What is a horsetail fall?

Horsetail Falls in the Sierra Nevada (June 3, 2018)

A horsetail fall is a waterfall, the water of which maintaining contact with the bedrock in most places of the water trail. The descriptive word “horsetail” is a geometric classification; other types of waterfalls are “plunge,” “fan,”  “block,”  “chute,”  “scree,”  “ribbon,” and “punchbowl,” for example [1]. The list goes on. Standing in front of your favorite waterfall, you certainly will come up with your own term for a geometric waterfall description.

The water of a horsetail fall descends along a sloped surface followed by a steeper slope or edge where the water—depending on its speed—may shortly loose contact with the surface of the underlying hard rock. If you (without slipping or sliding on wet slopes) are able to get a side view of the water course of a horsetail fall, you may with a trigger of fantasy see a white water silhouette above the bedrock that resembles the shape of a horse's tail dangling down the butt. Terminology in anatomy meets waterfall classification terminology.

Often, a waterfall consists of a series of such horsetails, as is the case with Horsetail Falls (note the plural).  This waterfall is located southwest of Lake Tahoe in California [2]. It is fed by lakes such as Lake of Woods in  the Desolation Wilderness in hiking distance from the popular Echo Lakes. The bottom of the Horsetail Falls are best accessed via the Pyramid Creek Loop Trail, about 1.25 miles upslope from the Pyramid Creek Trailhead next to Highway 50.

Horsetail split within the Horsetail Falls structure

Keywords: geography, terminology, waterfall names.

Reference and more to explore

[1] Waterfalls 101: What Types Of Waterfalls Are There? World of Waterfalls. Link: www.world-of-waterfalls.com/featured-articles-waterfalls-101-what-types-of-waterfalls-are-there.html.

[2] Horsetail Falls, Eldorado County, California, United States. World Waterfall Database. Link: www.worldwaterfalldatabase.com/waterfall/Horsetail-Falls-405.