Inspiration Point, Yosemite National Park

The Sierra Nevada is a 400 mile (640 Km) long tilted block. Tilting toward the west, its eastern face is a high, steep fault scarp. The eastern face is capped by the glaciated peaks of its granitic core, including the highest point in the continental United States, Mount Whitney at 14,494 feet (4,418 meters) above sea level. Still preserved in some areas are the metasediments and metavolcanics that the granitic plutons intruded through. Moving westward, the slope of the Sierras is very subtle, with most of the topography in the form of deep canyons carved by Pleistocene ice age glaciers and river systems. The most notable of these is Yosemite Valley.

Print No. A98-27-1.

More images from the Sierra Nevada.