The Pywiack Cascade is a

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in severa ...

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ...

within the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It is located a few miles downstream from the outlet of Tenaya Lake on

Tenaya Creek Tenaya (died 1853) was a leader of the Ahwahnechee people in Yosemite Valley, California. Background Tenaya's father was a leader of the Ahwahnechee people (or Awahnichi). The Ahwahneechee had become a tribe distinct from the other tribes in th ...

at the head of the steep and rugged granite gorge, Tenaya Canyon. The waterfall can be viewed from

Glacier Point Glacier Point is a viewpoint above Yosemite Valley in the U.S. state of California. It is located on the south wall of Yosemite Valley at an elevation of , above Curry Village. The point offers a superb view of several of Yosemite National Park' ...

, or by a hike from

Olmsted Point Olmsted Point is a viewing area off Tioga Pass Road in Yosemite National Park which offers a view south into Tenaya Canyon, giving, in particular, a view of the northern side of Half Dome, Clouds Rest, and a view of Tenaya Lake to the east. The gra ...

, but the canyon is dangerous and the waterfall is unsafe to be reached on foot. The waterfall is highly seasonal. It typically rages in the spring and early summer while shrinking to a trickle by late summer to mid-autumn. The water of the Pywiack Cascade slides down a steep angle of solid granite, for a total of about . A small waterfall lies directly below the main drop. Below that, the creek continues over jumbled talus for less than a quarter of a mile (0.4 km) before it plunges over another large waterfall. Not much farther downstream is

Three Chute Falls Three Chute Falls (also known as Hidden Falls or Tenaya Creek Falls) is a waterfall on Tenaya Creek in Yosemite National Park, in the U.S. state of California. The waterfall is located in lower Tenaya Canyon, around a half mile upstream from Mirr ...

whose waters continue on into Mirror Lake and then finally empty into the

Merced River The Merced River (), in the central part of the U.S. state of California, is a -long tributary of the San Joaquin River flowing from the Sierra Nevada into the San Joaquin Valley. It is most well known for its swift and steep course through th ...

, within

Yosemite Valley Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about long and deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Hal ...

. To the right of the Cascade while looking straight at it, there is another,

ephemeral Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, fr ...

waterfall that tumbles down a steep granite cliff. This waterfall is of very little volume but is much taller than Pywiack Cascade.Shaffer, p. 415 "Py-we-ack" in the native language means "glistening rocks", and the native people applied it to both the creek and Tenaya Lake, due to the abundance of glacial polish in the upper Tenaya basin. The name "Pywiack" has since been applied to

Pywiack Dome Pywiack Dome is a prominent 600 foot granite dome in Yosemite National Park, located north-east of Tenaya Lake, west of Tuolumne Meadows and from the Tioga Road. It is quite near Harlequin Dome, and North and South Whizz Domes are north. Jo ...

., p.119.

References

External links

* {{Yosemite-stub Waterfalls of Yosemite National Park Waterfalls of Mariposa County, California Horsetail waterfalls