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Yosemite National Park Facts

Yosemite National Park Facts
Yosemite National Park, located in the state of California, covers 761,268 acres of land. In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant. Originally this covered just the Yosemite Valley and Mariposa grove area, but eventually, thanks to John Muir who pushed the issue, it covered the forests and the mountains surrounding the valley. Before it became a national park, it had been home to the Ahwaneechee Native Americans for 4,000 years. Trappers and the California Gold Rush changed all of this. The park was officially established in 1890 as a national park.
Interesting Yosemite National Park Facts:
The Mariposa Indian War, which ended in 1851, started because of the way the Natives were treated when the gold rush started.
In 1855, an artist Thomas Ayres painted Yosemite's landscapes, and an entrepreneur James Hutchings wrote articles about Yosemite. Because of these articles, and Ayres' paintings, the tourism to Yosemite greatly increased.
There is a granite formation in Yosemite called the Half Dome. It reaches 5,000 feet above the floor of the valley.
The park is located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
The tallest waterfall in North America is located in Yosemite National Park. Its flow peaks in May and it has a 2,425 foot drop. Its name is Yosemite Falls.
There is a waterfall in the park named Bridalveil Falls. Because the wind blows the falling water to the side, it looks like a bride's veil blowing in the wind.
It is believed that a glacier is responsible for producing the shape of Yosemite Valley.
20% of California's 7,000 plant species are found within Yosemite.
There are 500 giant sequoias in Yosemite, which can live up to 3,000 years. They are thought to be the largest living things on the planet.
The seed of a sequoias is only the size of a piece of oatmeal.
In 1884 the first concession was opened in Yosemite. It was a store and a bakery.
President Roosevelt spent three nights camping in Yosemite in 1903.
In 1906 President Roosevelt took Yosemite away from California's control and put it in the control of the federal government.
The mountains located in Yosemite still grow about one foot every 1,000 years.
There are at least 90 species of mammals in the park, including black bears, coyotes, gophers and chipmunks.
There are at least 300 black bears in the park, and possibly as many as 500.
Black bears in Yosemite gained notoriety for a while for breaking into park visitor's cars looking for food.
For hikers, there are more than 800 miles for exploring.
Rock climbers have a lot of rock to climb. The most challenging might be El Capitan which has a 3,300 foot rock face.
Only a small portion of the park is actually visited by those exploring the park; most of it is untouched by humans.
There are five different planting zones in Yosemite National Park.
The brown bear and the California condor are now extinct in Yosemite.
There is still approximately 225,000 acres of old growth forest left in Yosemite.
About 3.5 million people visit Yosemite each year.
The park was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984.


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