The U.S. Postal Service celebrated the variety and beauty of American waterfalls with 12 new stamps, each featuring a photograph with the name of the waterfall and state in which it is located beneath it.

 

Nevada Fall is a 594-foot (181 m) high waterfall on the Merced River in Yosemite National Park, California. It is located below the granite dome, Liberty Cap, at the west end of Little Yosemite Valley. The waterfall is widely recognized by its "bent" shape, in which the water free-falls for roughly the first third of its length to a steep slick-rock slope. This mid-fall impact of the water on the cliff face creates a turbulent, whitewater appearance in the fall and produces a great deal of mist which covers a wide radius, which led to its current name (Nevada is a Spanish word meaning "snowy").

 

The Indian name was Yo-wy-we, signifying the twist or squirm of the falling water. Lafayette Bunnell suggested the name "Nevada" for the waterfall. He wrote, "The Nevada Fall was so called because it was the nearest to the Sierra Nevada, and because the name was sufficiently indicative of a wintry companion for our spring (Vernal Fall)... The white, foaming water, as it dashed down Yo-wy-we from the snowy mountains, represented to my mind a vast avalanche of snow."

 

The Emerald Pool forms on the "step" between Nevada Fall and Vernal Fall downstream. The 317-foot (97 m) high Vernal Fall is a short hike from the bottom of Nevada Fall. They form a cascade in which the Merced River flows down to Yosemite Valley.