火瀑布，优胜美地国家公园，加利福尼亚州，美国 Firefall at Horsetail Fall, Yosemite National Park, California (© Gregory B Cuvelier/Shutterstock)

火瀑布，优胜美地国家公园，加利福尼亚州，美国 Firefall at Horsetail Fall, Yosemite National Park, California (© Gregory B Cuvelier/Shutterstock)

一个天然的矛盾体 A natural oxymoron

优胜美地国家公园的火瀑布

想亲眼目睹炙热的“火瀑布”吗？您没有听错，在优胜美地国家公园里就看到这样一个不可思议的景象。“火瀑布”是季节性瀑布，在冬季和早春时节，当降雪量充足且气温升高到足以融化积雪时，瀑布就会流下来。在二月份的几个星期里，如果天气晴朗，水流正常，而阳光照射的角度又恰到好处时，这条细长的瀑布就会呈现出火焰般的光彩。每年这个时候，会有上百名游客聚集在优胜美地山谷观赏这一奇特迷人的自然景象，山谷里人挤人，连找位置观赏都是一种挑战。有趣的是，这种自然现象被称为“火瀑布”，也是对历史上著名的“优胜美地国家公园火瀑布”的致敬，在1872年至1968年，公园里举办过“人造火瀑布”活动，主办方将余火未尽的木块、煤块推到悬崖下，在黑夜中形成一道炽热亮眼的“火瀑布”。随着时间的推移，公园管理员逐渐认识到这不是一个明智的主意，最终取消了这一活动。

Yosemite National Park, California

Fancy witnessing a fiery waterfall? The seemingly impossible can be found at this time of year on the eastern side of El Capitan, Yosemite National Park's famous rock face. Horsetail Fall is a seasonal waterfall that flows only when there has been plenty of snowfall, and when temperatures have been warm enough to melt it. For a couple of weeks in February, if skies are clear, water is flowing, and the sun shines at just the right angle, the long, slender waterfall takes on a glowing, flame-hued appearance. Hundreds gather in Yosemite Valley to see this mesmerizing natural spectacle. The phenomenon has earned the moniker 'firefall,' an homage to the historic Yosemite Firefall, a manmade event from the top of the park's Glacier Point that took place between 1872 to 1968. Eventually, park rangers decided that dumping embers over a cliff onto the land below wasn't the brightest idea.