El Capitan, 3,100 Ft. Sheer. Most striking illustration of massive, resistant granite.
As massive monoliths of smooth, sand-papered granite, appear El Capitan, Sentinel Rock and Dome, Glacier Point and the Half and North Domes. These burnished, jutting promontories attract far more attention than do the hollowed-out recesses of the tributary canyons. And yet, it is more among the shadows of these deep-furrowed clefts that the geologist must look for the most convincing evidences of the actual sculpturing of the Yosemite Valley. The domes stand out more as mighty monuments signalizing their resistance to erosion, rather than as facetted and modeled masses of rock. But between these promontories are zones of fissured strata showing the shearing and
