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Yosemite National Park (5)
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Glacier Point
One of the most beautiful locations in all of Yosemite National Park is Glacier Point. This precipice, some 3,214 feet above the floor of Yosemite Valley, affords some of the most spectacular views not only in this park but in the entire national park system. It is reached by a 16 mile long, paved road.
Glacier Point itself is found at an altitude of 7214 feet. A visit to the point allows the user to "get his or her bearings", seeing how the various features of Yosemite Valley and surrounding areas relate to each other geographically. The picture below shows the Merced River as it drops into the valley, first cascading over Nevada Falls.
A closeup view of Nevada Falls is shown below.
Glacier Point provides spectacular views of the crest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In addition to Nevada Falls, many peaks can be seen in addition to Half Dome. The promontory next to the falls is Liberty Cap.
This picture provides good views of North Dome, in the center of the picture, and the Royal Arches on the cliff below it, in the shadows in this photograph.
Mt. Clark and Starr King, among many other Sierra peaks, can be seen in the picture below. The Sierras are not a chain of individual mountain peaks, such as the Cascades, but rather a single block of tiled and uplifted granite.
At one time there was a hotel located near Glacier Point, known as "Mountain House", which dated to 1917. This structure burned in the 1950's and was never replaced.
Another perspective showing Nevada Falls, Half dome, Liberty Cap, and a number of other geographical features is shown below.
Another view of the Sierra mountains from Glacier Point is shown below.
Throughout the park the granite peaks can be seen towering above the timber line.
It is easy to see from Glacier Point how the glaciers broadened valleys and created canyons and basins. Some 10,000 years have passed since the latest period of glaciation. The photograph below shows the east end of Yosemite Valley, which is considered to end at Half Dome. Beyond that is the narrower Tenaya Canyon, drained by Tenaya Creek. The mountain behind Half Dome is Cloud's Rest.
The domes found in many places in Yosemite were generally created through the process of exfoliation. Rocks are pushed up from the earth, and when they reach the surface the reduced pressure on the rock allows it to expand outward. The rocks crack in layers which are essentially parallel to their surface, and the outer layers of granite are shed like the layers of an onion
Theodore Roosevelt called Yosemite the most beautiful place on earth. Standing at the rim of the valley, in the area of Glacier Point, it is very difficult to dispute this view.
Half Dome is shown towering above its neighbors in this photo.
The picture belows show Glacier Point from the floor of the valley. In earlier times Glacier Point was the site of a tradition known as the "firefall." In the evening, after dark, a bonfire composed of red fir bark was built and shoved over the edge of cliff to create a spectacular show for people in the valley below. One place where this practice is preserved on film is in the famous movie The Caine Mutiny.
This type of artificial and potentially harmful display is no longer in favor in our national parks. The firefall was stopped in 1968, although the scars caused by the fire on lichens of the cliff are still visible.
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