Yosemite National Park
MEMORIES:
Neopeius remembers...First! I went to Yosemite in May of '86 with my 7th grade class. We stayed in these unheated tent/cabins and ... More »
Posted on 11/01/09
PHOTOS:
World renowned for its granite cliffs, sparkling vistas, spectacular waterfalls, crystal clear streams, vast wilderness area, and of course its giant Sequoia groves, Yosemite National Park is the pearl of the Sierra Nevadas. The sheer diversity of its wildlife and its ecosystems is staggering. About one fifth of all plant species in the state of California can be found in Yosemite, and what’s more, one hundred and sixty of them are considered rare, including the soil and rock formations often surrounding them. It’s a place of subtle distinctiveness, Yosemite, and as anyone who has ever visited knows, a place of staggering grandeur at the same time.
Yosemite is such a treasured part of the state that it (and its protector John Muir) appears on the back of the quarter commemorating California. It was after camping for three days in Yosemite that president Theodore Roosevelt heartily followed Muir’s request to put the park under federal protection. Celebrated photographer Ansel Adams shot most of his famed landscape photos in Yosemite. It has been a significant location in such films as The Caine Mutiny and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
Yosemite National Park boasts a little something for whatever kind of outdoorsman (or woman) may visit. There are campgrounds for the rustic types, while plenty of cabins await those hesitant to give up beds and running water. There are attractions for the driver, the biker, the walker, the hiker, the runner, the climber, the backpacker, the swimmer, the rafter, the skier, the snowshoer, the ice skater, the horseback rider, or the tour… ist.
Of course, most who visit generally only see about one percent of the park as all but about a tenth of it is designated as wilderness area. Still, who’s complaining when staring up at the looming majesty of rock climbers’ paradise El Capitan? Who doesn’t remember the imaginative awe of seeing Sentinel Dome or Half Dome? Who doesn’t marvel at the red glow of Mount Dana and Mount Gibbs? Who isn’t moved by the brushstrokes of nature over the canvases of Tuolumne Meadows, the Cathedral Range, and the Kuna Crest? Who can help but wonder at the sheer magnitude of the millennia-old Grizzly Giant nestled among its family of two hundred like Sequoia in the Mariposa Grove? Who isn’t stunned by the brilliance of Snow Creek, Ribbon, Wapama, and any other of a number of cascading waterfalls?
The Yosemite Valley, in all, is only a very modest seven miles long. But as anyone who’s ever been can say, it’s seven miles of wonder.
