California
Ribbon Fall
69 mi from Fresno · ~2.0 hr drive · Seasonal flow · Intermittent
1,612ft tall
≈ 491 m
≈ 491 m
Tallest uninterrupted waterfall in the United States of America
- State
- California
- Nearest city
- Fresno, CA · 69 mi · ~2.0 hr drive
- Height
- 1,612 ft (491 m)
- Elevation
- 6,293 ft (1918 m)
- Coordinates
- 37.7360°, -119.6478°
- Seasonal flow
- Yes
- Intermittent
- Yes — may run dry seasonally
From Wikipedia: Ribbon Fall, located in Yosemite National Park in California, flows off a cliff on the west side of El Capitan and is the longest single-drop waterfall in North America. The fall is fed by melting winter snow and the peak amount of water flow is during the months of May to June; while therefore dry for much of the year, the fall is a spectacular 1,612 feet in the spring. In exceptional years, an ice cone develops at its base during the winter months similar to that which usually forms beneath Upper Yosemite Fall. This deposit can reach a depth of 200 feet, versus 322 feet for the greatest depth of the ice cone beneath the Upper Fall and Lower Fall. Excerpt from the Wikipedia article on Ribbon Fall, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Visiting Ribbon Fall
The exact location is at 37.7360°, -119.6478° — open in Google Maps for driving directions from your location.
Before you go: check current conditions with the appropriate land manager — state parks department, U.S. Forest Service ranger district, or National Park Service unit. Trail access, parking, water levels, and seasonal closures all vary. Several waterfalls in our database are seasonal and may run dry between mid-summer and the next rainy season.
If you've visited Ribbon Fall and have current notes (parking situation, dog policy, seasonality, kid-friendliness), tell us at /contact — we update pages as we learn more.
Stay nearby
Driving in? The nearest documented metro is Fresno, CA — 69 miles away (~2.0 hr drive).
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Other waterfalls within 30 miles
Sources
Location and tag data for Ribbon Fall comes from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL license) ; the Wikipedia article linked above provides additional history. We do not modify the underlying data — this page presents what's already publicly recorded. To suggest corrections, see our methodology page or contact us.