But in sheer volume, they're the largest living organisms on earth, topping out at about 310 feet, with the bases of the largest trees boasting a diameter of some 40 feet. Along the Mariposa grove trail, I saw sights familiar from pictures in childhood encyclopedias and school textbooks. The Fallen Monarch, a sequoia the size of a freight train, is thought to have tumbled centuries ago. The tree was made famous in an 1899 photograph of a cavalry troop lined up in formation with its horses atop and in front of the downed giant. The Wawona Tunnel Tree, arguably the best-known hunk of timber in the world, was hollowed out at the base in 1881 in one of those gimmicks that early park promoters felt necessary to draw more visitors.
Photographs show stagecoaches, and later automobiles, passing through.
Weakened by the tunnel, the tree was downed in 1969 by a heavy snowpack. But Glacier Point is another Yosemite feature that, as Emerson said, exceeds the brag. It offers an astonishing panorama of Yosemite Valley and the mountains surrounding it. At 2,425 feet, the waterfall is the highest in North America. Niagara, by contrast, tumbles a mere 167 feet, although with a far greater volume of water from the four Great Lakes that feed the Niagara River.