Yosemite

A view of the Yosemite national park in California, USA. It is one of three such parks in the Sierra Nevada range of mountains, and was established in 1890. The sheer granite cliff of Half Dome Mountain is 1,340 m/4,400 ft high, and the Yosemite Falls, at 739 m/2,425 ft, are the fifth highest in the world (albeit broken into three sections).

El Capitain at Yosemite National Park in California, USA, is very popular with climbers. After Ayers Rock in Australia, it is the biggest monolith in the world.

The Upper Yosemite Falls cascade some 436 m/1,430 ft, but there are also many other spectacular waterfalls in the Yosemite national park, central California, USA, amid some dazzling scenery. The name of the park derives from a local American-Indian word for a grizzly bear. Grizzly bears are no longer found in the park, although the California black bear is still plentiful.

Yosemite National Park, in east central California, was established in the 1890s. It now has an area of 300,035 ha/761,170 acres, and the scenery varies from mountains to broad valleys cut by streams and fed by spectacular waterfalls.

The wilderness of the Yosemite National Park lies in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Many of its 1,110 km/700 mi of trails lead up into the jagged peaks of the High Sierra, where the animal and plant life is extensive and varied.

Horse riding and pony trekking are popular activities in Yosemite National Park, in the spectactular Sierra Nevada. Riders can stay at various types of lodging in the park, including cabins, cottages, and lodges, or camp out in the wilderness.

Region in the Sierra Nevada, eastern California, USA, a national park from 1890; area 3,079 sq km/1,189 sq mi. Embracing 12 km/8 mi of the Yosemite Valley, its main features are Yosemite Gorge, cut by the Merced River; Yosemite Falls, the highest waterfall in the USA, plunging 739 m/2,425 ft in three leaps; Half Dome Mountain, a 2 km-/1 mi-high sheer cliff on El Capitan, the largest body of exposed granite in the world; Mount Lyell, rising to 3,997 m/13,114 ft; and groves of giant sequoia trees, the largest living things on earth. It is a World Heritage Site.

History

Geography The Yosemite region is composed of granite. Glaciers scoured the valley from the Merced River canyon, eroding the softer granites and creating cliff walls up to 1,220 m/4,000 ft high. Glacial lakes and meltwaters deposited silts, forming the valley floor. The calm waters of Mirror Lake are caused by its gradual silting. Other notable falls are the Nevada, Ribbon, Silver Strand, Bridalveil, and Vernal. Sites outside the main valley area are the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River to the north, and the Mariposa Grove containing the Grizzly Giant, a sequoia estimated to be 2,700 years old.