Yosemite National Park – a Land Lost in Time by Robert Livesay
Yosemite National Park is one of the most popular parks in the National Park system and visited by over 3.5 million tourists each year. Here tourists can experience the beautiful landscape, consisting of waterfalls and granite cliffs. Although the park spans over a huge area of 1189 square miles, the most popular section among tourists is the 7 square miles of Yosemite Valley. The park is extremely famous among mountain climbers for the 3500 foot vertical granite wall of El Capitan. The park has lot to offer including rafting in Merced River, hiking, photography, biking, horseback riding, skiing and snowshoeing at Badger Pass and camping. Yosemite National Park is located about 200 miles east of San Francisco (SFO), about a 3 to 4 hours drive by auto.
Yosemite Valley is located in the central part of the High Sierra and is the most visited section of the park. Yosemite Valley starts receiving visitors from early spring to early summer (Feb to May) as the waterfalls are in full intensity. Summer time, June to September, is crowded especially on weekends as the school summer breaks are in effect at that time and lot of parents bring their children during that time.
There is a park entrance fee is per car valid for 7 days. You have the option to drive around yourself but to maintain the natural beauty of the park and to keep it pollution free zone; the park operates free shuttle buses to most of the popular spots. High traffic is common especially at the entrance. Yosemite Valley is the only place in Yosemite where you can buy food inside the park. Although all major roads are kept well-plowed throughout the snow season, the National Park Service requires that drivers of private vehicles carry tire chains.
Here is a list of some of the highlights of Yosemite Park.
Glacier Point Road: The Glacier Point Road is about 30 miles drive from the visitor center. It opens in late May to closes in November.
This road offers one of the most spectacular views from great elevation. A great place for short stops, take pictures and hiking.
Tioga Pass: The Tioga pass is about 9950 feet high and offers spectacular views of the park. It is accessible only in summertime around June-July as this area is at a great elevation and gets heavy snow in winters.
Mariposa Grove: The Mariposa Grove is Yosemite’s largest grove of giant sequoias. The largest tree, Grizzly Giant, is about 1800 years old.
Half Done: Half Dome is granite dome in Yosemite National Park, located at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley possibly Yosemite’s most familiar sight. The granite crest rises more than 4,737 ft above the valley floor.
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