Yosemite's Waterfall Riches: When the Junior Varsity Team Outdoes Everyone Else's Varsity

Ribbon Falls (1,612 feet) just west of El Capitan. The colorful red trees aren't fall colors; they're conifers killed by California's extended drought.

You wouldn't know it from the fine physique I carry around on my middle, but I once had an exciting career in high school track and field, and also cross-country running. I was even one leg of a relay race against a relay team with Steve Scott, one of America's greatest milers (yes, our team lost). I learned a lot from that experience, the most important being that I was too lazy to be a world-class athlete, and too slow. But the other thing I learned was that some teams were so good that their junior varsity teams could beat any other varsity team in the district.

Which brings us to Yosemite Valley. I've been up to the park twice in the last month, but Mrs. Geotripper wasn't able to come along, so I didn't argue at all on Sunday when she said "Let's go". I wrote a recent blog showing off some of the beautiful waterfalls that made the valley famous ("Yosemite's Dance of the Seven Veils"), but this trip I was realizing that Yosemite's junior varsity waterfalls are as good as any other valley around. You might miss them if you visit in the summer, but they are stunning when you get a chance to see them.

Ribbon Fall

One of them has the greatest free-fall of any waterfall in the valley (and probably in the United States). Called Ribbon Fall, it drops 1,612 foot (491 meters). Because it is one of the first ones seen by visitors arriving in the valley (it's west of El Capitan near the entrance to the valley), it's often mistaken for Yosemite Falls. Yosemite Falls is technically a taller waterfall at 2,425 feet (739 meters), but it's broken into three parts with the Upper Falls having the greatest free-fall at 1,430 feet (440 meters). Ribbon is an incredible sight at this time of year, but it dries up quickly in the spring, as it has a very small watershed.

I showed off Sentinel Falls in the last post about Yosemite, but I got closer this time and got a picture from a different angle. The falls are on the south side of the valley near Sentinel Rock and drop 1,920 feet (590 m). 

Yosemite Falls (2,425 feet/739 meters) are of course the waterfall of Yosemite Valley, but few people notice that there is another fall visible in the same scene. If you look in the distance on the right, you can just make out Lehamite Falls (1,180 feet/360 m), the only waterfall in Yosemite that retains an original Ahwaneechee name ("Arrowwood Fall"). It's true that the falls are a bit less spectacular than others in the valley, but were it not for a quirk of the glaciers, Yosemite Falls would have been very similar in appearance to Lehamite. Yosemite Creek was diverted by a glacial moraine and forced to its present location on the sheer cliff.

Lehamite Falls (1,180 feet/360 m)

People who arrive at Yosemite by way of Highway 140 through the Merced River Gorge are treated to a pair of waterfalls, one that is hard to miss and another that is hard to find. Cascade Creek and Tamarack Creek join together a thousand or so feet above the river and form Cascade Falls, with a drop of about 500 feet or so. There is a pullout and a parking area, so this one is hard to miss. 

Cascade Falls

There is a slightly "off" interpretive sign at the falls. It doesn't make clear that these are the Cascades, and a map suggests that one might be standing under Wildcat Falls. I noticed the discrepancy and looked around, believe it or not, for the first time in 80+ visits to the park and tried to see Wildcat Falls (720 feet/219 meters). It wasn't that easy, but hidden off in the trees to the west was a multi-tiered waterfall. I didn't have time to see the grotto at the base, but I got the shot below of the biggest single drop.

Upper Wildcat Falls

One more easy-to-miss fall in the valley is Silver Strand. The reason is that it above and slightly behind the awe-struck visitors standing at Tunnel View, perhaps the most famous vista in the park. The fall drops 574 feet (175 m), and often completely freezes over in winter, becoming an ice fall.

Silver Strand was almost completely obscured by the low cloud deck on Sunday, so I've included a picture from our trip a week ago when the skies were clear.

