Yosemite National Park

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Yosemite National Park covers 308,205 hectares (761,266 acres) in eastern California. It was established in 1890 as a result of the efforts of conservationist John Muir. Yosemite National Park lies in a beautiful glacier-scoured area of the Sierra Nevada. The park's highest peak is Mount Lyell, which is 3,997 m (13,114 feet) high. One of the park's best known features is the famed Yosemite Valley, which sits at an altitude of 1,200 m (4,000 feet) and is surrounded by cliffs and pinnacles, the highest of which are 1,463 m (4,800 feet) high Half Dome and El Capitan, which rises perpendicularly 1,097 m (3,600 feet) above the valley.

Yosemite National Park also includes the world's three largest monoliths of exposed granite. There are many lakes, rivers, streams and waterfalls, the most noted of which is Yosemite Falls, the highest in North America. The falls have a drop of 739 m (2,425 feet) in two segments. The Ribbon Falls, with a drop of 491 m (1,612 feet) is also in the park.

An 87 km (54 miles) long segment of the Tuolumne River, which originates from snowmelt off mountains Dana and Lyell, is protected within the park before it crosses over into Stanislaus National Forest. There are three groves of sequoias within the park's limits. The groves include other types of trees too, as well as more than 1,000 varieties of flowering plants. In the scenic Hetch Hetchy Valley is the reservoir that supplies water to San Francisco.

Yosemite National Park is 160 km southeast from Sacramento and 3700 km west from Washington D.C.