Help Raise $100,000 for the National Park Foundation

“It is by far the grandest of all the special temples of Nature I was ever permitted to enter.”

— John Muir,
preservationist

Yosemite National Park

Nestled in California’s Sierra Nevada, Yosemite National Park is a 1,200-square-mile expanse of granite cliffs, dramatic waterfalls, crystalline lakes and lush vegetation. More than 3.5 million people visit the park each year.

An Extraordinary Setting

Yosemite, America’s second national park (Yellowstone holds the honor of being first), was established in 1890, largely as a result of the efforts of conservationist John Muir. Its astonishing rock formations were created by magma flows and a shifting of the earth’s crust along a bounding fault, a process that began 100 million years ago. The park’s 750,000 acres encompass 1,600 miles of streams, thousands of lakes and ponds, the Merced and Tuolumne Rivers, and three groves of giant sequoias. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984.

Most Famous Feature

Half Dome, the 8,800-foot granite mountain whose distinctive, hoodlike summit offers some of the most spectacular views in the West. Only a few brave hikers complete the 14- to 16-mile round-trip to the top each year.

Best-Kept Secret

In the summer of 2007, a team of botanists determined that an orchid first discovered in Yosemite in 1923 — and then rediscovered in 1993 — is a unique species, the Yosemite bog-orchid (Platanthera yosemitensis). The sticklike plant with tiny flowers and a musky scent has been found at nine sites within the park, all south of Yosemite Valley, between the main stem and South Fork of the Merced River.