No you shouldn’t.

To-to-kon oo-lah, otherwise known as El Capitan is the tallest granite monolith in the world.  It rises 3,593 feet from the Yosemite Park valley floor in the California, United States. BASE jumpers (who use a parachute) have jumped off but a few have died.  For a short time in 1980 you could get a permit to BASE jump from El Capitan but its now illegal.

It is legal to climb and hike on El Capitan.  There are several beautiful hiking trails leading to the summit.  Mountain climbers from all over the world come to El Capitan to go up its vertical and in some places overhanging face.

The granite of El Capitan was formed during the Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs roamed the earth some 100 million years ago.  Molten rock from deep within the earth rose up toward the crust.  As it cooled it formed the salt and pepper crystal igneous rock we call granite.  Later, a string of volcanoes formed in this area of California and pushed the rock up to the surface.  After the volcanoes cooled, erosion from rivers and glacial periods carved out the land formations we see in the area today.

The Indian name, To-to-kon oo-lah, referred to a specific tribal chief.  A Spanish translator interpreted this as “El Capitán” and the name stuck.  Some say original Indian name was actually To-tock-ah-noo-lah which means “rock chief” which is also very appropriate.

Comments (1)

iEvolved said:

	Beautiful This place is beautiful. It one of those place you've got to see before you die. Did you know everyone thought it was impossible to climb it until the 50s?
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November 17, 2008
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