Nevada Fall is a high
waterfall on the
Merced River in
Yosemite National Park,
California. It is located below the
granite dome,
Liberty Cap, at the west end of
Little Yosemite Valley. The waterfall is widely recognized by its "bent" shape, in which the water free-falls for roughly the first third of its length to a steep slick-rock slope. This mid-fall impact of the water on the cliff face creates a turbulent, whitewater appearance in the falls and produces a great deal of mist which covers a wide radius, which led to its current name (
Nevada is an old
Spanish word meaning "snowy").