Yosemite National Park is a national park in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers 759,620 acres (1,187 sq mi; 3,074 km2) in four counties – centered in Tuolumne and Mariposa, extending north and east to Mono and south to Madera. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, giant sequoia groves, lakes, mountains, meadows, glaciers, and biological diversity.
Its geology is characterized by granite and remnants of older rock. About 10 million years ago, the Sierra Nevada was uplifted and tilted to form its unique slopes, which increased the steepness of stream and river beds, forming deep, narrow canyons. About one million years ago glaciers formed at higher elevations. They eventually melted and moved downslope, cutting and sculpting the U-shaped Yosemite valley.
European American settlers first entered the valley in 1851. Other travelers entered earlier, but James D. Savage is credited with discovering the area that became Yosemite National Park. Native Americans had inhabited the region for nearly 4,000 years, although humans may have first visited as long as 8,000 to 10,000 years ago.
Yosemite was critical to the development of the concept of national parks. Galen Clark and others lobbied to protect Yosemite Valley from development, ultimately leading to President Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the Yosemite Grant of 1864 that declared Yosemite as federally preserved land. In 1890 John Muir led a successful movement to motivate Congress to establish Yosemite Valley and its surrounding areas as a National Park. This helped pave the way for the National Park System. Yosemite draws about four million visitors annually. Most visitors spend the majority of their time in the valley’s seven square miles (18 km2). The park set a visitation record in 2016, surpassing five million visitors for the first time.[
Here Are Some Basic Facts about Yosemite National Park
- Location: California
- Acreage: Yosemite National Park covers an area of 747,956 acres along the central western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in east-central California.
- Visitation: Yosemite had 3.3 million visitors in 2024.
- Highest Elevation: Mount Lyell is the highest point in Yosemite National Park, at 13,114 feet (3,997 m). It is located at the southeast end of the Cathedral Range, 11⁄4 miles (2 kilometers) northwest of Rodgers Peak. The peak as well as nearby Lyell Canyon is named after Charles Lyell, a well-known 19th century geologist.
- Lowest Elevation: The lowest elevations in Yosemite are found on the western boundary of the park at the El Portal Administrative Site, which is at approximately 1,800 feet (549 m). This is the foothill-woodland zone, an area that is hot and dry in the summer with very little or no snow in the winter.
- Climate: Weather tends to be quite variable. It can be hot, cold, dry, rainy, or snowy. Winter generally lasts from December until March. Weather is usually snowy and cold, but sunny and mild days do occur.
- When Did It Become A National Park? On October 1, 1890, Yosemite became a national park.
Park history
The land that Yosemite comprises has attracted people for centuries. The Ahwaneechee Native Americans lived in the Yosemite Valley for at least 4,000 years. Non-native trappers arrived in 1827. In 1848, the California Gold Rush brought thousands of people to the area. Theft and murder of native peoples resulted in the Mariposa Indian War, which ended in 1851.
Word of Yosemite’s beauty spread and the first group of tourists arrived in 1855. Nine years later, President Lincoln named Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove as the country’s first public preserve.
Famed naturalist John Muir fell in love with Yosemite and became the chief voice in its preservation. Muir helped draw up the park’s proposed boundaries and wrote eloquent articles about its beauty and importance. These efforts helped lead to the park’s establishment in 1890. Two years later, Muir founded the Sierra Club to further promote the area’s protection.
Over the years, the boundaries of the park have grown as logging, dams and other human forces have threatened the park. Today, the National Park Service works to ensure the park’s preservation.
