Fissure Falls is a 400-foot waterfall in Mariposa County, California, in the Sierra Nevada region. It lies about 2.3 miles southwest of Yosemite Valley and roughly 56 miles northeast of Merced as the crow flies.
At 400 feet it stands in the tallest quarter of California’s 286 waterfalls with a recorded height, ranking 37th; the typical California waterfall is about 70 feet. By form it is an ephemeral waterfall that flows only after rain or snowmelt.
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.
Mariposa County holds 55 recorded waterfalls, and several are close by. Sentinel Fall, 1,920 feet high, is under a mile away. Staircase Falls, a 1,300-foot tiered horsetail waterfall, is about 2 miles away. Illilouette Fall, a 381-foot veiling plunge waterfall, is about 2.2 miles away.
Fissure Falls is located at 37.7127° N, 119.6016° 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 exact position has not yet been verified on aerial imagery, so treat the map pin as approximate. Details on trails, parking and access have not been documented for this waterfall yet.