Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park is a USA National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, USA. The park covers an area of 761,268 acres (3,080.74 km2) and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain.Over 3.7 million people visit Yosemite each year most spend their time in the seven square miles (18 km2) of Yosemite Valley.Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, Giant Sequoia groves, and biological diversity.Almost 95% of the park is designated wilderness. Although not the first designated national park, Yosemite was central to the development of the national park idea, largely owing to the work of people alike Galen Clark and John Muir.

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. The park has an elevation range from 2,127 to 13,114 feet (648 to 3,997 m) and contains five major vegetation zones: chaparral/oak woodland, lower montane, upper montane, subalpine, and alpine. Of California's 7,000 plant species, about 50% occur in the Sierra Nevada and more than 20% within Yosemite. There is suitable habitat or documentation for more than 160 rare plants in the park, with rare local geologic formations and unique soilscharacterizing the restricted ranges numerous of these plants occupy.

Climbing
Rock climbing is an important part of Yosemite.Camp 4—a walk-in campground in Yosemite Valley—was instrumental in the development of rock climbing as a sport, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.Climbers can generally be spotted in thesnow-free months on anything from ten-foot-high (3 m) boulders to the 3,300-foot (1.0 km) face of El Capitan. Classes are offered by numerous groups on rock climbing.

Hiking
Over 800 miles (1,300 km) of trails are available to hikers—anything from the easy stroll, to the grueling hikes up several park mountains, to multiple-day backpack trips.The park can be divided into 5 sections for the day-user—Yosemite Valley, Wawona/Mariposa Grove/ Glacier Point, Tuolumne Meadows, Hetch Hetchy, and Crane Flat/White Wolf. Numerous books describe park trails, and free information is available from the Park Service in Yosemite. Park rangers encourage visitors to experience portions of the park in addition to Yosemite Valley.Between late spring and early fall, much of the park is open to multiple-day backpack trips. All overnight trips into the back country require a wilderness permit and most require approved bear-resistant food storage.

Winter activities
A ranger-guided snowshoe walk in the park Many of the roads in the park close because of heavy snow in winter; however, Yosemite Valley is open all year long. Downhill skiing is available at the Badger Pass Ski Area—the oldest downhill skiing area in California, offering downhill skiing from mid-December through early April.Much of the park is open to cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, with several backcountry ski huts open for use.Wilderness permits are required for backcountry overnight ski trips.The Bracebridge dinner is an annual holiday event,held since 1927 at the Ahwahnee Hotel, inspired by Washington Irving's descriptions of Squire Bracebridge and English Christmas traditions of the 1700s in his
Sketch Book. Between 1929 and 1973, the show was organized by Ansel Adams.