Little Studies in the Yosemite Valley. 



3 



LITTLE STUDIES IN THE YOSEMITE VALLEY. 



By Francois E. Matthes. 



11. The Striped Rock Floor of the Little Yosemite 

 Valley.* 



About a stone's throw from where the Clouds Rest 

 Trail leaves the flat of the Little Yosemite Valley, there 

 is a curious expanse of smooth, bare granite, an acre or 

 more in extent. It is a part of the solid rock floor of 

 the valley, which, buried under river gravel and glacial 

 material elsewhere, is here exposed to view% cleared 

 of all debris. Indeed, so scrupulously clean swept does 

 it look, one might fancy some cyclopian broom had 

 been at work on it — and a new one at that. 



Round about, in all directions lie glacial boulders, 

 some singly, some in clusters, some in heaps mixed 

 with fine debris. Sparse pines and cedars rise from what 

 few cracks the stone floor affords as a root-hold, giving 

 the place a singularly genial, parklike aspect. But 

 the cleared tract itself has not a tree on it — its surface 

 stretches unbroken and continuous, unmarred by a 

 single fissure. 



As one approaches from the lower end and looks up 

 the gentle slope — for the floor inclines appreciably — 

 the eye is almost at once held by the peculiar "painted" 

 appearance of the space. Irregular, blotchy white rib- 

 bons set off conspicuously against the prevailingly 

 gray tint of the rock floor, sprawl over it here and 

 there. Wholly unlike the dark water stains that stripe 

 most of the Yosemite cliffs, they seem, even to one 

 thoroughly familiar with the various markings com- 

 mon to the rock surfaces of the region, altogether 

 novel and enigmatic. All trend downward with the 

 slope, but beyond this there seems no discoverable 



* Published by permission of the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey. 



