INACCESSIBLE VALLEYS 



above the middle of the slope, and entirely in the granite 

 region, which is here very wide. It is about seven 

 miles long and from half a mile to a mile wide, the 

 bottom nearly level but rising slightly to the base of the 

 cliffs on either side. These precipices are among the 

 grandest in the world, some of them absolutely perpen- 

 dicular from base to summit, others with alternate slopes 

 and rock-cliffs, but everywhere equally inaccessible to the 

 ordinary traveller, except in a few places by narrow 

 shelves and steep gullies originally discovered by the 

 Indians and since made into practicable paths or roads. 

 At the lower end the valley becomes narrowed into a 

 deep ravine or canon for a considerable distance, while 

 at the upper end it branches out into three equally rock- 

 walled valle3^s with grand waterfalls, leading up to the 

 crest of the mountain range. 



This remarkable valley may be said to average about 

 half a mile in vertical depth, but some of the precipices 

 that give it so impressive a character are considerably 

 more than this height. El Capitan at the lower end of 

 the valley being a smooth vertical wall of granite 3,300 

 feet high with no visible crack or ledge upon it from top 

 to bottom, as shown in the accompanying illustration. 

 Cathedral rock, nearly opposite El Capitan, is 2,600 feet ; 

 the Sentinel rock, nearly the middle of the south side of 

 the valley, is over 3,000 feet; while the Half Dome at 

 the upper end of the valley is no less than 4,737 feet 

 high, the upper 1,500 feet of which is quite vertical, 

 while the lower part slopes at an angle of 60° or 70°, 

 and is partly concealed by fallen fragments. The great 

 dome-shaped masses of granite are a characteristic fea- 

 ture of the Sierra Nevada, as they are of some other 

 granitic regions. Nearly opposite the Half Dome is the 

 North Dome, 3,568 feet high, its summit beautifully 

 rounded, but broken lower down so as to show the con- 

 centric layers of which it is formed. The Sentinel Dome 

 on the south side is of similar character. The Half 

 Dome is exactly like the other domes in character, but 

 appears as if cut off vertically, leaving the southern half 

 quite perfect and of a fine spherical contour. 



