It's Alive!

Yosemite, that is. Geologically active and full of suprises. This from the NPS:

2025 was a quiet year for rockfalls in Yosemite, with 43 documented events with a cumulative volume of approximately 478 cubic meters (1,423 tons). Both numbers, and particularly the cumulative volume, are below 20-year averages. As is typical, most of the documented rockfalls in 2025 consisted of relatively small rocks that fell onto park roadways during winter storms.

The two largest rockfalls in 2025 impacted park trails, though fortunately both occurred at night when there were no hikers. The first and largest rockfall occurred at 9:30 pm on March 31, when visitors in Curry Village heard a rumbling sound from the vicinity of Grizzly Peak. The first hikers on the Mist Trail the following morning encountered large boulders blocking the trail on the north side of the Vernal Fall footbridge. Approximately 150 cubic meters (446 tons) of rock had fallen from a point 385 m (1,270 feet) above the trail on the south side of Grizzly Peak, the same location as a similarly sized rockfall on February 5, 2024. That portion of trail was closed for several weeks as a trail crew blasted and cleared the boulders.

The second, smaller rockfall occurred at 1:25 am on May 8. Residents in Yosemite Village again heard rumbling in the night, and the following morning hikers on the Upper Yosemite Falls Trail encountered fresh rock debris on the traversing section of the trail between Columbia Point and the base of the Upper Falls. Approximately 80 cubic meters (238 tons) of rock had slid out from beneath an overhang, tumbling 55 m (180 feet) to the trail. The trail was briefly closed for assessment and initial debris clearing.

Other significant rockfalls in 2025 occurred from Glacier Point, Cathedral Rock, El Capitan, and the Snow Creek Trail.