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The Firefall: The Yosemite Tourist Attraction That Couldn’t Exist Today
If the idea of a waterfall made of fire seems too good to be true, that's because it is. The firefall — which was a virtual waterfall but made of fire — was a completely artificial construct created as a gimmick using bonfire embers thrown over a cliff to entertain the crowds of Yosemite. But the crowds it drew for nearly a century was also the reason it came to an end; the throngs of visitors were damaging the delicate meadow adjacent to Camp Curry in order to view the Glacier Point spectacle. Park Ranger Scott Gediman was a young boy when the nightly event stopped but still vividly recalls it as "the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life!"
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