90 



YOSEMITE NATURE NOTES 



G GLACIER POINT. From Glacier 

 12 Point, approximately 300 yards be- 

 yond the hotel, you can see one of 

 the most inspiring views possible in the 

 park. From here you may look at Yo- 

 scmite Valley, 3 214 feet below, Yosemite 

 Falls, North Dome, Basket Dome, Te- 

 naya Canyon, Half Dome, Liberty Cap, 

 Nevada Fall (upper) and Vernal Fall, 

 as well as many peaks of the high Sierra. 

 These may be identified with the aid of 

 the accompanying sketch. The sketch 

 on the opposite page will locate features 

 seen in Yosemite Valley below. About 7S0 

 miles of trails wander through this coun- 

 try within the park. (Further informa- 

 tion in Clark's Trail Guides, available at 

 museums and gift shops.) A path 

 swinging off towards Half Dome leads 

 to an overlook station where the geo- 

 logic story is shown. No glaciers can 

 be seen from this point. There are more 

 than 20 glaciers and remnants of glaciers 

 in the park, but all are located on the 

 shaded, far sides of the high peaks. Only 

 snow fields are to be seen from here. 

 The name Glacier Point comes from the 

 fact that during the glacial period two 

 trunk glaciers, one in Tenaya Canyon 

 (left of Half Dome) and the other in 

 Little Yosemite Valley (right of Half 

 Dome) joined in one huge glacier rising 

 some 700 feet above this point. 



The small Mountain House with cafe- 

 teria beside the Glacier Point Hotel is 

 the reconstructed original one-story Gla- 

 cier Point Hotel built by C. E. Peregoy 

 of Peregoy Meadows and Mountain 

 View House, probably about 1872. Dur- 



ing the first winter it was crushed flat 

 by snow. James McCauley then gave 

 Peregoy $600 for the wreck and con- 

 structed the present two-story Mountain 

 House from its materials. It is the old- 

 est structure still in use in the park. 

 The hotel was built in 1917 by the Des- 

 mond Company which, following re- 

 ceivership, emerged as the Yosemite Na- 

 tional Park Company and in 192 5 

 joined with the Curry Camping Com- 

 pany to become the Yosemite Park and 

 Curry Co. of today. This company now 

 operates the Glacier Point Hotel. Dur- 

 ing the summer naturalist-guided walks 

 about Glacier Point start near the com- 

 fort station. A man-made spectacle 

 which attracts considerable interest is 

 the FIREFALL. Produced nightly dur- 

 ing the summer and on special occasions 

 during the remainder of the year, it 

 consists of a cascading stream of burn- 

 ing embers from a fire built at the tip 

 of Glacier Point. The fire burns about 

 one-half a cord of bark taken from 

 dead-and-down red fir trees. When a 

 signal is given from below, an employee 

 of the hotel pushes the embers slowly 

 over the cliff, using a long-handled rake. 

 The coals drop almost 1000 feet to a 

 ledge where they die out. The firefall 

 is thought to have been originated by 

 James McCauley in 1871 or 1872. After 

 years of intermittent firefalls the prac- 

 tice was eventually abandoned for a 

 time. In 1899 David A. Curry revived it 

 as a regular feature of camp entertain- 

 ment, and now it is admired by thou- 

 sands who view it from many vantage 

 points. 



The Yosemite High Sierra from Glacier Point 



# 



Or 

 Or 



