YOSEMITE RIVER

Yosemite Falls.

Yosemite is one of the small tributary rivers of North America, but also one of the most famous. It was made famous by being incorporated as part of the Yosemite National Park.

The river flows from the granite mountains plateau of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Most of the precipitation falls on these mountains in the winter as snow. The river is icebound throughout the winter and only begins to flow as the snow melts in spring. The river then cascades over the third highest waterfall in the world, the Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls, before joining the Merced River, which in turn flows to the Sacramento River.

The Yosemite Falls are a result of the recent Ice Age, when glaciers gouged deeply into the landscape. The bigger glaciers, such as the one that filled the Merced Valley, gouged more deeply than the smaller valley that is now occupied by the Yosemite. Once the ice melted away, therefore, the small Yosemite Valley was left high above the floor of the Merced Valley. As the water tumbles down from the Yosemite to the Merced it creates the spectacular waterfalls that have made the Yosemite area so popular.

The Yosemite is not the only small tributary that tumbles into the Merced. Several other rivers also fall from their hanging valleys to the Merced. You will see some of these in the pictures below.

Merced Valley with Half Dome in Spring.

Bridalveil Falls

Nevada Falls.