Firefall at Horsetail Fall, Yosemite National Park, California

The flaming. 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.