The Firefall is actually a relatively recent attraction to Yosemite National Park and is named for two different phenomena, one artificial and one natural.

The original Firefall was a tradition where hot embers were pushed from the top of Glacier Point to the valley floor 914m below. Viewed from the valley at night, it looked like a glowing waterfall. It originated to 1871 with the Glacier Point Mountain House simply disposing of burning embers by kicking it over the side of the cliff. Gradually people began to remark on the action, and began paying to schedule the Firefall. In 1900 the tradition was revitalized by Camp Curry, with a beck and call interaction between the camp and a crew atop Glacier Point, culiminating in an order to "Let the fire fall!", whereupon the crew would push a large bonfire over Glacier Point to the awe of audience members below. Never popular with the Park Service, the Firefall was ended in 1969 as an unnatural event that also caused widespread environmental damage to the meadows near the best viewing sites. A year later, the Glacier Point Lodge burned down, helped fueled by the old Firefall kindling.

In 1973, only four years after the end of the historical Firefall, photographer Galen Rowell found and photographed an interesting discovery; during only two weeks a year in February, Horsetail Falls, a small, normally inconsequential creek waterfall tumbling 650m off of El Capitan, would reflect the glow of the sunset just as the sun descended over the mountains, creating a bright glow like a flaming waterfall. Interestingly, no one seems to have noticed before, not the Ahwahnees, nor John Muir. Since then the name "Firefall" has transferred to this natural event, and has been getting increasingly popular with photographers. Catching the Firefall phenomenon is rare; besides the 2-week window, the area has to be both wet enough for Horsetail Falls to flow, as well as be bright enough for the sun to reflect off of the waterfall, and there are only about 10 minutes between the sun catching the water and descending under the opposite cliff. Finally, there are only a few limited angles to observe the Firefall, which you could soon tell by the sharp triangularly shaped crowd of photographers assembled around the spots, which were usually covered in snow.

I have visited the Yosemite Firefall 3 times, the first two times, stymied by fast-moving clouds. Each successive trip became more difficult due to crowds, and by my third attempt in 2019, the apparently exasperated NPS enacted new policies closing nearly the entire Western end of the valley to parking and closing off 1/2 of the Northside Road to allow people to walk over. I sat with a massive crowd of perhaps 200 photographers in the snow, waiting for the right moment. The entire day there were wisps of clouds, and it seemed unlikely to occur. And technically it didn't-the waterfall glowed deep yellow, but it didn't explode; this was about the extent of the yellow glow. Still, the photographer I was chatting with for most of the 2 hours waiting and who had driven all the way up from Orange 6 hours away to watch simply shrugged and said "Good enough for Instagram". It was probably good enough for me as well.

---

Marvin Gaye - Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)

From  theroguez!