Park Number: 7/63

First Visited: October 8, 2010

What prose can still elucidate Yosemite that hasn’t already come from John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, Ansel Adams, and all other early defenders of this park? Yosemite is paramount in the national park experiment, probably being the most important park in the system, because it continually acts as the forebearer of congressional legislation, such as the 1864 Yosemite Grant signed by Abraham Lincoln, the mishaps with James Hutchings, and the controversy over Hetch Hetchy. Yosemite sets precedence, plain and simple. And with California in perpetual drought, climate change on the rise, and air pollution abysmal, I predict that we will once again be looking to the Sierras as a guide on how future environmental problems are handled.

Seven tribes, family name of Miwok (translated as “people”), consider Yosemite ancestral lands.

Related Articles:

Your Adventure Guide to Yosemite National Park

Visiting Yosemite National Park

8 Great Winter Hikes in the U.S.

10 Great Camping Areas for Climbers

*Several images on this page by Steve Witmer