Silver Strand falls in the sunlight (sort of)

Yosemite's waterfalls are without compare. There are many more that I didn't get pictures of last week, including the Widow's Tears (1,170 feet/360 m), Horsetail Falls (2,130 feet/650 m), Illilouette Fall (370 feet/110 m), Snow Creek Falls (2,140 feet/653 m), Nevada Fall (594-foot/181 m), Vernal Fall (317-foot/96.6 m), and the many unnamed falls and cascades that occur at this time of year. It's like they say, "when it rains (or snows), they pour"!

What Waterfall in Yosemite Valley is the Tallest? The Answer May Surprise You

A few days ago I posted a quiz on Yosemite waterfalls. I didn't get much feedback, but it seems only fair to post the answers and add in a few tidbits of trivia about them, not the least of which is figuring out which fall is the tallest. Yosemite is a unique place, and it has a stunning richness of waterfalls in the springtime. Some of them are below...(along with the answers to our pop quiz) Number one: Silver Strand Fall is 524 feet high, and gets missed much of the time because it is mainly visible from the famous Wawona Tunnel View, but everyone there looks at the panorama of Yosemite Valley, and they don't look high on the cliffs to their right. When I was there last week it was actually an ice fall, with barely a trickle of liquid. It flows pretty well in the spring, but dries quickly in the summer.

Number two: This one wasn't too hard, except that I purposely hid the dramatic cliffs that surround it and the snow and frazil around the base was unfamiliar looking, at least to me. It is Bridalveil Fall, 620 feet, which is the one visible from Tunnel View, falling from a valley along the Cathedral Rocks. It flows for much of the year, but late in the season the lightest breeze sends the water droplets flying everywhere but down.

Number three: I'm not sure this cascade even has a name. It is visible from the El Portal area, and I think it lies on Indian Creek, so we'll call it Indian Creek Falls (I'm open to corrections, locals!). When driving up Highway 140 up the Merced River Canyon, it is one of the first waterfalls you will see, but it is only obvious during the spring runoff.

Number four: Grouse Creek Falls (about 200 feet) is also visible (briefly) from along Highway 140 downstream of Yosemite Valley. I usually approach the Valley by way of 140, but I usually leave by other routes. Last week we had to leave along 140, and since I wasn't gabbing over the radio (it would have awakened my slumbering students), I noticed these falls pretty much for the first time. It's the first time I've photographed them, anyway.

Number five: Upper Yosemite Falls (1,430 feet) is the highest of the three sections of Yosemite Falls, which with a total drop of 2,425 feet is somewhere around the fifth to seventh highest waterfall in the world. This shot is from the slightly less familiar angle of Yosemite Village, and does not show the full extent of the drop. Waterfalls are measured in a number of different ways, and if one holds the height of a fall to be a single drop along a single cliff, Yosemite Falls is not the tallest waterfall in Yosemite Valley! The tallest will be revealed below...

Number six: It's not this one, though. I tucked in a close-up of the brink of Bridalveil Fall with icicles along the cliff. It was a really cold day!

Number seven: This is the base of the tallest water fall in Yosemite Valley. It is called Ribbon Fall, which at 1,612 feet is taller than Upper Yosemite Fall. It's not that it is hard to see. It's right next to El Capitan. The problem is that the watershed feeding the fall is relatively small, and the fall tends to dry up quickly in the spring and early summer, so most park visitors don't see it.

Number eight: Here is the top of Ribbon Fall. It is a dramatic drop! I was curious about whether people have bushwhacked their way to the base of the falls and snapped shots from there. Yosemite photographer Edie Howe pointed out to me that the cover image of the book Granite, Water and Light: The Waterfalls of Yosemite Valley by Mike Osborne is just such a picture. I had just purchased the book last year, and found it to be an excellent (and beautiful) introduction to the familiar and not-so-familiar waterfalls in Yosemite Valley. I recommend both it, and Edie's photography site.

Yosemite Valley has such a richness of waterfalls that I could actually put up another quiz with eight waterfalls that aren't pictured yet. It's a wonderful place to visit in the spring (oh, and in the summer, fall, and winter).