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Yosemite National ParkEstablished by an act of Congress on October 1, 1890, Yosemite contains the highest 4 of the 10 highest waterfalls in the world, three groves of giant sequoias, and numerous granite peaks and domes. The park receives an estimated 4 million visitors every year.
GeologyFour hundred million years ago the Sierra Nevada region lay submerged beneath an ancient sea. Sediments accumulated on the ocean floor, building to a depth of thousands of feet as the lower layers were folded and contorted and then compressed into rock. Later, these hardened and wrinkled sedimentary rocks were slowly raised to form mountains. As they were elevated the last time, hot molten rock swelled up from within the earth, stabilized beneath the sedimentary rocks and cooled slowly to granite. The heat changed or "metamorphosed" the original sedimentary rocks. Most of these have now been eroded away, and the granites, once underneath are exposed throughout the Sierra Nevadas. But remnants of the metamorphics may still be seen in the western foothills and on some of the peaks in the eastern part of the park. Between 25 and 15 million years ago, long after the underlying granite had been exposed, the Sierras block uplifted and tilted. This tilt created a long slope westward to the Central alley and a steep escarpment to the east. Flowing water cut deep river channels into the west flank of the mountain range before the onset of the glaciers. About 2 million years ago, during the Ice Age, the entire range became heavily mantled with snow. Glaciers coursed slowly down the river valleys many times and carved the upstream parts of the V-shaped gorges into U-shaped canyons. When the climate changed, the glaciers melted.
Prehistoric and Historic IndiansThe first humans to live in the Yosemite region probably arrived more than 4,000 years ago, crossing the Sierra from the Great Basin country to the east of the mountains. Over the centuries, Miwok-speaking people from central California gradually moved into the area, living in villages along the Merced River and in Yosemite Valley itself. They called the valley Ahwahnee, loosely translated as "deep grassy valley," and themselves the Ahwahneechee. These early Indians were hunter-gathers, dependent mainly on the valley for food, shelter, and other needs. In late spring and summer they moved into the high country to hunt for deer, and carried on trade with Mono Lake Paiutes across the mountains.
Historical BackgroundThe first documented entry of non-Indians into Ahwahnee took place in 1851, although the valley may have been seen from the rim in 1833 by members of the Joseph Walker trapping party. The discovery of gold in the Mother Lode country of the Sierra foothills had brought thousands of miners and prospectors into what had been for centuries Indian land. Bands of Indians had taken to raiding nearby trading posts in retaliation for this invasion, so in the spring of 1851, the state-sanctioned Mariposa Battalion was sent into Yosemite Valley to rout Indians and move them to a reservation. The expedition was a failure; the Indians easily eluded the battalion. Other expeditions were dispatched to the valley, and several skirmishes later, most of the Ahwahneechee were taken to a reservation on the Fresno River. The Mariposa Battalion may not have been particularly effective against the Ahwahneechee, but its visit was to change Yosemite forever. Their descriptions of the area aroused public interest. The first tourist party journeyed to Yosemite Valley in 1855 on horseback over old Indian trails. Others quickly followed. By 1864 private enterprise threatened the valley beauty and free-access. Largely through the efforts of John Muir, the Sierra Club's first president, Congress acted in 1890 to create Yosemite National Park. The bill was signed by President Theodore Roosevelt. The National Park was administered by the calvary until 1916, when the National Park Service was established in the Department of the Interior, and Yosemite was put under civilian management.
