Cathedreal View

In 1862 James Hutchings gazed at this rock formation, perhaps from the very spot where this photograph, Cathedral View, was made, and for reasons lost to time decided to call the formation Cathedral Spires, forgoing an earlier name of The Three Graces. Later codified by the California Geological Survey, they have been called this ever since. In any event, the spires dominant the entrance to Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Par, California, and make a memorable impression both upon entering and leaving the valley.

Yosemite National Park is known for, among many other things, its mountain climbing. Here a climber can find the very easy to the very challenging routes. Cathedral Spires have a long and deep connection to climbing, as they were the last major peaks to be climbed. All other peaks had been successfully summited by the 1870s, yet it would take another fifty years before anyone was able to conquer Higher Cathedral Spire. Perhaps for this reason it remains popular with climbers today.

Little did Hutchings know how popular Yosemite Valley would become when he named this grouping “Cathedral.” In any event though, it is probably a more apt name than the original Native American name Poo-see-na-chuc-ka, which translates to “mouse proof rocks.” Cathedral View is far more fitting.

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