Yosemite is a spectacular spot to wow over the gushy waterfalls of springtime

SPEAKING DIRECTLY TO A WATERFALL? Such an offbeat act, best done from a safe distance, has unusual benefits. It may help you to voice a few worries in a peaceful natural setting as the powerful roar of the waterfall aids in keeping your words hush-hush from any nearby eavesdroppers. Also? Waterfalls don't judge, interrupt, or jump to conclusions if you share a secret or two. So, if we might, we'd like to speak directly to Horsetail Fall, Yosemite National Park's biggest February celebrity. It's a fall that gains worldwide acclaim when the setting sun sets the water "afire" over two chilly weeks, drawing onlookers eager to connect with the ethereal. Dear Horsetail Fall: We love you so, but the grandest gushers of the Yosemite Valley are late-spring celebrities, not wintertime icons like you. Forgive us if you think we're stealing your spotlight, but we're pausing here to sing the praises of the other damp draws of Yosemite, which get big, then bigger, when May is in view.

"COUNTLESS WATERFALLS"... trickle or gush around the national park, and "(p)eak runoff typically occurs in May or June, with some waterfalls (including Yosemite Falls) often only a trickle or completely dry by August." You might know just the falls you'd like to wow-out over during your next May or June visit, but here's a helpful rundown of some of the moist majors of the epic expanse. Yosemite Falls, at 2425 feet, gets a prominent shout-out on the National Park Service page, but so do some other remarkable natural attractions, like Ribbon Fall, which finds its "peak flow in May." Even Horsetail Fall is on the list, so perhaps our pre-apologies to the cold-weather wonder were premature: It offers an incredible show in the later springtime, too, one that is more traditionally "waterfall" and less "set aglow by the setting sun." Some of the top picks are on this page; find out more about waterfall-viewing safety and if park reservations will be required when you swing through at the official Yosemite National Park site.