Pool below Little Nellie Falls

Pool Below Little Nellie Falls

After carousing over Little Nellie Falls and the cascades below it, Little Crane Creek takes a moment of repose in this pool before continuing down the hill. Two miles south of here it merges with Crane Creek (which has plunged over Foresta Falls just upstream) near the north rim of the Merced River Canyon and the two proceed together down the canyon wall to meet the Merced River a quarter mile east of the El Portal Market (see a street view here).

Once in the Merced, the two creeks can swap stories with waters of assorted pedigrees that have already entered the Merced, including Yosemite Creek (home of Yosemite Falls), Bridalveil Creek (Bridalveil Fall), Sentinel Creek (Sentinel Fall), Ribbon Creek (Ribbon Fall), Tamarack and Cascade Creeks (The Cascades), Meadow Brook (Silver Strand Falls), and the Merced River itself (Vernal and Nevada Falls). About seven miles downstream, they'll merge with the south fork of the Merced, which earlier assimilated Chilnualna Creek (Chilnualna Falls).