Yosemite Creek to the west, from which it cascaded down through the steep ravine that is now the route of the Yosemite Falls Trail. The Yosemite Creek watershed, which feeds the creek and Yosemite Falls, contains . It is largely a granite basin that was scraped clean of soil by glaciers. Because of the shallow soil base, the Yosemite Creek watershed has little capacity to hold water, so it quickly drains as the snow melts. Yosemite Creek Yosemite Creek is a creek of the Sierra Nevada, located in Yosemite National Park, Mariposa County, California. The creek's headwaters are at the Grant Lakes
Yosemite National Park Starting 20 million years ago (in the Cenozoic) and lasting until 5 million years ago, a now-extinct extension of Cascade Range volcanoes erupted, bringing large amounts of igneous material in the area. These igneous deposits blanketed the region north of the Yosemite region. Volcanic activity persisted past 5 million years BP east of the current park borders in the Mono Lake and Long Valley areas. Starting 10 million years ago, vertical movement along the Sierra fault started to uplift the Sierra Nevada. Subsequent tilting of the Sierra block and the resulting accelerated uplift of the Sierra Nevada increased the gradient