Highlights
Muir wrote, “No temple made with human hands can compare with Yosemite” — and with good reason. The park boasts spectacular granite formations, crystal-clear streams, majestic waterfalls, ancient giant sequoias, two major rivers (the Merced and Tuolumne) and much more. Many of these features can be seen from Yosemite Valley, though all are worth exploring in depth. Some highlights include:
Half Dome: The most iconic site of Yosemite, Half Dome is a granite formation that rises nearly 5,000 feet above the valley floor. It gives the impression of a giant granite dome with its Northwestern half missing, creating a sheer vertical drop. Half Dome’s unique shape is the result of glacial interaction with underlying rocks. It is an excellent example of an exfoliation dome, in which underground pressure caused the rock to crack off in thin shells, leaving a clean surface. It is unlikely that there was ever a fully-formed other half of the dome.
Half Dome is a popular — though difficult — day hike. The most challenging part of the hike is at the end, when hikers must ascend the final 400 feet by cables.
El Capitan: This stunning vertical rock is the largest granite monolith in the world. It rises more than 3,000 feet above the valley floor and is a favorite for experienced rock climbers.
Yosemite Falls: This is the tallest waterfall in North America. Snow runoff cascades down the 2,425 foot drop, with peak flow in May. In winter, an ice cone is often visible at the top of the falls.
Bridalveil Falls: A 620-foot waterfall of delicate beauty, Bridalveil Falls is located near the entrance of Yosemite Valley. Water roars during the springtime peak flow; during the rest of the year, its namesake light, dancing flow is on display.
Mirror Lake: Though it’s more of a pond than a lake, this Yosemite Valley spot is an extremely popular destination. It boasts glorious reflections of Half Dome and Mount Watkins in spring, when the water level is high enough.
Meadows: Yosemite’s peaceful meadows and wetlands are the best place to spot the park’s unique flora and fauna. Bears, deer, foxes, bald eagles, raccoons, and more may be seen amidst the wildflowers and lush grasses. The most popular meadows — which have boardwalks and trails — are Cook’s, Sentenial, Stoneman and Leidig.
Giant Sequoias and Mariposa Grove: Mariposa Grove is blessed with about 500 mature giant sequoias. Giant sequoias can live to be 3,000 years old and are the largest known living things on earth. Visitors can hike or take a tram ride to see Mariposa’s sequoias.
Geography
Yosemite National Park is located in the central Sierra Nevada of California. Three wilderness areas are adjacent to Yosemite: the Ansel Adams Wilderness to the southeast, the Hoover Wilderness to the northeast, and the Emigrant Wilderness to the north.
The 1,189 sq mi (3,080 km2) park is roughly the size of the U.S. state of Rhode Island and contains thousands of lakes and ponds, 1,600 miles (2,600 km) of streams, 800 miles (1,300 km) of hiking trails, and 350 miles (560 km) of roads. Two federally designated Wild and Scenic Rivers, the Merced and the Tuolumne, begin within Yosemite’s borders and flow westward through the Sierra foothills, into the Central Valley of California. On average, about 4 million people visit the park each year,with most visitor use concentrated in the seven-square-mile (18 km2) area of Yosemite Valley.
Popular features
Yosemite Valley represents only one percent of the park area, but this is where most visitors arrive and stay. The Tunnel View is the first view of the Valley for many visitors and is extensively photographed. El Capitan, a prominent granite cliff that looms over Yosemite Valley, is one of the most popular rock climbing destinations in the world because of its diverse range of climbing routes in addition to its year-round accessibility. Granite domes such as Sentinel Dome and Half Dome rise 3,000 and 4,800 feet (910 and 1,460 m), respectively, above the valley floor. The park contains dozens of other granite domes.
The high country of Yosemite contains beautiful areas such as Tuolumne Meadows, Dana Meadows, the Clark Range, the Cathedral Range, and the Kuna Crest. The Sierra crest and the Pacific Crest Trail run through Yosemite, with peaks of red metamorphic rock, such as Mount Dana and Mount Gibbs, and granite peaks, such as Mount Conness. Mount Lyell is the highest point in the park, standing at 13,120 feet (4,000 m). The Lyell Glacier is the largest glacier in Yosemite National Park and is one of the few remaining in the Sierra Nevada.
