on the north side of Mount Lyell and Mount Maclure.

A store, gas station, garage, post office, camp ground, High Sierra Camp, and Tuolumne Meadows Lodge make the Meadows an ideal high-mountain camping place and starting point for fishing, hiking, and mountain-climbing trips. Tuolumne Meadows is 67 miles or about a 4-hour drive over the Big Oak Flat and Tioga Roads from Yosemite Valley. Saddle horses are available, and many fine trips may be made to Waterwheel Falls, Mount Lyell, Mount Conness, Glen Aulin, Muir Gorge, and hundreds of good fishing lakes and streams. Stage service to Tuolumne Meadows, Tioga Pass, Mono Lake, and Lake Tahoe is maintained daily throughout the summer months.

Fishing is usually very good in nearby lakes and streams. The Waterwheel Falls, Muir Gorge, the Soda Springs, the spectacular canyon scenery, jewel-like Tenaya Lake, and the Mount Lyell Glacier are a few of the interesting places to visit near Tuolumne Meadows.

John Muir writes this interesting description of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne and Waterwheel Falls:

It is the cascades or sloping falls on the main river that are the crowning glory of the canyon, and these, in volume, extent, and variety, surpass those of any other canyon in the Sierra. The most showy and interesting of them are mostly in the upper part of the canyon above the point of entrance of Cathedral Creek and Hoffmann Creek. For miles the river is one wild, exulting, onrushing mass of snowy purple bloom, spreading over glacial waves of granite without any definite channel, gliding in magnificent silver plumes, dashing and foaming through huge boulder dams, leaping high in the air in wheel-like whirls, displaying glorious enthusiasm, tossing from side to side, doubling, glinting, singing in exuberance of mountain energy.

Muir’s “wheel-like whirls” undoubtedly mean the celebrated Waterwheel Falls. Rushing down the canyon’s slanting granites under great headway, the river encounters shelves of rock projecting from its bottom. From these, enormous arcs of solid water are thrown high in the air. Some of the waterwheels rise 20 feet and span 50 feet in the arc. Unfortunately, the amount of water in the river drops with the advance of summer and the waterwheels lose much of their forcefulness. Visitors should see this spectacle during the period of high water from June 15 to August 1 in normal years.

The Waterwheel Falls may be reached by a good trail 5.5 miles from the Tioga Road down the Tuolumne River Gorge to the Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp, where meals and overnight accommodations are available, then 2.8 miles down the river to Waterwheel Falls. Saddle animals may be rented at Tuolumne Meadows for this trip.

Below the waterwheels the Tuolumne Canyon descends abruptly, the river plunging madly through the mile-deep gorge. Trails built a few years ago down the canyon from the Waterwheel Falls to Pate Valley penetrate the very heart of the gorge. The Muir Gorge, a vertical-walled cleft in the canyon a half mile deep, is, as a result, but 2 hours below Waterwheel Falls and the same above Pate Valley by the new trails. The entire canyon may be traversed with ease either on horseback or on foot.

PATE VALLEY

A few miles farther westward the granite heights slope back more gently and the river suddenly pauses in its tumultuous course to meander through the pines and oaks and cedars of a meadowed flat. Pate Valley has been known for years from the reports of venturesome knapsackers, but now it is made accessible by one of the best trails in the park.

An unnatural smoky blackening of the overhanging cornices of the 200-foot walls almost surrounding the glade leads one to approach them, and there, near the ground, are hundreds of Indian pictographs. These are mysterious, fantastic, and unreadable, but the deep-red stain is as clearly defined as on the day that the red man set down tales of his great hunt, or of famine, or of war, or perhaps of his gods. Here, too, obsidian chips tell the story of preparation for war and the chase, and sharp eyes are rewarded by the sight of many a perfect spear point or arrowhead.

Atop a huge shaded talus block are many bowl-shaped holes, a primitive gristmill where once the squaws ground acorns for their pounded bread, which was the staff of life for so many California tribes. Blackened cooking rocks may be found, and numerous stone pestles lying about in this and two or three similar places seem to point to a hurried departure, but the “when” and “why” of this exodus still remain a mystery.

THE NORTHERN CANYONS

North of the Tuolumne River is an enormous area of lakes and valleys which are seldom visited, notwithstanding that it is penetrated by numerous trails. It is a wilderness of wonderful charm and deserves to harbor a thousand camps. The trout fishing in many of these waters is unsurpassed.

Though unknown to people generally, this superb Yosemite country north of the Valley has been the haunt for many years of the confirmed mountain lovers of the Pacific coast. It has been the favorite resort of the Sierra Club during many years of summer outings.

THE MOUNTAIN CLIMAX OF THE SIERRA

The monster mountain mass, of which Mount Lyell, 13,090 feet high, is the chief, lies on the eastern boundary of the park. It may be reached by trail from Tuolumne Meadows and is well worth the journey. It is the climax of the Sierra in this neighborhood.

The traveler swings from the Tuolumne Meadows around Johnson Peak to Lyell Fork and turns southward up its valley. Huge Kuna Crest borders the trail’s left side for miles. At the head of the Valley, beyond several immense granite shelves, rears the mighty group, Mount Lyell in the center, supported on the north by Mount Maclure and on the south by Rodgers Peak.

