Vernal Fall is a 317-foot waterfall on the Merced River in Yosemite National Park, just below Nevada Fall, and is among the park’s best-known cascades. Visible from Glacier Point and closely approached by the Mist Trail, it flows year-round but often shrinks and separates into strands by late summer. Known locally as Yan-o-pah before Lafayette Bunnell named it in 1851, the fall is especially powerful during spring melt, when spray fills the gorge. The short, popular trail to its base and top helps define its modern identity, while the slippery river above remains dangerous; despite warnings, people have been swept over the brink to their deaths.