GENERAL FEATURES OF THE VALLEY
All points of scenic interest are indicated in the road and trail trips, but the following brief discussion of the major features of the valley may serve to orient the new-comer. In this connection the aeroplane-view frontispiece will be found exceedingly useful.
First and most impressive are the great rock masses. The square-cut 3200 foot cliff of El Capitan at the Gates of the Valley is regarded by many as the most awe-inspiring of all great rocks; yet others affirm that Half Dome, a few miles eastward, is just as mighty and far more lovable.
The castellated Cathedral Rocks rising half to two-thirds as high as El Capitan on the opposite side of the valley are dwarfed in comparison, but are given an individual personality by their exceptional outline. Just eastward, the marvelously delicate pinnacles of the Cathedral Spires, each towering over 500 feet from its base, stand out from the great south wall. Less interesting but very mighty are the Three Brothers, rising 3800 feet as a great buttress of the north wall. Opposite them the Sentinel Rock, a huge obelisk-like watch tower, guards the south ramparts.
At the upper end of the valley the dome formation is dominant. To the north are the rounded summits of North Dome, Basket Dome and Mount Watkins. The granite walls below them have fractured in great concentric arcs, forming the marvelously symmetrical Royal Arches, at the east end of which is the striking vertical promontory of Washington Column. At the edge of the perpendicular cliffs of the south wall is Glacier Point, the finest lookout point in the valley, and a short distance back from the rim are the symmetrical curves of Sentinel Dome.
Yosemite Valley is formed by the confluence of two great canyons—Tenaya Canyon from the northeast and the upper Merced Canyon from the southeast. Between them originates a great backbone ridge which extends many miles to the northeast and exhibits many examples of dome structure and glacial sculpture. Lowest of its promontories is the roughly hewn Grizzly Peak, which is flanked on the east by the well rounded summits and smoothly planed sides of Mount Broderick and Liberty Cap. Then, standing in massive isolation 5000 feet above the valley and 2000 feet above its immediate base is Half Dome. Further to the northeast along the ridge are the two Quarter Domes, the Pinnacles and Clouds Rest, the highest summit in the immediate vicinity of Yosemite.
Tenaya Canyon, a great glaciated gorge countersunk thousands of feet into the granite, is practically impassable. The main canyon of the Merced, however, as it comes from the east, widens to form the Little Yosemite Valley. With its level meadows and sheer granite walls flanked by perfectly formed domes, it is marvelously like Yosemite but smaller. Further eastward is the High Sierra.
THE WATERFALLS