Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park   Yosemite 2  

YOSEMITE

THOSE who swarmed into California in search of JL gold in 1849 soon discovered there were other quite wonderful things there as well Only two years later a group of them in pursuit of Indians wandered into a valley in the high hills about 150 air miles due east of San Francisco that has few equals for beauty anywhere in the world. Soon there was interest enough in this area so that in 1864 Congress set aside the Yosemite Valley and the neighboring Mariposa Grove of big trees, and turned them over to the state of California to administer for all the people for all time. Later other surrounding areas were acquired and in 1890 became Yosemite National Park, of which the valley and the grove were made a part in 1906.

This mighty gorge 7 miles long, and averaging a mile in width and a half mile in depth, is easily the best-known feature within the 1200 square miles of park area. Pictures of Half Dome, the hooded monk in stone brooding over its eastern end, or El Capitan, the smoothed slab more than 3600 feet high that stands guard near the valley's entrance, or lovely, wispy, wind-blown Bridalveil Falls, and other startling features are known across the world. Countless ages ago the Merced River cut a narrow, V-shaped canyon, which the glaciers slowly broadened into a U-shaped trough. Then the river again took over, and built the meadowlands that now form the valley floor. Scattered across it are the park headquarters, Yosemite Village, and hotels, lodges, cabin camps, museums, and other facilities for its enjoyment by great numbers of visitors.

Toward its eastern end, Glacier Point rises more than 3200 feet, and on its summit is a hotel and a public campground from which there are beautiful views of the valley beneath, and of the High Sierras to the north and east. One of the popular summer features takes place each evening on this point. A great heap of burning brash is pushed over its edge to cascade down in a flaming fireball to a barren ledge some 900 feet below.

Outstanding among the park's other features are its waterfalls. In this respect, there is no other area of equal size in the world to compare with it. At the head of the list is Yosemite Falls. Its upper section plunges 1430 feet in one single, unbroken drop* It next dashes down a series of steep cascades, and then leaps another 320 feet, for a total fall of 2425 feet. Next highest is Rihbon, with a drop of 1612 feet, while others that have become famous include Bridalveil, 620; Nevada, 594; Illilouette, 370; and Vernal, 317. The falls begin to pick up in volume as the winter snows start to melt, and are at their best in May and June, They taper off during the summer, and in very dry years some do not flow between mid-August and the onset of the rainy season in November.

Many visitors swing off just inside the South Entrance and visit the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias. There are thousands of younger trees and at least 200 patriarchs above 3000 years old* The monster tree among them is the Grizzly Giant, which began its life at about the time the biblical twins Esau and Jacob were born, some 3800 years ago. Its girth is 96& feet, its diameter 29^ feet, and it is 209 feet tall Also in Mariposa is the Wawona tree, which has a roadway 26 feet long passing right through the trunk. There are two smaller groves in the park the Merced and the Tuolumne.

Reached by road only at its eastern and western ends is the highly scenic Tuolumne Basin. This includes the beautiful Hetch Hetchy Valley and Reservoir, the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, and Waterwheel Falls, in which great arcs of water are flung from 60 to 80 feet into the air. In its upper readies is Tuolumne Meadows, the largest subalpine gardens in the High Sierra. Standing 8600 feet above sea level, this is an ideal starting point for many foot and horseback trips into a vast domain of granite peaks dotted with lakes and mountain meadows that make up the "High Country/ 1 Some 700 miles of trail radiate from Tuolumne Meadows and Yosemite Valley.