Yosemite National Park

Yosemite national park is located along the western slopes of California's Sierra Nevada mountain range. Falling under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Yosemite spans over 1,158 square miles (3,000 square kilometers) and ranges in elevation from 2,000 to over 13,000 feet (610 to 3,962 meters) above sea level. Though Yosemite is a land of superlatives—containing sheer 3,500-foot (1,067-meter) cliffs, the highest waterfall in North America (Yosemite Falls), and the largest living tree species in the world (the giant sequoia)—it is perhaps most notable for being an icon of the U.S. environmental movement.

In 1864 Abraham Lincoln passed a landmark bill called the Yosemite Grant, which ceded Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Sequoia Grove to California as a state park. During the late ...