Driving TourTioga Pass (elev 9941 ft) is the highest elevation of the route, and the highest automobile pass in California, marking the crest of the Sierra. The Tioga Road was originally built in 1883 with Chinese laborers by the owners of the Great Consolidated Silver Company, as a wagon road across the mountains to the Big Oak Flats Road. The present road runs very close to the path of the original. It was completed in 1961. Dana Meadows The Tuolumne Glacier had its origins in part of the surrounding peaks. Lembert Dome, name for Jean Baptiste Lembert, sheepherder, insect-collector, and homesteader in Tuolumne Meadows in 1885. The dome's lopsided appearance was produced as glaciers pushed up the sloping east side and then tore chunks of rock off the west side, leaving it steepened. Tuolumne River The Dan and Lyell Forks of the Tuolumne River join a few hundred yards upstream from this bridge. The stream then flows through Tuolumne Meadows to Glen Aulin, down Waterwheel Falls and through Muir Gorge and Pate Valley in the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, finally reaching O"Shaughnessy Dam in Hetch Hetchy Valley. There some of the water is diverted by pipeline and sent to San Francisco. Most of the water here comes from melting snow. Tuolumne Meadows, at an elevation of 8,600 ft, this is the largest alpine meadow in the High Sierras. Tenaya Lake, formed in a basin gouged out by the Tenaya branch of the Tuolumne Glacier, was named in honor of Chief Tenaya of the Yosemite Indians. It was here that the second expedition of the Mariposa Battalion, under the command of Captain John Boling, successfully captured a band of Indians in a surprise attack. Tenaya was captured almost a month later in the Valley. The Indians called this place Py-wi-ack - "Land of the Shining Rock," because of the glacier polish on the surrounding rocks. Olmstead Point is named for Frederick Law Olmstead, the famous landscape architect and designer of Central Park in New York City. The view is to the west down Tenaya Canyon. Half Dome (8842 ft) is straight ahead and Lake Tenaya is to the east. Cloud's Rest (9926 ft) is also visible to the left of Half Dome. Watch for marmots in the rock, but please do not feed them. Yosemite Creek is the headwaters of Yosemite Falls. White Wolf is said to be named for an Indian Chief who once camped here. Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoias is second largest of the park's three groves of sequoias. There are 25 of the giant trees here. Big Oak Flat Road An oak tree eleven feet in diameter growing on level ground was responsible for the naming of Big Oak Flat, an early-day mining community located about thirty miles west of what is now Yosemite National Park. The settlement, in turn gave its name to the Bid Oak Flat Road, the second road built to Yosemite Valley. At first a toll road, it was completed in 1874. Yosemite Valley is probably the best known glacier carved valley in the world. Its rounded domes, sheer cliffs and towering pinnacles are the results of a variety of geological processes. Old Village Visitor services here were first provided in 1859, and it remained the center of activity in Yosemite Valley for many years. Such enterprises as photographic studios, general store, post office, church, park headquarters, residences, hotels, and saloons were here. Because the site was subject to floods, and was colder than the sunnier north side of the valley, the facilities were gradually moved from here to Yosemite Village. A few buildings have been restored, several have burned down over the years, and others have been raved. Soon only the Chapel will remain here as the Old Village site is returned to a natural state. Le Conte Memorial was first built at Camp Curry in 1903 by the Sierra Club, and was later moved to its present site. The Memorial commemorates the work of Joseph LeConte, geologist and explorer of the Sierra Nevadas. In the summer, the Sierra Club maintains a conservation library and exhibits. Curry Village, directly beneath Glacier Point, was founded by Mr. and Mrs. David Curry in 1899, as Camp Curry. When the Curry's established the camp in the valley, they offered rustic accommodations and three square meals a day for $2, half of what Sentinel Hotel was charging at the time. It was Mrs. Curry, the "Stentor of Yosemite," who revived the Firefall from Glacier Point in the camp's first year and established it and its preceding calls as a feature of evening entertainment. Nightly during the summer and two or three times a week in the winter, glowing embers from as fire of red fir bark formerly were pushed over the precipice at the tip of Glacier Point to drop almost 1,000 ft through the air. The spectacle, best seen from the floor of Yosemite Valley, was probably originated by McCauley in the 1870s, but was later abandoned. After the practice was revived by Curry, it continued, except for a brief period during World War II, until 1968, when it was eliminated as an artificial attraction incompatible with the National Park idea of preserving America's wonders in their natural state. In the parking area of Curry Village is an old apple orchard, planted in 1859 by James Lamon, the Valley's first homesteader. In winter for many years a portion of the parking lot was flooded as an ice-skating rink, for then the great Glacier Point cliff blocks and low-rising sun and keeps this area in daylong shade. Glacier Point towers 3,242 ft above the valley. It is recognized by the broad light gray band running down the center of its vertical face. The cliff represents the remainder of a great fractured block, the valley side of which was removed piece by piece by glaciers, leaving only a steep and smooth rock face. Happy Isles Here the tumbling Merced River branches into several channels as it enters Yosemite Valley, forming two main islands. The name Happy Isles was given in 1885 by W.E. Dennison, Guardian of the Yosemite Grant, because "no one can visit them without for the while forgetting the grinding strife of his world and being happy." Mirror Lake is named for its clear reflection of adjacent mountains. The lake is at its best in the spring and early summer, the absence of wind during the early morning and late evening hours allows near perfect reflections on its surface. The lade was formed when rockslides from the cliffs above dammed Tenaya Creek. Every year the creek drops some of its load of