California Parks

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Yosemite National Park, California

At a re-opening celebration of the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias several years ago Park Superintendent Michael Reynolds proclaimed: "These trees sowed the seeds of the National Park idea."  The Yosemite Grant Act of 1864, which preserved the Grove and Yosemite Valley, was "inspired by advocates concerned with early signs of loggers cutting down some of the big trees, settlers homesteading and other potential changes that could destroy or privatize the beautiful area.

Established in 1864 as a state park, Yosemite was the first state park in California. Yosemite's protection predates the first national park by 18 years. By 1890, Yosemite was designated as the third national park in the nation.

Yosemite National Park covers nearly 1,200 square miles in the Sierra Nevada, with elevations ranging from about 2,000 feet to 13,000 feet.

Yosemite receives 95% of its precipitation between October and May. Most of Yosemite is blanketed in snow from about November through May. (Yosemite Valley can be rainy or snowy in any given winter storm.)

You can drive to Yosemite year-round and enter via Highways 41, 140, and 120 from the west. Tioga Pass Entrance (via Highway 120 from the east) is closed from approximately November through late May or June. Hetch Hetchy is open all year but may close intermittently due to snow. four key highlights of the park including the High Sierra, granite cliffs, sequoia groves and Yosemite Valley.Yosemite National Park, located in California, is part of the National Park Service, within the Department of the Interior. The park is about 750,000 acres and is situated about 60 miles north of Fresno and about 170 miles east of San Francisco in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. About 95 percent of the park is designated wilderness. The park protects a broad range of life zones of the Sierra Nevada from the Lower Montane Forest up to the Alpine Zone.

Each year, over five million visitors come to enjoy the unique experiences that can only be had at Yosemite. We invite you to explore the park's giant sequoias, stunning valleys, granite peaks and domes, high meadows and lakes and spectacular mountain views. Feel the spongy bark of the most massive trees in the world, the giant sequoias. Take a hike and smell the sweet scent of the pines. Listen to the drumming of the woodpeckers drilling holes in the oak trees. Feel the chilly mist of North America's tallest waterfall land on your upturned face.

More Yosemite

Yosemite Waterfalls

Visiting Yosemite is a challenge worth the effort

Yosemite Fires

Yosemite's Historic Chapel

Going to the Chapel and...

Images of America: Yosemite Valley, book

Westgate, Buck Meadows

The Bracebridge Dinners

Christmas Dinners are annual tradition in Yosemite National Park
 
Ahwahnee Chef's Holiday

Yosemite NP as a city  

 California's parks may be confusing to understand, but well worth exploring

Yosemite is in the Central part of the Sierra Nevada mountains  

 Sierra Nevada mountains towns, counties and regions

Fish Camp, part of Yosemite

Mariposa access to Yosemite

 

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