The park has three groves of ancient giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) trees; the Mariposa Grove (200 trees), the Tuolumne Grove (25 trees), and the Merced Grove (20 trees).This species grows larger in volume than any other and is one of the tallest and longest-lived.
Climate
Climate data for Yosemite Park Headquarters, California, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1905–present.
Habitats
The park has an elevation range from 2,127 to 13,114 feet (648 to 3,997 m) and contains five major vegetation zones: chaparral and oak woodland, lower montane forest, upper montane forest, subalpine zone, and alpine. Of California’s 7,000 plant species, approximately 50 percent occur in the Sierra Nevada and more than 20 percent are within Yosemite. The park contains suitable habitat for more than 160 rare plants, with rare local geologic formations and unique soils characterizing the restricted ranges many of these plants occupy.
With its scrubby sun-baked chaparral, stately groves of pine, fir, and sequoia, and expanses of alpine woodlands and meadows, Yosemite National Park preserves a Sierra Nevada landscape as it prevailed before Euro-American settlement.[109] In contrast to surrounding lands, which have been significantly altered by logging, the park still contains some 225,510 acres (91,260 ha) of old-growth forest. Taken together, the park’s varied habitats support over 250 species of vertebrates, which include fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
Much of Yosemite’s western boundary has habitats dominated by mixed coniferous forests of ponderosa pine, sugar pine, incense cedar, white fir, Douglas fir, and a few stands of giant sequoia, interspersed by areas of black oak and canyon live oak. A relatively high diversity of wildlife species is supported by these habitats, because of relatively mild, lower-elevation climate and the mixture of habitat types and plant species. Wildlife species typically found in these habitats include black bear, coyote, raccoon, mountain kingsnake, Gilbert’s skink, white-headed woodpecker, bobcat, river otter, gray fox, red fox, brown creeper, two species of skunk, cougar, spotted owl, and a wide variety of bat species.
Going higher in elevation, the coniferous forests become purer stands of red fir, western white pine, Jeffrey pine, lodgepole pine, and the occasional foxtail pine. Fewer wildlife species tend to be found in these habitats, because of their higher elevation and lower complexity. Species likely to be found include golden-mantled ground squirrel, chickaree, fisher, Steller’s jay, hermit thrush, and northern goshawk. Reptiles are not common, but include rubber boa, western fence lizard, and northern alligator lizard.
As the landscape rises, trees become smaller and more sparse, with stands broken by areas of exposed granite. These include lodgepole pine, whitebark pine, and mountain hemlock that, at highest elevations, give way to vast expanses of granite as treeline is reached. The climate in these habitats is harsh and the growing season is short, but species such as pika, yellow-bellied marmot, white-tailed jackrabbit, Clark’s nutcracker, and black rosy finch are adapted to these conditions. Also, the treeless alpine habitats are the areas favored by Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep. This species, however, is now found in the Yosemite area only around Tioga Pass, where a small, reintroduced population exists.
At a variety of elevations, meadows provide important, productive habitat for wildlife. Animals come to feed on the green grasses and use the flowing and standing water found in many meadows. Predators, in turn, are attracted to these areas. The interface between meadow and forest is also favored by many animal species because of the proximity of open areas for foraging and cover for protection. Species that are highly dependent upon meadow habitat include great grey owl, willow flycatcher, Yosemite toad, and mountain beaver.
Yosemite camping
Yosemite offers many camping options. There are 13 campgrounds, and seven can be reserved (reservations are essential from April through September). While many have tap water and flush toilets, only Curry Village and Housekeeping Camp have showers.
Those who want a roof over their heads have no shortage of choices. The Ahwahnee Hotel and historic Wawona Hotel offer plenty of comfort, while canvas- and hard-sided cabins at Curry Village, White Wolf Lodge, and others provide a back-to-nature feel without the tents.
Yosemite is open 365 days a year, and there is a $20/car entrance fee.
- Hiking
- Driving destinations
- Climbing
- Winter activities
- Horsetail Fall