0 feet.

Two large trench-like canyons enter the valley at its head, one on
either side of Half Dome. Tenaya Canyon enters from the east in line
with the valley, looking as if it were the Valley's upper reach. Merced
Canyon enters from the south after curving around the east and south
sides of Half Dome. Both are extremely deep. Half Dome's 5,000 feet form
one side of each canyon; Mount Watkin's 4,300 feet form the north side
of Tenaya Canyon, Glacier Point's 3,200 feet the west side of Merced
Canyon. Both canyons are superbly wooded at their outlets, and lead
rapidly up to timber-line. Both carry important trails from the Valley
floor to the greater park above the rim.

To this setting add the waterfalls and the scene is complete. They are
the highest in the world. Each is markedly individualized; no two
resemble each other. Yet, with the exception of the Vernal Fall, all
have a common note; all are formed of comparatively small streams
dropping from great heights; all are wind-blown ribbons ending in clouds
of mist. They are so distributed that one or more are visible from most
parts of the Valley and its surrounding rim. More than any other
feature, they differentiate and distinguish the Yosemite.

The first of the falls encountered, Bridal Veil, is a perfect example of
the valley type. A small stream pouring over a perpendicular wall drops
six hundred and twenty feet into a volume of mist. The mist, of course,
is the bridal veil. How much of the water reaches the bottom as water is
a matter of interesting speculation. This and the condensed mists reach
the river through a delta of five small brooks. As a spectacle the
Bridal Veil Fall is unsurpassed. The delicacy of its beauty, even in the
high water of early summer, is unequalled by any waterfall I have seen.
A rainbow frequently gleams like a colored rosette in the massed chiffon
of the bride's train. So pleasing are its proportions that it is
difficult to believe the fall nearly four times the height of Niagara.

[Illustration: _From a photograph by J.T. Boysen_

HALF DOME, YOSEMITE'S HOODED MONK

Rising nearly four thousand feet above the valley floor; the view is up
Tenaya Canyon to the High Sierra]

The Ribbon Fall, directly opposite Bridal Veil, a little west of El
Capitan, must be mentioned because for a while in early spring its
sixteen hundred foot drop is a spectacle of remarkable grandeur. It is
merely the run of a snow-field which disappears in J