The massive 3,000-foot rock formation called El Capitan is visible from across Yosemite Valley.

The monolithic granite skyscraper known as El Capitan looms over the valley floor in Yosemite National Park's heavenly landscape of towering redwoods and picturesque waterfalls. The mountain rises almost 3000 feet above its base to a narrow summit that towers majestically into the California sky with an overwhelming sense of power—but also delicate beauty when seen up close through thin sheets of falling mist or fog rolling between its jagged peaks like ghosts dancing on air currents high atop this beautiful pinnacle.