MIRROR LAKE, REFLECTING EL CAPITAN, IN YOSEMITE PARK, CAL.—Among the myriad attractions of Yosemite Park, none are more popular than Mirror Lake. The water is so transparent as to give a perfect and beautiful reflection of all surrounding objects. The photograph on this page is a fine example of this attractive feature, the reflection being so perfect that it is difficult to determine which is the right side of the picture. If this lake had been located in the Garden of Eden, we could not blame our grandmother Eve for admiring her counterpart in its pellucid depths.
ILLILLOUETTE FALLS AND SOUTH DOME.
But besides these, as we turn to sweep the other points, we catch views no less grand, of Ribbon Fall, with its leap of 3,350 feet, Indian Cañon, Royal Arches, Bridal Veil Fall, Washington’s Tower, Columbia Rock, and pearl-gray granite walls that rise in places to a vertical height of 6,000 feet. More beautiful, in some respects, than any of these, as many believe, are Mirror Lake, which seems to reflect nearly the whole valley, and Cascade Falls, which are indescribably lovely. The meadows draw our admiration likewise, for they are so covered with flowers as to appear like a carpet of the most gorgeous patterns, done in the liveliest combination of brilliant colors. Other points of great interest are the Giant’s Thumb, Eagle Peak, Valley Ford, the Gnome of the Yosemite, Mount Watkins, 4,000 feet high, and Tis-sa-ack (Half Dome), 5,000 feet in height, which was regarded by the Indians as the Guardian Angel of the valley, for upon the south side of it are the distinct outlines of a human face, declared in a legend to be those of Tu-tock-ah-nu-lah, ancient father of the Yosemites. And there are the Three Brothers, called by the Indians Pom-pom-pa-sa, which signifies “three mountains playing leap-frog,” a name no doubt bestowed because of the popularity of that game with the original natives, and also because the mountains, from a distance, bear a strong resemblance to three giant frogs sitting side by side, upon the point of leaping into the valley, nearly 4,000 feet below.
UPPER CASCADE OF BRIDAL VEIL FALLS IN WINTER.
SENTINEL ROCK WRAPPED IN A CLOUD.