The Yosemite Falls has a total 739 meters (2,420 ft) from the top of the upper falls to the base of the lower falls making as the sixth highest waterfall in the world.
Often referred to as a "two-stage drop", the falls is actually consists of three sections, the Upper Falls, the Middle Cascades, and the Lower Falls.
The Upper Falls is 436 meters (1,430 ft) and is among the twenty highest waterfalls in the world with trails from the valley floor and down from other park areas outside the valley. These trails lead to both the top and base of Upper Yosemite Falls. The upper fall is formed by the swift waters of Yosemite Creek hurling themselves over the edge of a hanging valley in a spectacular and deafening show of force after meandering through Eagle Creek Meadow.
Between the two obvious main plunges there are a series of five smaller plunges collectively referred to as the Middle Cascades. These account for a total drop of 205 meters (670 ft). The Middle Cascades has a narrow and constricted shape of the gorge in which these drops occur. Due to the lack of public access, they are rarely noted.
The final 97 meters (320 ft) drop adjacent to an accessible viewing area is the Lower Falls which provides the most-used viewing point for the waterfalls. Yosemite Creek emerges from the base of the Lower Falls and flows into the Merced River nearby. The base of the Lower Falls is surrounded by dangerous jumbles of talus made even more treacherous by the high humidity and resulting slippery surfaces.
The Lower Falls are easily accessible near the Yosemite Lodge in Yosemite Valley. The top of the Upper Falls may be reached via a steep, strenuous, and usually crowded 5.63 kilometers (3.50 mi) hike beginning near the Sunnyside Walk-in Campground. The Upper Falls may also be reached via several routes from the Tioga Road to the north.
The Ahwahneechee people of Yosemite Valley called the waterfall "Cholock" and believed that the plunge pool at its base was inhabited by the spirits of several witches, called the Poloti. An Ahwaneechee folktale describes a woman going to fetch a pail of water from the pool, and drawing it out full of snakes. Later that night, after the woman had trespassed into their territory, the spirits caused the woman's house to be sucked into the pool by a powerful wind, taking the woman and her newborn baby with her.
The falls may actually cease flowing altogether in late summer or fall in years of little snow. Rock climbers have taken the opportunity to climb the normally inaccessible rock face beneath the falls. This is indeed an extraordinarily dangerous undertaking because in a single afternoon thunderstorm the falls can be restarted sweeping the climbers off the face.