The way up is through a vast basin of tumbled granite, encircled at its climax by a titanic rampart of nine sharp, glistening peaks and hundreds of spear-like points, the whole usually cloaked in enormous sweeping shrouds of snow. Presently the granite spurs inclose one. And directly, beyond these, looms a mighty wall of glistening granite which apparently forbids further approach to the mountain’s shrine. But another half hour brings one face to face with Lyell’s rugged top and shining glacier, one of the noblest high places in America. Mount Dana, with its glacier and great variety of alpine flowers, can be climbed in one day from Tuolumne Meadows and now offers a very popular hiking trip.

MERCED AND WASHBURN LAKES

The waters from the western slopes of Lyell and Maclure find their way, through many streams and many lakelets of splendid beauty, into two lakes which are the headwaters of the famous Merced River. The upper of these is Washburn Lake, cradled in bare heights and celebrated for its fishing. This is the formal source of the Merced. Several miles below, the river rests again in beautiful Merced Lake.

One of the six Yosemite High Sierra camps is at the head of Merced Lake. There is a new trail 13 miles from Yosemite Valley to Merced Lake which crosses glacier-polished slopes. It is real wilderness, famous for its good fishing and beautiful scenery.

CLIMATE AND SEASONS

This land of enchantments is a land of enchanted climate. Its summers are warm, but not too warm; dry, but not too dry; its nights cool and marvelously starry. Moonlight on the towering granite walls is unsurpassed in its romantic beauty.

It is a land of sunshine. It is a land of inspiring, often sublime scenery. It is the ideal camping-out ground. Rain seldom falls in the Yosemite between May and October. In winter Yosemite Valley is transformed into a snowy fairyland and all sorts of winter sports may be enjoyed. The weather is mild and sunny most of the time. To many, winter is the finest season in Yosemite. In addition to the toboggans, skating, dog teams, and other winter sports available in the Valley from December 1 to March 1, unlimited areas for snow sports and skiing are now accessible from the new Wawona Road which is open most of the winter.

Spring in Yosemite is most refreshing and exhilarating. It rarely rains and is seldom even cloudy. The falls are at their best; the azalea bushes, which grow to man’s height, blossom forth in flowers exquisite as orchids. The latter part of April or the early part of May the lodges and camps are opened, tents are pitched along the river, and before one knows it summer has arrived.

In this season Yosemite has an irresistible appeal. There is every form of enjoyment available. One may live in a lodge, where the honk of an automobile is never heard and where a full day’s catch of trout is assured from nearby lake or stream; one may live in a hotel where mountain scenery is unsurpassed; or one may live in the Valley and enjoy swimming, hiking, nature trips, auto caravans, evening programs, motor trips, fishing, dancing, tennis, golf, and many other forms of entertainment.

Autumn is intensified in the Yosemite. All is quiet. The falls are silent and only a few people and machines are encountered. Nature is supreme. The changing leaves of the dogwood, azaleas, and quaking aspens form a brilliant assortment of colors.

WINTER SPORTS

Yosemite Valley is unusually beautiful in winter, when the fresh snowfalls transform it into a white fairyland and sunset paints the cliffs and domes with rosy alpine glow.

John Muir, in describing the ice cone of the Yosemite Fall, writes:

The frozen spray (of the fall) gives rise to one of the most interesting winter features of the Valley—a cone of ice at the foot of the fall 400 or 500 feet high. * * * When the cone is in the process of formation, growing higher and wider in frosty weather, it looks like a beautiful, smooth, pure white hill.

The All-Year Highway is open and in good condition every day during the winter months and the Government maintains the roads in safe condition so that chains are not ordinarily needed. It is, however, advisable to carry chains in case they are needed during heavy storms. Information on snow sports and winter road conditions may be obtained at automobile associations. It is advisable to make reservations for rooms on Saturday nights and holidays from December 25 to February 25.

The Wawona Road to the Big Trees is open most of the winter except during periods of unusually heavy snowfall. There are unlimited snow fields for skiing and other snow sports along the Wawona Road, accessible through the tunnel.

The Valley, inclosed by granite walls which shut out the winds, has a mild and balmy winter climate. In fact, these walls really provide two distinct winter climates on opposite sides of the Valley, the north side being many degrees warmer than the south. On the northern side one may motor, ride horseback, and hike in comfort, while on the southern side, screened from the sun by the towering cliffs, all the popular winter sports prevail. Under the auspices of the Yosemite Winter Club, ice hockey matches, curling, fancy costume skating carnivals, snow figure contests, ski-joring races, skating gymkhanas, figure skating exhibitions, Eskimo dog races, and other winter sports events are held throughout the winter season, which usually lasts from December until March.

Competent instructors on the Yosemite Winter Club staff provide group and individual instruction in skiing and plain and fancy skating. Winter sports equipment and clothing may be rented reasonably in the Valley.

The National Park Service maintains a popular free snowslide for the enjoyment of the public. It is called “Ash Can Alley”, because the trip down the slide is made in heavy tin pans that resemble ash-can covers.