These magnificent trees can grow to be about 30 feet wide and more than feet tall. The park features approximately mature giant sequoias in Mariposa Grove. You can also find sequoias in the Tuolumne and Merced Groves near Crane Flat, but you will need to do some hiking to see them. Approximately one million years ago, glaciers reached a thickness of 4, feet. These glaciers were formed at high elevations. From there, they began to move down the river valleys.
It was the downwards movement of these large pieces of ice cut which formed the U-shaped Yosemite Valley. Lyell Glacier was climbed by John Muir in It is on the north facing slopes of Mount Lyell, the highest peak in the national park at 13, feet.
Lyell is the second largest glacier in the Sierra Nevada and the largest in Yosemite. Maclure is the second largest glacier in the Yosemite.
It has an ice cave that allows hikers to actually look underneath the glacier. If you enjoy watching wildlife then Yosemite is definitely worth a visit. The park supports more than species including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
The high diversity is a consequence of diverse habitats that are largely intact. These range from thick foothill chaparral to conifer forests to expanses of alpine rock.
Animals feel at home in each location. Yosemite is home to some of the most magnificent waterfalls on the planet. Of course, the best time of year to see these waterfalls is in the spring when the snowpack has melted. By August, the waterfalls turn to a trickle before they are restored by the fall rains.
Among the waterfalls you should check out are Sentinel Fall , which flows an impressive 2, feet, Bridalveil Fall across from El Capitan, which is simply stunning, Ribbon Fall , which is the highest single drop waterfall in North America at over 1, feet and Tueeulala Falls in the beautiful Hetch Hetchy Valley. It would become known as the camping trip that changed the nation. In , President Theodore Roosevelt , who was on a swing of western states.
He left his official party to go camping with Conservationist John Muir. Muir had fallen in love with Yosemite. John Muir was preaching to the choir as Roosevelt was already a dedicated conservationist himself.
He got that and much more. At the end of the trip, Roosevelt signed a law bringing the Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove under the jurisdiction of the federal government, thus expanding the national park. Roosevelt then went on to sign into existence five more national parks, 18 national monuments, 55 national bird sanctuaries and wildlife refuges and national forests.
And, what made this cinematic experience so unique is that the filmmakers made no bones did you trekkies get that not-so-subtle reference to Doctor McCoy? Why should they given the natural beauty of Yosemite. El Capitan is one of its favorite destinations for visitors.
These include: tablets, tractor beams, tricorders, flip communicators, wearable badge communicators, cloaking devices and voice interface computers to name a few. Yosemite National Park has some incredible rock formations which makes it a magnet for climbers.
Since John Muir scaled the summit of Cathedral Peak in , climbers have found challenges ranging from easy to difficult. When gold was discovered in in the Sierra Nevada, thousands of miners flooded the area. Conflicts between Miwoks and miners escalated before a volunteer battalion in tragically burned Miwok villages, destroying food supplies and running Miwok families out of the valley.
But state protection of Yosemite Valley and the giant sequoia grove was not enough for conservationist John Muir. Inspired by the natural beauty he found there, Muir soon started writing about Yosemite in magazines and newspapers that reached audiences across the USA. He also saw widespread deforestation caused by timber logging operations. Muir even escorted groups of influential people on guided trips into Yosemite and the surrounding Sierra Nevada to expound upon the importance of preserving nature.
Read More. The landscape of the Park is the result of glacial interactions between glaciers and rock millions of years ago. The distinct rock formations of Yosemite National Park geography are mostly comprised of granite. The impressive granite formations found throughout the park are some of the most recognizable natural phenomena in the world.
Granite is not the most abundant type of rock to be found in Yosemite. That honor is held by the igneous rock strewn across the park and beyond the boundaries of Yosemite.
Igneous rock is created from lava flows and the appearance of this rock in Yosemite dates back to when molten rock flowed under the ground's surface before cooling and hardening, forming quartz and other kinds of crystallized rock.
Yosemite is more than just rock, however. Yosemite is home to magnificent canyons, pristine lakes, breath-taking waterfalls, and awe-inspiring rock formations consisting of peaks, domes, cliffs, and mountains. Three to four million people visit Yosemite each year to share in the wonder and natural beauty of the land. Human interest in Yosemite has only grown over the years, but people and Yosemite National Park history have had a long and lasting relationship. Early Inhabitants Yosemite Valley was home to the Ahwahneechee people for thousands of years before settlers arrived in the area.
Although not the first Native American tribe, the Ahwahneechee were present when the first outsiders encountered them in the s. In fact, the tribe is responsible for the naming of Yosemite Valley. Called "Ahwahnee", the valley became "Yosemite" due to the mispronunciation of settlers. During to fervor of the California Gold Rush in , the valley was slated to be cleared by the United States Army, resulting in a conflict with the tribe.
Chief Tenaya put up a resistance and the fight culminated into the Mariposa Wars. The Native American eventually relented, were captured, and relocated to a reservation, thus ending the tribal habitation of Yosemite Valley and ushering in the era of the settler.
Early Settlers and Pioneers Years before the Mariposa Wars, the Sierra Nevada had been visited by small parties of fur trappers, though none ventured into Yosemite Valley, with was thought impassable.
The first confirmation of a non-Native American visitor was in , only two years before the conflict with the native tribes. With the Gold Rush in the s came miners, some of which were killed in the wars with the Army. It was not until after the tribe was relocated that tourists began to slowly trickle into the Valley. Most of the tourists were early photographers and artists seeking to capture the beauty of the wilderness.
Journalists wrote articles detailing the majesty of the valley and there were numerous sketches and photographs displayed in exhibits to bring awareness of Yosemite to Americans. Galen Clark was one of the first settlers to establish a permanent residence within Yosemite. The Mariposa Grove in Wawona Valley is shrouded by the Giant Sequoia trees and was isolated by the Merced River before a bridge was built to ease crossing the water in
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