In a February 1973 evening, Galen Rowell saw the setting sun lights Horsetail Fall against the dark shadowy East Buttress of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. This reminded him with the old Yosemite Firefall from Glacier Point. The next day he was riding around the valley with a park ranger which never saw this amazing display before.

In his book The Art of Adventure Photography, Galen says "I broke the speed limit racing the light to the base, where I jumped a signed fence with my 300mm lens to get a clear view. Instead of writing one of the longer citations of his career, the ranger looked at the fantastic light and asked Is there anything else you need over there? My tripod. It's on the back seat. The ranger passed it over and I gave him one of the first prints of a rare natural event that I discovered by accident."