At Yosemite National Park you can see and photograph a rare and beautiful natural phenomenon: a "firefall". But the conditions have to be just right. In the past, "firefalls" were waterfalls created with fire at Yosemite. A large fire was started atop Glacier Point and red-hot embers were pushed off a shear granite wall in the evening. It was Yosemite’s version of fireworks. Park officials learned it was a fire hazard in the 1960s and the practice was stopped.
For the real thing, the first ingredient you need, oddly enough, is sunlight. You can’t capture this effect throughout the year, and the setting sun is only in the right position during the last two weeks of February, when it can shine a golden spotlight down the center of Yosemite Valley. Wintertime can bring clouds and storms that block the sunlight, so timing and luck are everything.
The next ingredient you need for the firefall is water. The source of water comes from Horsetail Falls, a small waterfall atop El Capitan. The water basin that drains into Horsetail Falls is around 30 acres. The elevation at the top is 7569 feet. It is cold up there in February. It gets cold enough to freeze any snow or rain into a solid piece of ice. California also has dry years when waterfalls barely run. No water means no waterfall, and no firefall. So, again, timing and luck are everything, and this can be a rare sight.
The best location to view the firefall is slightly east of El Capitan near the base of the mountain. You need to be east of Horsetail Falls as the sun sets in the West. Sunlight shining through the waterfall creates the most brilliant colors. There is a small meadow that provides an opening in the forest at a perfect angle. The spot is in between Yosemite Lodge and El Capitan. Photographers gather in a large herd at the end of February. The easiest way to find that meadow is to look for a lot of cars parked along Northside Drive for no apparent reason. You have gone too far if you get to the large parking area directly in front of El Capitan.
For the real thing, the first ingredient you need, oddly enough, is sunlight. You can’t capture this effect throughout the year, and the setting sun is only in the right position during the last two weeks of February, when it can shine a golden spotlight down the center of Yosemite Valley. Wintertime can bring clouds and storms that block the sunlight, so timing and luck are everything.
The next ingredient you need for the firefall is water. The source of water comes from Horsetail Falls, a small waterfall atop El Capitan. The water basin that drains into Horsetail Falls is around 30 acres. The elevation at the top is 7569 feet. It is cold up there in February. It gets cold enough to freeze any snow or rain into a solid piece of ice. California also has dry years when waterfalls barely run. No water means no waterfall, and no firefall. So, again, timing and luck are everything, and this can be a rare sight.
The best location to view the firefall is slightly east of El Capitan near the base of the mountain. You need to be east of Horsetail Falls as the sun sets in the West. Sunlight shining through the waterfall creates the most brilliant colors. There is a small meadow that provides an opening in the forest at a perfect angle. The spot is in between Yosemite Lodge and El Capitan. Photographers gather in a large herd at the end of February. The easiest way to find that meadow is to look for a lot of cars parked along Northside Drive for no apparent reason. You have gone too far if you get to the large parking area directly in front of El Capitan.
Take a few moments and enjoy one of nature's rare and beautiful phenomena.
[My thanks to "B-Cause" of "The Free Republic" blog for this article]
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3 comments:
Can you spell Photoshop?
LOL Not even a good attempt!
Anonymous,
The information and photos in this article ARE authentic. I confirmed their validity on Snopes prior to posting them (http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/firewaterfall.asp). I suggest, in the future, you do the same before you attempt to discredit someone else's work.
Lastly, I welcome all comments, pro and con. However, I have asked that those posting comments have the courtesy of identifying themselves in some manner (see my blog profile above), so we have some method of attributing comments to their respective authors.
Yep - SNOPES does, indeed, confirm that some of the pix are actually what they're purported to be. The balance are from "the good old days" of tourist entertainment when they'd build a bonfire at the top of (another?) falls and push it over the edge around dusk. Heck! They used to have "feed the bears" shows in Yellowstone NP!
S. Gullette / Dodge2500CTD@hotmail.com
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