- This park was gazetted as a national park in 1890. It
is world famous for its rugged terrain, waterfall and century-old pine
trees. It covers 1200 sq km and the "fire" waterfall of El Capitan
is one of the most spectacular of all scenery.
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- The spectacular view of the waterfall is created by
the reflection of sunlight hitting the falling water at a specific angle.
This rare sight can only be seen at a 2-week period towards the end of
February. To photograph this rare event, photographers would often have
to wait and endure years of patience in order to capture them. The reason
is because its appearance depends on a few natural phenomena occurring
at the same time...and some good luck.
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- First is the formation of the waterfall - The water is
formed by the melting of snow and ice at the top of the mountain. It melts
between the month of December and January and by the end of February there
might not have much snow left to melt.
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- Second is the specific angle of the sunray hitting the
falling water. The sun's position must be exactly at a particular spot
in the sky. This occurs only in the month of February and at the short
hours of dusk. If it is a day full of clouds or something blocking the
sun, you can only take pictures of your own sorry faces on the waterfall.
It coincides with the fact that the weather in the National Park at that
time of the year is often volatile and unpredictable. It compounds to the
difficulty of getting these pictures.
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- Someone did and we all get to see it !!!
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