Le Conte Falls

Le Conte Falls is the fourth of the five major waterfalls along the Tuolumne River in Yosemite National Park. The falls cascade about 250 feet down a steep pitch of smoothe granite which harbors several significant potholes. As the river runs over the potholes, the water explodes into the air forming "waterwheels".Le Conte Falls is often confused for Waterwheel Falls thanks to the very prominent and impressive waterwheels which are present along its descent. This seems to partially stem from mapping errors dating back to 1895. It seems that the discovering parties had meant Waterwheel Falls to be named Le Conte Cascade, and what is now known as Le Conte Falls was then named California Falls. This method of naming subsisted until about 1910 when the current naming structure was illustrated on USGS 30 minute quadrangle. The current 15 minute quadrangle shows the name as LeConte, without a space, but the proper spelling includes a space between the second and third characters.