Cathedral Lakes Falls is a waterfall on Tenaya Creek in Mariposa County, California, in the Sierra Nevada region, with a total height of about 450 feet. It lies about 10.9 miles northeast of Yosemite Valley and roughly 68.9 miles northeast of Merced as the crow flies.
At 450 feet it stands in the tallest quarter of California’s 286 waterfalls with a recorded height, ranking 34th; the typical California waterfall is about 70 feet.
The Sierra Nevada is a long granite range with glacially carved canyons, alpine meadows and forests of ponderosa and Jeffrey pine, incense cedar and giant sequoia. Snowmelt-fed rivers pour over polished granite steps and cliffs, especially in spring and early summer. Tenaya Creek carries 6 recorded waterfalls; the biggest of them reaches 660 feet.
There are 55 recorded waterfalls in Mariposa County. Pywiack Dome Cascade, 30 feet high, is under a mile away. Olmsted Cascade, 300 feet high, is about 3.5 miles away. Unnamed waterfall on Tuolumne River, is about 3.9 miles away.
Cathedral Lakes Falls is located at 37.8461° N, 119.4286° W. The listing is based on the World Waterfall Database, one of the sources compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey in its inventory of waterfalls and rapids of the conterminous United States. The position was verified on aerial imagery. Details on trails, parking and access have not been documented for this waterfall yet.