"Firefall" at Yosemite National Park

Glacier Point vs Horsetail Fall

​This week you might have seen news about the "Firefall" at Yosemite National Park.
 
Technically this is the natural phenomena caused by the light hitting Horsetail Fall at just the right angle - not the manmade "Firefall" that was conducted at Glacier Point from 1872 until 1968 when people pushed glowing embers over the edge in a steady, controlled manner, resulting in a prolonged glittering cascade. 

​After the activities at Glacier Point were stopped in 1968 there were no Firefalls seen in Yosemite until February of 1973 when Galen Rowell took a photograph of sun light hitting Horsetail Fall in just the right manner that it caused what appeared to be a natural Firefall. It took a while for the Horsetail Fall Firefall to gain notoriety – but once the internet started publishing the stunning photos - people from all over the world started traveling to Yosemite to see the sight.

But, as we all know, Nature can be fickle, so the Horsetail Fall sight doesn’t always appear; the conditions have to be just right.  There has to be enough snowpack for Horsetail Fall to be flowing and the daytime temperatures have to be warm enough to melt the snowpack. If the water is actually flowing over Horsetail Fall then the western sky has to be clear at sunset so that the sun’s rays hit the water as it flows over the falls. Even with perfect conditions the Firefall is only visible for approximately 10 minutes.
 
Whatever it is - it's stunning.
 
If you want to read more about both Glacier Point and Horsetail Fall here's a website by James Kaiser with a great write-up on both.

https://yosemitefirefall.com/yosemite-firefall-glacier-point/
 
https://yosemitefirefall.com/yosemite-firefall-horsetail-fall/
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