Yosemite National Park is a national park of the United States in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers 759,620 acres in four counties – centered in Tuolumne and Mariposa, extending north and east to Mono and south to Madera. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, groves of giant sequoia, lakes, mountains, meadows, glaciers, and biological diversity. Almost 95 percent of the park is designated wilderness. Yosemite is one of the largest and least fragmented habitat blocks in the Sierra Nevada.
Sequoiadendron giganteum, also known as the giant sequoia, giant redwood, Sierra redwood or Wellingtonia is a coniferous tree, classified in the family Cupressaceae in the subfamily Sequoioideae. Giant sequoia specimens are the most massive trees on Earth. They are native to the groves on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California but have been introduced, planted, and grown around the world.
Wawona is a census-designated place in Mariposa County, California, United States. The population was 111 at the 2020 census.
Calaveras Big Trees State Park is a state park of California, United States, preserving two groves of giant sequoia trees. Located 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Arnold, California in the middle elevations of the Sierra Nevada, it has been a major tourist attraction since 1852, when the existence of the trees was first widely reported. Two famous exhibition trees, the Discovery Tree and the Mother of the Forest, were felled for display. It is also considered the longest continuously operated tourist attraction in California.
Nelder Grove, located in the western Sierra Nevada within the Sierra National Forest in Madera County, California, is a Giant sequoia grove that was formerly known as Fresno Grove. The grove is a 1,540-acre (6.2 km2) tract containing 60 mature Giant Sequoia trees, the largest concentration of giant sequoias in the Sierra National Forest. The grove also contains several historical points of interest, including pioneer cabins, giant sequoia stumps left by 19th-century loggers, and the site where the Forest King exhibition tree was felled in 1870 for display.
Mariposa Grove is a sequoia grove located near Wawona, California, United States, in the southernmost part of Yosemite National Park. It is the largest grove of giant sequoias in the park, with several hundred mature specimens. Two of its trees are among the 30 largest giant sequoias in the world. The grove attracts about one million visitors annually.
Human habitation in the Sierra Nevada region of California reaches back 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. Historically attested Native American populations, such as the Sierra Miwok, Mono and Paiute, belong to the Uto-Aztecan and Utian phyla. In the mid-19th century, a band of Native Americans called the Ahwahnechee lived in Yosemite Valley. The California Gold Rush greatly increased the number of non-indigenous people in the region. Tensions between Native Americans and white settlers escalated into the Mariposa War. As part of this conflict, settler James Savage led the Mariposa Battalion into Yosemite Valley in 1851, in pursuit of Ahwaneechees led by Chief Tenaya. The California state military forces burned the tribe's villages, destroyed their food stores, killed the chief's sons, and forced the tribe out of Yosemite. Accounts from the Mariposa Battalion, especially from Dr. Lafayette Bunnell, popularized Yosemite Valley as a scenic wonder.
Galen Clark was a British North American-born American conservationist and writer. He is known as the first European American to discover the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoia trees, and is notable for his role in gaining legislation to protect it and the Yosemite area, and for 24 years serving as Guardian of Yosemite National Park.
The Wawona Hotel, located in southern Yosemite National Park, California, is a historic late Victorian mountain resort and one of the largest intact hotels of its kind within a national park. Originally established in the 1850s as Clark's Station, a pioneer stop, it soon evolved into a bustling stagecoach stop and later transformed into a grand New England–style resort, complete with manicured grounds and refined amenities. Its design catered to East Coast and European visitors, aligning with the era’s trend of exclusive grand hotels.
National Park Service rustic – sometimes colloquially called Parkitecture – is a style of architecture that developed in the early and middle 20th century in the United States National Park Service (NPS) through its efforts to create buildings that harmonized with the natural environment. Since its founding in 1916, the NPS sought to design and build visitor facilities without visually interrupting the natural or historic surroundings. The early results were characterized by intensive use of hand labor and a rejection of the regularity and symmetry of the industrial world, reflecting connections with the Arts and Crafts movement and American Picturesque architecture.
The Wawona Tree, also known as the Wawona Tunnel Tree, was a famous giant sequoia that stood in Mariposa Grove, Yosemite National Park, California, United States, until February 1969. It had a height of 227 feet (69 m) and was 26 feet (7.9 m) in diameter at the base.
The Grizzly Giant is a massive giant sequoia located in Mariposa Grove within Yosemite National Park. Famous for its impressive size and age, the Grizzly Giant has been a symbol of the park since tourism began. The Grizzly Giant stands out with its enormous trunk, which is much larger than typical giant sequoias, and its unique, uneven branches shaped by centuries of weather and environmental factors. Its name comes from its imposing presence, reminiscent of a California grizzly bear.
The Merced Grove Ranger Station in Yosemite National Park was designed by the National Park Service and completed in 1935. The station is located near the Merced Grove of giant sequoias in the Crane Flat region of the park. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Merced Grove is a giant sequoia grove located about 3.6 km (2.2 mi) west of Crane Flat in the Merced River watershed of Yosemite National Park, California. The grove occupies a small valley at an elevation of 5,469 feet (1,667 m) and is accessible by a 2.5 km (1.6 mi) dirt trail.
The Pioneer Cabin Tree, also known as The Tunnel Tree, was a giant sequoia in Calaveras Big Trees State Park, California. It was considered one of the U.S.'s most famous trees, and drew thousands of visitors annually. It was estimated to have been more than 1,000 years old, and measured 33 feet (10 m) in diameter; its exact age and height were not known. The tree was topped before 1859. It fell and shattered during a storm on January 8, 2017.
The Washburn Fire was a wildfire that burned in Yosemite National Park near the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias. The fire was reported on July 7, 2022, in the lower Mariposa Grove area near the Washburn trail, for which the fire is named. The fire quickly attracted national attention due in part to the role the Mariposa Grove played in the establishment of Yosemite National Park and the National Park Service.
Guardian of the Wilderness is a 1976 theatrical narrative film directed by David O'Malley about the true story of Galen Clark, an explorer who successfully campaigned to have the Yosemite area set aside from commercial development, the original forerunner of the American national parks system. Clark was prompted by his dedication to preserving places like the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, which he discovered, from being destroyed by loggers. The cast features Denver Pyle as Galen Clark, John Dehner as legendary naturalist John Muir and Ford Rainey as Abraham Lincoln. Clark was eventually appointed Superintendent of Yosemite, a position in which he served for more than two decades during which he defined the concept of an American park ranger; his varied history with the valley ranged across 55 years.
Exhibition trees are monarch specimens of Sequoiadendron giganteum harvested from California's Sierra Nevada Mountains and displayed at international expositions, world's fairs, and botanical gardens during the late 19th century. Renowned for their immense size and age, these trees fascinated 19th-century audiences and played a pivotal role in raising awareness about the need for conservation.
The Yosemite Stage and Turnpike Company, established in 1882 by Edward, John, and Henry Washburn, was a 19th-century transportation enterprise that provided stagecoach services connecting the San Joaquin Valley to Yosemite National Park. The company played a significant role in developing Yosemite's early tourism infrastructure, including the Wawona Hotel, helping to make the park more accessible to visitors.
