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| Downward View - Directly into Yosemite Valley to Sentinel Bridge | |
  ooking straight down into the Valley directly below Glacier Point you have a bird's eye view. From this vantage you can see the heavily developed East end of the Valley. Some of the structures you see are built right inside the Merced river flood plain. Looking down, your attention is drawn to the river of traffic snaking its way through the maze of roads and parking lots.
 Smoke rising from campfires contributes to a thick layer of smoke hovering over the campgrounds. The California State Air Resources Board monitors Particulate Matter (PM10) in the Valley. This monitoring site exceeds the State 24 hour PM10 standard of 50 micro grams per cubic meter. Smoke from camp fires and wood burning stoves contribute to the PM10 exceedances as do particulate matter generated from automobile and truck traffic exhaust and road dust. Park regulations include a restriction on the hours of campfire use. Campfires are only allowed between the hours of 5 and 10 p.m. during the peak summer season.
If it is evening when you are viewing the Valley from Glacier Point, the scene beneath you is lit up like a Christmas tree, with nearly 1000,000 watts of artificial incandescence, which diminishes the natural brightness of a starry night sky. 
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