Lee Vining Falls

Lee Vining Falls is found along Highway 120 east of the Tioga Pass entrance to Yosemite National Park. From Highway 395 in the town of Lee Vining, head west on Highway 120 toward Tioga Pass and Yosemite for 6 1/2 miles to where the road crosses a huge slide area. The falls can be seen beginning here, and in several other places over the next mile and a half of the highway. A view of this waterfall and Ellery Lake Falls in tandem can be had about 8 miles from Highway 395 at a pullout on the left.Lee Vining Creek is a major drainage that descends the east slope of the Sierra Nevada through the canyons on the immediate east side of Tioga Pass. The stream emerges from the Conness Glacier and picks up the water from Greenstone, Saddlebag, Tioga, Ellery and over a dozen other lakes in its journey down to the Mono Lake basin. Right after the stream exits Ellery Lake it begins an extremely precipitous descent down Lee Vining Canyon, dropping over 1,600 feet in about a mile. Surprisingly, very little of this descent occurs legitimately as waterfalls. Two falls exist in the stretch, but neither are over 100 feet tall and both appear quite diminutive against the massive backdrop of the canyon.
Formerly a broad, powerful cataract of about 75 feet, Lee Vining Falls has been greatly reduced in stature thanks to its namesake creek being largely diverted into the Lee Vining powerhouse. The falls can be seen from several turnouts along the Tioga Pass Road as it climbs from the town of Lee Vining to Tioga Pass - in some places in tandem with Ellery Lake Falls just upstream. The regulation of the creek does not preclude the falls from flowing, as it still maintains a powerful flow during the early summer melt season, but once the winter snowpack has melted off, the stream is greatly reduced in volume, if not outright turned off.At least one of the two waterfalls along Lee Vining Creek in the upper canyon was historically known as Lee Vining Falls. We're fairly sure it was the lower of the two falls, but there is a chance it could be the waterfall we currently refer to as Ellery Lake Falls instead. Until we can verify one way or another, we're assuming the current naming schema is correct.