Vernal Fall in Full Spate
Vernal Fall is a 96.6m waterfall on the Merced River just downstream of Nevada Fall in Yosemite National Park, California. Vernal Fall, as well as Nevada Fall, is clearly visible from Glacier Point. The waterfall runs all year long, although by the end of summer it is substantially reduced in volume and can split into multiple strands, rather than the single curtain of water seen here.
Yan-o-pah (little cloud) was the local name of the fall before it was named "Vernal" by Lafayette Bunnell, a member of the Mariposa Battalion in 1851.
Atop the falls there is a pool of water called the Emerald Pool around which hikers lounge and rest. There is also a 20˚ slope of rock with water flowing into the pool called the Silver Apron.
Swimming above Vernal Fall can carry with it a great deal of risk: rocks are slippery, and strong undercurrents exist that may not be visible from the surface. Tourists have been swept over Yosemite Valley's Vernal Fall to their deaths. Though warnings are clearly posted to stay out of the water, more than a dozen people have died in the last decade by entering the water above Vernal Fall, including the Silver Apron and Emerald Pool. In the past decade a number of deaths have occurred at other waterfalls in Yosemite, but the park continues to permit swimming in these area with signs advising against swimming.
One person died in May 2007 after hopping from rock to rock around Vernal Fall. Three people died after being swept over the falls in the same manner on 19 July 2011.
The fall is shown in error on a 1932 American colonial-era Philippines stamp. Although the stamp indicates that it depicts Pagsanjan Falls in the Philippines, it in fact shows Vernal Fall. - from Wikipedia.
Seen here in spring 2002. Scanned from a negative.
Vernal Fall in Full Spate
Vernal Fall is a 96.6m waterfall on the Merced River just downstream of Nevada Fall in Yosemite National Park, California. Vernal Fall, as well as Nevada Fall, is clearly visible from Glacier Point. The waterfall runs all year long, although by the end of summer it is substantially reduced in volume and can split into multiple strands, rather than the single curtain of water seen here.
Yan-o-pah (little cloud) was the local name of the fall before it was named "Vernal" by Lafayette Bunnell, a member of the Mariposa Battalion in 1851.
Atop the falls there is a pool of water called the Emerald Pool around which hikers lounge and rest. There is also a 20˚ slope of rock with water flowing into the pool called the Silver Apron.
Swimming above Vernal Fall can carry with it a great deal of risk: rocks are slippery, and strong undercurrents exist that may not be visible from the surface. Tourists have been swept over Yosemite Valley's Vernal Fall to their deaths. Though warnings are clearly posted to stay out of the water, more than a dozen people have died in the last decade by entering the water above Vernal Fall, including the Silver Apron and Emerald Pool. In the past decade a number of deaths have occurred at other waterfalls in Yosemite, but the park continues to permit swimming in these area with signs advising against swimming.
One person died in May 2007 after hopping from rock to rock around Vernal Fall. Three people died after being swept over the falls in the same manner on 19 July 2011.
The fall is shown in error on a 1932 American colonial-era Philippines stamp. Although the stamp indicates that it depicts Pagsanjan Falls in the Philippines, it in fact shows Vernal Fall. - from Wikipedia.
Seen here in spring 2002. Scanned from a negative.