Beyond this Little Yosemite in the main canyon, there
are three other little yosemites, the highest situated
a few miles below the base of Mount Lyell, at an elevation
of about 7800 feet above the sea. To describe
these, with all their wealth of Yosemite furniture,
and the wilderness of lofty peaks above them, the
home of the avalanche and treasury of the fountain
snow, would take us far beyond the bounds of a single
book. Nor can we here consider the formation of
these mountain landscapes—how the crystal
rock were brought to light by glaciers made up of
crystal snow, making beauty whose influence is so mysterious
on every one who sees it.
Of the small glacier lakes so characteristic of these
upper regions, there are no fewer than sixty-seven
in the basin of the main middle branch, besides countless
smaller pools. In the basin of the Illilouette
there are sixteen, in the Tenaya basin and its branches
thirteen, in the Yosemite Creek basin fourteen, and
in the Pohono or Bridal Veil one, making a grand total
of one hundred and eleven lakes whose waters come
to sing at Yosemite. So glorious is the background
of the great Valley, so harmonious its relations to
its widespreading fountains.
The same harmony prevails in all the other features
of the adjacent landscapes. Climbing out of the
Valley by the subordinate canyons, we find the ground
rising from the brink of the walls: on the south
side to the fountains of the Bridal Veil Creek, the
basin of which is noted for the beauty of its meadows
and its superb forests of silver fir; on the north
side through the basin of the Yosemite Creek to the
dividing ridge along the Tuolumne Canyon and the fountains
of the Hoffman Range.
Down The Yosemite Creek
In general views the Yosemite Creek basin seems to
be paved with domes and smooth, whaleback masses of
granite in every stage of development—some
showing only their crowns; others rising high and free
above the girdling forests, singly or in groups.
Others are developed only on one side, forming bold
outstanding bosses usually well fringed with shrubs
and trees, and presenting the polished surfaces given
them by the glacier that brought them into relief.
On the upper portion of the basin broad moraine beds
have been deposited and on these fine, thrifty forests
are growing. Lakes and meadows and small spongy
bogs may be found hiding here and there in the woods
or back in the fountain recesses of Mount Hoffman,
while a thousand gardens are planted along the banks
of the streams.
Copyrights
The Yosemite from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