sediment as it passes through Mirror Lake, so that some day it may dill in completely, as did Ancient Lake Yosemite. Early State Guardians in the Valley took steps to preserve Mirror Lake by building check dams In Tenaya Creek to catch silt, and a dam at the outlet to raise the water level and enlarge the flooded area. Even now it goes almost completely dry every autumn after the snowpack of the preceding winter has melted and run down Tenaya Creek, but with the first autumn storms it fills again, and in winter it may be covered completely with a layer of ice and snow. A three mile loop trail extends up Tenaya Canyon and then returns on the Half Dome side of Mirror Lake. The Lake is only a half-mile hike from the shuttle bus stop. Half Dome Dominating the upper end of the Valley is Half Dome, a rock formation that is both striking and unique. It summit is 4,748 ft (nearly a mile) above the valley floor and 8,842 ft above sea level. The summit was first reached during a difficult climb to its 13-acre top in summer via a cable trail up the east side of the dome. Its sheer 2,000 foot cliff was fashioned by Ice Age glaciers that quarried away fractured rock slabs until only the great unbroken cliff remained. Yosemite's Indians called it Ti-sa-ack, after the principal character in one of their legends. Vertical black streaks on the cliff face are formed by lichen and algae. They grow along courses followed by water from rain and melting snow as it falls to the valley floor. With a little imagination, you can see these stains, shaped like a woman's head in profile -- some say that it is Tissaack, herself. Washington Column juts like a tall skyscraper 1,920 ft above the Valley floor, separated the Royal Arches by a gully carved in a series of cracks. It was named for its fancied likeness to the Father of our Country, George Washington. It is best seen from the upper part of the Four-Mile Trail to Glacier Point. Royal Arches are the result of exfoliation and glaciation, the same processes that have created most of Yosemite's domes. The rocks here broke in tabular sheets parallel to the steep valley wall. The lower portions were then removed by glaciers, leaving then the arches. Royal Arches Cascade is a 1,000 foot tall waterfall located to the left of the Royal Arches. It runs only in the springtime when the snow is melting and after heavy rains. Yosemite Village Located here are the Park Service Headquarters, U.S. court, Post Office, restaurants, grocery store, shops, medical clinic, bank, and garage. Yosemite Lodge This area was first developed as a U.S. Calvary post, Fort Yosemite, when the Army administered the Park prior to 1914. In 1915 the Desmond Company remodeled the Army barracks to provide hotel accommodations for its 30 year concessioner franchise. The facilities are now operated by (Who else, but ...) the Yosemite Park and Curry Co., which has replaced the army facilities. Rocky Point Ever since Yosemite Valley was entered by the Mariposa Battalion in 1851, Rocky Point has been a problem to builders of trails and roads. At times there have been low-water fords, ferries, or bridges. The jumbled rocks have fallen from the cliffs above, most of them in a slide originating at Middle Brother rock in 1987. The slide was estimated to contain 600,000 cubic yards of material weighing 1.4 million tons. Dozens of large trees were ripped from their footings, and boulders even reached the Merced River. Tunnel View provides a panorama of Yosemite Valley, and one of the most photographed vistas on earth. El Capitan, Half Dome, Sentinel Rock, Cathedral Rocks, and Bridalveil Fall are all visible from the overlook. Turtleback Dome is granite slab composed of thin, curved layers of shells of rock. Through the erosional process of exfoliation by load relief, overlying rock was eroded away allowing the granite layers to expand and break along lines parallel to the surface. The rounded, smooth surface of Turtleback Dome formed through the same process as did those on Half Dome, North Dome, and other similar formations found in the Park. The Chinquapin Intersection receives its name from an evergreen shrub common here. This junction has been important since the 1850s and today is the turnoff for Glacier Point and Badger Pass. The present Glacier Point Road was completed in 1936, replacing the original wagon road built in 1882. It is 16 miles long and terminates at Glacier Point. Peregoy Meadow was named for Charles E. Peregoy, who operated an early hotel here known as the Mountain View House. Built in 1869, it stood 1/4 mile to the right (south) of the present road on the horse trail between Wawona and Yosemite Valley, and flourished until 1875 when is was by passed by the predecessor of today's Wawona Road. Pothole Meadows Odd round pools of water about five feet in diameter form in bowl-shaped depressions in these meadows during the wet months of spring and summer. Once thought to be formed by glacier action, the potholes were never covered with ice. The origin of the potholes is not clearly understood, but perhaps they formed during times when snow melt water courses over the meadow surface. Sentinel Dome is seen directly ahead of post G8. Like other domes in the region, Sentinel Dome was formed by expansion, cracking, and weathering of the surface rock layers by the erosional process known as exfoliation by load relief. Washburn Point probably gets its name from the Washburn brothers of Wawona who drove visitors by stage in the 1879s and 80s from their Wawona Hotel to Washburn Point and Glacier Point. Although Yosemite Valley cannot be seen from here, Half Dome, Mt. Clark, and Mt. Starr King can. Glacier Point is at an elevation of 7,214 ft. It is one of the most impressive view-points in the Park, providing spectacular vistas of the High Sierra, Half Dome, and down a 3,000 ft cliff into Yosemite Valley. From the opposite valley wall, Yosemite Creek drops a half mile to the bottom in two great plunges as Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls. The rock formations of this grand view are identified by an interpretive sing below the hut exhibits facing Half Dome. During early glacial episodes, ice flowed through an already existing stream-cut valley, filling it completely and even burying Glacier Point under 700 feet of ice. Later glaciers also entered Yosemite Valley, but were not as large. |
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