Page:The Tourist's California by Wood, Ruth Kedzie.djvu/251

THE YOSEMITE 209 Sentinel Dome (4000 feet above the pier) is a short way south of the hotel. The view from it embraces a scene whose western limit is the San Jo- aquin Valley and the Range on the coast. Sentinel Rock, west of Glacier, can be scaled by its hindmost towers. From Glacier Point Hotel an early afternoon stage de- parts by way of Glacier Meadows for Wawona and the Mariposa Trees. Frequently, travellers leave the Valley by this route, Glacier Point - Wawona - El Portal by horse stage. Or Wawona - Merced ; or Wawona - Raymond - Be- renda; or Wawona - Raymond - Madera, via auto-stage. See head of chapter, and Note 8. Facing the Yosemite Cataract from below, the onlooker may conceive it as a single downpour of unbroken passage; it is in reality comprised of two main waterfalls and their intervening rapids. The loftiest leap spans 1600 feet, the rapids and subsidiary cascades, 600 feet, and the lower fall, 400 feet. The view from the road which leads to the river shows this most sublime cascade divided into two vertical plunges, the basin of the upper fall being obscured by stones and enveloping spray. The topmost edge of the cliff has been eroded by the gnawing of the precipitate Yosemite Creek until now the sky dips above it in a well-defined V. The channel worn behind the fall holds a dusky shadow for the iris-tangled mist to play upon.