Vernal Fall Cataract and Merced River Canyon Boulders (1927)

Looking up from the boulder-strewn bed of the Merced River at the powerful vertical cataract of Vernal Fall shrouded in mist. — Vernal Fall Cataract and Merced River Canyon Boulders (1927) · Donald A. Hall Estate Collection

Hiking through the spray-drenched corridor of the Merced River gorge, Donald A. Hall Sr. captured this dramatic upward perspective of Vernal Fall. The powerful 317-foot curtain of water plunges over its sheer granite lip into a storm of mist and white water, feeding the turbulent river as it rushes over giant river boulders in the foreground, illustrating the alpine hydrology and trail conditions Hall navigated in 1927.