Yosemite National Park Yosemite. Beautiful. Marvelous. Historic. Amazing. Interesting. The park is described perfectly by these words. Want to know why? Then listen to this. Yosemite has great and interesting history. Yosemite National park is 150 miles east of San Fransisco. The park was established on October 1st, 1890. However, it had already been a state park since 1864 and it was 48.6 square miles. From 1906 to 1916, it was operated by the U.S. army. It was created to protect the Sierra Nevada and the Great Sequoias groves and all the mountains and the Half Dome. It was discovered by Maj James D. Savage in 1851 while he chased some Indians back to the area because they had raided his camp. The Indians were called the Yosemite Indians and then, when the park was created, they named it after them. Yosemite has many animals and a good size. Yosemite is 7 miles long and 1 mile wide. It has many animals including Marmots. They are often spotted in the meadows sun bathing in the park. Though they are very secretive in the park, Mountain Lions keep the population of the herbivores in the park down. There are also Western Grey Squirrels and they are the most common squirrel in the park. They are easily spotted because of their bushy tails. There are also California Ground Squirrels that hibernate in the winter. There are also Coyotes. They are often mistaken for wolves in the park. However, there are no wolves in the park. Then there are the mule deer- they are some of the easiest animals to spot in the park. Also, there are Black Bears. They are intelligent bears that can be black, brown, blond, cinnamon, or white! Not to mention the annoying, the horrible, yes, the Mosquioto. At some points in the year, there can be millions of them. Birdwatching is a popular thing in the park. It has many birds such as Great Grey Owls and they are the largest owls in the park. Then, there are the Pelegrine Falcons and they are one of the fastest birds of prey species in the world. Also, there's the Red Tailed Hawks. They are the most common bird of prey in the park. There's the most intelligent animals in the park, the Ravens. Not to mention Dark Eyed Junkos which are easily spotted in Yosemite. Then there are the rainbow trout. They are 1 of the few fish species in the park. The valley is called Thawnhnee (which means deep grass valley) by the Indians. The Valley has an elevation of 3,960 feet with mountains rising 25 to 30,000 feet around it. Yosemite Falls are some of the largest waterfalls in the world and drop 3 stages, a total of 2,610 feet. Then there is the mountains of the park. There's El Capitan and the 3 brothers. The North Dome is 7,531 feet high and Glacier Point is 7,214 feet high. Three groves of great sequoias grow in the high country of the park. Marisopa grove is the largest of the three. Great sequoias in the park can be 250 feet high and 3,500 years old. The Pwiach Dome shows how cracks can form and be healed.

Yosemite has even more history. Glaciers formed Yosemites mountains and features. Glaciers used to be 1,000 feet thick. Yosemites famous half dome was split by glaciers. Five hundred million years ago Yosemite was covered by a shallow sea which became the glaciers that formed the park. Volcanoes erupted minerals into Yosemite until 100,000,000 years ago. Then granites cooled from molten rock below the surface of the earth. There also challanges in the park. Overtourism crushed some animals habitats and now the park guides no longer allow people to hike in some areas. Invasive species are a problem too. The mud snail can cover a whole river stream bed and destroy many water animals habitats. Well now you know about the beautiful, marvelous, historic, amazing, interesting, Yosemite National Park.