2 Waterfalls to Explore in Madera County

This is the highest waterfall on the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River, in the eastern Sierra Nevada. As water rushes over the cliff, it erodes the vertically fractured rhyodacite more easily. A small cavern begins to form at the base of the falls, and the overlying rock loses its support and collapses. This process, known as undercutting, causes the waterfall to recede slowly upstream.

A majestic national park surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. It is one of the largest and least fragmented habitat blocks in the Sierra Nevada, and the park supports a diversity of plants and animals.The park contains suitable habitat for more than 160 rare plants, with rare local geologic formations and unique soils characterizing the restricted ranges many of these plants occupy.