Yosemite, << yoh SEHM ih tee, >> National Park is a great wilderness in east-central California. It is in the Sierra Nevada, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) east of San Francisco. It has about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) of trails. Most of the trails lead to the “High Sierra,” a region of sparkling lakes, rushing streams, and jagged mountain peaks. The park’s Yosemite Museum has a collection of Indian displays and exhibits of the area’s wildlife. For the area of the park, see National Park System (table: National parks) .
More than 150 species of birds and more than 100 other kinds of animals live in the forests and mountains. Bears and deer are numerous. Yosemite has dozens of species of trees and more than 1,000 other kinds of plants. There are three groves of the famous Sequoiadendron giganteum or Big Trees. The best known is the Mariposa Grove, 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of Yosemite Valley. It includes the Grizzly Giant Tree, whose base measures more than 34 feet (10 meters) in diameter.
In 1864, Congress gave Yosemite Valley to California for use as a public park and recreation area. John Muir, a naturalist, first saw the area in the 1860’s. His reports of the beauties of the region aroused interest. Congress created Yosemite National Park in 1890. But it did not include Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove. California ceded these areas back to the federal government, and they were added to the park in 1906. The park has many tourist accommodations. Skiing is popular in the High Sierra. Other activities include fishing, hiking, horseback riding, rock climbing, and swimming.
Yosemite Valley.
Much of the park’s most spectacular scenery is in the Yosemite Valley. The valley lies at a 4,000-foot (1,200-meter) elevation in the heart of the park. A group of explorers on their way to the Pacific Coast in the 1830’s were probably the first white people to see the valley. But white people did not enter it until 1851. In that year, the Mariposa Battalion, a volunteer fighting force, set out to capture a group of Yosemite Indians. Tenaya, the Yosemite chief, had been leading raids on white settlers in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. He was captured, but eventually was allowed to return to the valley, which was named for his tribe.
Millions of years ago, California’s Sierra Nevada was formed by a gradual series of earth upheavals. As the mountains rose, the Merced River flowed much faster and carved the narrow, V-shaped Merced Canyon. Later, massive glaciers flowed down the canyon. The glaciers ground and polished the canyon to a smooth U-shaped valley. The valley is nearly 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) wide and almost 1 mile deep in places. Tributary streams did not carve their canyons as deep as Merced Canyon. Glaciers sheared off these canyons, leaving them as “hanging valleys.” Today, the world’s greatest concentration of free, leaping waterfalls pours from these valleys.
Waterfalls.
Bridalveil Fall is the first waterfall seen by most Yosemite visitors. It descends 620 feet (189 meters) along the southern wall of the valley. The Illilouette Falls also tumbles over the side of the valley. Yosemite Falls is formed by Yosemite Creek. It leaps free from its hanging valley 2,425 feet (739 meters) above the valley floor. The Upper Falls is 1,430 feet (436 meters) high, and the Lower Falls measures 320 feet (98 meters) high. The cascades between the two tumble another 675 feet (206 meters).
Vernal and Nevada falls pour over giant steps formed by glaciers. Vernal Falls is 317 feet (97 meters) high. It is famous for the rainbows that sparkle in the heavy mist at its base. About 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) upstream is 594-foot (181-meter) Nevada Falls. Indians named it squirming fall because a curving rock causes the water to twist as it descends. Some of the park’s falls burst forth during the high-water season in spring. These include the slender 1,612-foot (491-meter) Ribbon Falls; Sentinel Falls, which drops 2,000 feet (610 meters); and the 1,170-foot (357-meter) Silver Strand Falls.
Rock masses.
A number of rock masses rise sharply from the valley floor. The Half Dome rises about 8,800 feet (2,700 meters) at the head of the valley. El Capitan is a gigantic mass of unbroken granite. It rises about 3,600 feet (1,100 meters) above the canyon. From Glacier Point, one can look down more than 3,000 feet (910 meters) into the valley. Cloud’s Rest is the highest point in Yosemite Valley. It stands about 9,900 feet (3,000 meters) above the valley floor.
Hetch Hetchy Valley
lies in the northwestern part of the park. It was carved by the Tuolumne River and ancient glaciers in much the same manner as Yosemite Valley. A reservoir covers the valley floor. The Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River is above Hetch Hetchy, to the east. The river rushes through the canyon, dropping 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) in 4 miles (6 kilometers). It creates many cascades and waterfalls. These include the Waterwheel Falls, a series of pinwheels of water. Some pinwheels rise as high as 40 feet (12 meters). Pinwheels are formed when the cascading river strikes rocky obstructions.
The Tuolumne River flows through Tuolumne Meadows, a vast grassland. The meadows have an elevation of about 8,500 feet (2,590 meters). Tourists camp there, and the area is also used as a base camp by mountain climbers. Tenaya Lake, near the meadows on Tioga Road, is the largest of the more than 300 lakes in Yosemite.
Transportation.
Yosemite is open the year around. Most roads remain open in the winter. But snows close roads in the High Sierra region from about mid-autumn until late spring. Wildfires, which burned many areas of the park in the late 1900’s and early 2000’s, have caused a number of park closures.
