Yosemite National Park is known with the most spectacular landscapes in the east central part of California. This beautiful place is a national park since 1890, and it is part of the natural heritage of UNESCO. Famous for its mountain scenery, the fascinating reserve Yosemite is located near Sierra Nevada.
The care to protect Yosemite Valley began as early as June 30, 1864. At that date President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill that put this area and its unique redwood forests under protection. This is the 1st time in the american history when the government authorizes a protected area to be accessible to all who wish to admire it.
Occupying an area of 1,200 square miles Yosemite Natinal Park combines the natural beauty of hundreds of waterfalls and lakes, valleys and mountain meadows, woodlands. The water channels in the park have a total length of 1,600 miles. The numerous hiking trails here are about 800 miles, and roadways have at least 350 miles.
The biodiversity here is huge. Yosemite is famous for its forests of giant sequoias and spectacular granite cliffs.
Over the years the popularity of Yosemite National Park grows and thus increasing the number of visitors. Most of them however visit only 12 square miles in the valley, which is about 1% of the total land of the park.
The peak Half Dome is perhaps the main attraction here. It rises to a height of about 1219 meters. The beautiful mountain is often a subject of pictures by photographers worldwide. This place is a paradise for extreme climbers. Besides Half Dome, they can exercise their hobby at El Capitan, which with it 914′s meters heigt is the largest monolithic granite rock in the world.
