Yosemite National Park defines the American wilderness with its towering granite cliffs, ancient sequoia groves, and thunderous waterfalls. While John Muir famously fought to protect this valley, it served as a home to indigenous people for thousands of years before prospectors arrived. The park not only birthed the concept of national parks but also pushed rock climbing from a fringe hobby into a global sport. Furthermore, the landscape changes dramatically with the seasons, offering everything from "firefalls" in February to frazil ice in spring. Prepare to gaze up at the Dawn Wall.
Yosemite Park
Abraham Lincoln protected the land in 1864, years before it became a national park. In the middle of the Civil War, the President signed the Yosemite Grant Act. This action marked the first time the federal government set aside land specifically for public use and preservation.
A waterfall turns into “lava” for two weeks every February. When the setting sun hits Horsetail Fall at the perfect angle, the water glows a brilliant orange-red. Photographers call this phenomenon the “Firefall,” and thousands gather annually to witness the natural light show.
The Buffalo Soldiers served as some of the first park rangers. African American cavalry regiments patrolled the park in the early 1900s to stop poachers and illegal grazing. Remarkably, they also built the first usable road into the Giant Forest and rode bicycles through the rugged terrain.
Climbers sleep on vertical cliffs for days to scale El Capitan. The sheer granite face rises 3,000 feet from the valley floor, requiring athletes to haul up portable ledges to sleep on. In 2015, Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson made history by free-climbing the Dawn Wall, arguably the hardest climb in the world.
A luxury hotel in the park served as a naval hospital during World War II. The Navy commandeered the Ahwahnee Hotel in 1943 to treat sailors suffering from shell shock. Staff converted the Great Lounge into a massive dormitory and the gift shop into a soda fountain for the recovering troops.
Hetch Hetchy Valley sits underwater because of a controversial dam. San Francisco built the O’Shaughnessy Dam in 1923 to provide water for the city, flooding a valley that John Muir claimed rivaled Yosemite Valley in beauty. This defeat for conservationists actually sparked the modern environmental movement.
Bears in Yosemite have learned to break into cars like thieves. Since black bears possess an incredible sense of smell, they can detect a stray wrapper inside a locked vehicle. Consequently, the park enforces strict rules about storing food in bear-proof steel canisters to keep both humans and animals safe.
The Giant Sequoias rely on fire to reproduce. The heat from forest fires dries out the cones of the massive trees, allowing them to open and release seeds. Therefore, park rangers now intentionally set controlled burns to ensure the Mariposa Grove continues to grow.
A bizarre phenomenon called “frazil ice” turns creeks into slushies. In spring, the mist from waterfalls freezes in mid-air and falls into the creek below. This creates a moving slurry of ice crystals that looks like lava flow but feels freezing cold.
The indigenous Ahwahneechee people played a game similar to soccer. They played “tchik-tchik-ah” on a large field in the valley, where players tried to kick a buckskin ball through a goal. Unlike modern soccer, the game often involved rough tackling and could last for days.
Yosemite Falls stands as the tallest waterfall in North America. The water drops a staggering 2,425 feet from the top of the upper fall to the base of the lower fall. During late summer droughts, however, the mighty flow often dries up completely.
Hikers need a lottery permit to climb the cables on Half Dome. The park installed steel cables to help visitors pull themselves up the final 400 feet of slick granite. Because the hike became dangerously crowded, rangers now limit the number of people on the cables to 300 per day.
Glaciers carved the iconic U-shaped valley. Massive sheets of ice ground their way through the granite mountains during the last Ice Age, leaving behind the vertical walls we see today. El Capitan and Half Dome are essentially the durable rocks that the ice couldn’t grind away.
People used to drive cars through a tunnel cut into a living tree. The Wawona Tree became a famous tourist attraction in 1881 after workers cut a tunnel through its base. The weakened giant finally fell during a heavy snowstorm in 1969, ending the tradition.
Finally, the park creates its own weather systems. The dramatic elevation change from 2,000 to 13,000 feet means snow can fall in the high country while the valley enjoys a sunny spring day. This topography traps clouds against the cliffs, creating the dramatic storms that photographers love.
