Before damming, the high granite formations produced a valley with an average depth of and a maximum depth of over ; the length of the valley was with a width ranging from an eighth to a half of a mile (0.2 to 0.8 km). The valley floor consisted of roughly of meadows fringed by pine forest, through which meandered the Tuolumne River and numerous tributary streams. Kolana Rock, at , is a massive rock spire on the south side of the Hetch Hetchy Valley. Hetch Hetchy Dome, at , lies directly north of it. The locations of these two formations roughly correspond with those of Cathedral Rocks and El Capitan seen from Tunnel View in Yosemite Valley. A broad, low rocky outcrop situated between Kolana Rock and Hetch Hetchy Dome divided the former meadow in two distinct sections.