Nevada Falls
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Height of falls:
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594 feet | ||
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Watercourse:
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Merced River | |||
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Elevation of crest:
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5907 feet | |||
| click for a larger picture | ||||
| The Merced River rises in the high country of the Sierra Crest, springing from snowfields and glaciers on Mount Lyell, highest peak in the park. It drops steadily through U-shaped glacial canyons, running right through two sizeable alpine lakes, Washburn and Merced. As it approaches Nevada Falls it flows quietly through tranquil meanders over the almost flat floor of Little Yosemite Valley, steepening only in the last hundred yards as it accelerates down a chute and bursts forth from the cliff as Nevada Falls.
Though it is the most remote of the major falls in Yosemite, Nevada is easily viewed from Glacier Point, 1300 feet above and two miles away. It is also possible to hike to the top of the falls, either by following the river up past Vernal Falls, or by taking the Panorama Trail, which traces the cliff edges all the way from Glacier Point. There is a deep green pool just above this falls. Despite fences and warning signs hikers wade and sometimes swim here, and almost every year someone is swept over the falls. As the sign bluntly warns "IF YOU SLIP AND GO OVER THE WATERFALL YOU WILL DIE." |
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