Valley of Ice
The landscape before you is evidence of a dramatic
past. From here you can see the Valley's distinctive
shape and begin to visualize glaciers griding forward
filling Yosemite Valley almost to the top of El Capitan.
The enormous weight and erosive power of moving
ice, spiked with rock fragments, plowed wide the
former V-shaped stream valley and steepened its
granite sides. When the last glacier retreated, Ancient
Lake Yosemite formed behind a moraine, a natural
dam of abandoned rubble, and inundated five miles
of the Valley. The lake eventually silted in and
greened over with meadows and forests.
