Firefall Viewing Areas
The only designated location to view Firefall is just east of the El Capitan Picnic Area. It’s marked and easy to find. Plus, most likely, you’ll see other people.
That’s the furthest south/west you’ll want to go before seeing too much of the face. You see more of the waterfall from the main area or a more dramatic angle and fewer crowds slightly north/east of it, but this is all up to your personal preference.
We went here on the first day, then stopped at an alternate spot for our second day to get a different vantage point. In past years, people found any spot they could in the valley, which led to collapsed river banks and trampled meadows.
I was afraid of the crowds, but going mid-February on a weekday, I was pleasantly surprised to find it less crowded than the videos I’ve seen.
We were the first set of photographers to arrive at 3 PM on the first day. By 5 PM, there were 200+ people. The ranger told us weekends are at least 6x more crowded, with President’s Day weekend being the busiest. The second day, we arrived around 4:15 PM and still found a spot we liked.
There’s still plenty of space to shoot since we’re all shooting up with a long lens. People shoot from both sides of the road.