Yosemite Falls

Yosemite Falls drops 2,425 feet from the rim of Yosemite Valley to the valley floor. It comes in three parts. The Upper Fall plunges 1,430 feet in a single leap, more than half the total. Below it the Middle Cascades tumble 675 feet through a series of smaller drops in a narrow gorge, and the Lower Fall finishes with a 320-foot plunge into a boulder-strewn pool. Seen from the valley meadows, the whole sequence reads as one white ribbon on the granite wall.

The water comes from Yosemite Creek, which gathers snowmelt on the plateau above and then runs out of ground at the rim. Its valley was left hanging when glaciers cut the main valley far deeper than the side streams could follow, so the creek simply falls off the edge. That also explains its moods. In late spring, when the high country is melting, the fall roars and the spray drifts across the path at its foot; by late summer or autumn it usually dwindles and in dry years stops altogether, leaving a dark streak on the rock.

The Ahwahneechee people who lived in the valley called the fall Cholock, and held that the pool at its base was haunted by spirits known as the Poloti. Today two very different walks lead to it. A short, easy path from near Yosemite Valley Lodge ends at a bridge below the Lower Fall. The trail to the top of the Upper Fall is a different matter, about three and a half miles each way, steep and strenuous, taking most walkers between two and four hours to climb, with views down the fall and across the valley.

Getting there

The falls rise above Yosemite Valley, near Yosemite Valley Lodge. Chowchilla, the nearest sizeable town listed, is 91.4 km away. Mammoth Yosemite Airport (MMH) is 68.1 km away in a straight line, but only over the Tioga Pass road, which is open in summer and autumn; Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT) is the usual gateway from the south, via Highway 41. Year-round YARTS buses run to the valley from Merced along Highway 140, with through-ticketing from Amtrak trains.