Yosemite is the granite cathedral of the Sierra Nevada — 1,200 square miles of soaring cliff faces, glacier-cut valleys, and sequoia groves first protected by federal grant in 1864 and designated a national park in 1890. The seven-square-mile Yosemite Valley draws the great majority of the park's four million annual visitors with the iconic profiles of El Capitan, Half Dome, and Yosemite Falls. From the Bay Area, the standard route is I-580 / I-205 east to CA-120 (Big Oak Flat Road), reaching the park in about three hours; from the south on CA-99, CA-41 climbs into the South Entrance through the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias. The high-country Tioga Road that connects the valley to US-395 is the highest paved through-road in California — and it is closed to all wheeled vehicles roughly seven months of the year.
- Granted federal protection in 1864 — the first land in US history specifically set aside for preservation
- Designated a national park in 1890 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984
- Tioga Road (CA-120 east) crests at 9,945 ft and is the highest highway pass in California
- About 4 million visitors per year, mostly concentrated in Yosemite Valley
- Mariposa Grove has more than 500 mature giant sequoias, including the 1,800-year-old Grizzly Giant
