One of the most spectacular sights of the spectacular Yosemite National Park is Half Dome, a magnificent rock that dominates the head of this glacier-carved valley.
Yosemite Valley is a deep valley deep in the Sierra Nevada mountains in eastern California. The valley floor is about 4,000 feet above sea level, surrounded on either side by 3,000- to 4,000-foot cliffs punctuated by fleecy waterfalls. The 7.5-mile-long valley is covered with lovely wooded areas and flowering meadows.
Yosemite was discovered by Indians at some unknown time, but came to the attention of the general public in 1851 when Major James Savage and members of Mariposa battalion pursued Indians into the valley. Savage's Indian guides told him the name of the valley, which he heard as "Yo-sém-i-ty," meaning "grizzly bear."
Pictures of the area by artist Thomas Ayres made Yosemite's scenery know to the public, but seeing the area at first was difficult, requiring a determined hike or horseback ride. But by 1900 the first automobile had entered the valley.
At the urging of naturalist John Muir, and others, the area was first protected by Congress in 1864, and later made a National Park.
Muir also was one of the main proponents of the idea that glacier action created the valley, an explanation that is now generally accepted.
Today, Yosemite attracts more than 3 million visitors a year.
