22 Facts About Yosemite

1.

Yosemite National Park is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest.

FactSnippet No. 599,351
2.

Yosemite is one of the largest and least fragmented habitat blocks in the Sierra Nevada, and the park supports a diversity of plants and animals.

FactSnippet No. 599,352
3.

Geology of the Yosemite area is characterized by granite rocks and remnants of older rock.

FactSnippet No. 599,353
4.

Yosemite was critical to the development of the national park idea.

FactSnippet No. 599,354
5.

Indigenous natives of Yosemite called themselves the Ahwahneechee, meaning "dwellers" in Ahwahnee.

FactSnippet No. 599,355
6.

The conflict in Yosemite is known as the Mariposa War, it started in December 1850 when California funded a state militia to drive Native people from contested territory, known as Indigenous traditional and sacred homelands; the goal was to suppress Native American resistance to American expansion.

FactSnippet No. 599,356
7.

The quest for justice and sovereignty by Yosemite Natives has been ongoing for well over a hundred years.

FactSnippet No. 599,357
8.

Hutchings and Ayres were responsible for much of the earliest publicity about Yosemite, writing articles and special magazine issues about the Valley.

FactSnippet No. 599,358
9.

Muir was one of the first to theorize that the major landforms in Yosemite Valley were created by large alpine glaciers, bucking established scientists such as Josiah Whitney, who regarded Muir as an amateur.

FactSnippet No. 599,359
10.

The Yosemite Museum was founded in 1926 through the efforts of Ansel Franklin Hall.

FactSnippet No. 599,360
11.

Almost all of the landforms in the Yosemite area are cut from the granitic rock of the Sierra Nevada Batholith.

FactSnippet No. 599,361
12.

Yosemite Valley represents only one percent of the park area, but this is where most visitors arrive and stay.

FactSnippet No. 599,362
13.

El Capitan, a prominent granite cliff that looms over Yosemite Valley, is one of the most popular rock climbing destinations in the world because of its diverse range of climbing routes in addition to its year-round accessibility.

FactSnippet No. 599,363
14.

High country of Yosemite contains beautiful areas such as Tuolumne Meadows, Dana Meadows, the Clark Range, the Cathedral Range, and the Kuna Crest.

FactSnippet No. 599,364
15.

Wetlands in Yosemite occur in valley bottoms throughout the park, and are often hydrologically linked to nearby lakes and rivers through seasonal flooding and groundwater movement.

FactSnippet No. 599,365
16.

Yosemite is famous for its high concentration of waterfalls in a small area.

FactSnippet No. 599,366
17.

Also in Yosemite Valley is the much lower volume Ribbon Falls, which has the highest single vertical drop, 1, 612 feet.

FactSnippet No. 599,367
18.

None of the Yosemite glaciers are a remnant of the Ice Age alpine glaciers responsible for sculpting the Yosemite landscape.

FactSnippet No. 599,368
19.

Yosemite has a Mediterranean climate, meaning most precipitation falls during the mild winter, and the other seasons are nearly dry (less than three percent of precipitation falls during the long, hot summers).

FactSnippet No. 599,369
20.

Black bears of Yosemite were once famous for breaking into parked cars to steal food.

FactSnippet No. 599,370
21.

These non-native plants were introduced into Yosemite following the migration of early Euro-American settlers in the late 1850s.

FactSnippet No. 599,371
22.

Yosemite Valley is open all year, although some roads within the park close in winter.

FactSnippet No. 599,372