Yosemite World Heritage Site Overview
Yosemite National Park, California, is 748,000 acres carved by the glacial erosion
of granite, resulting in perhaps the world’s most famous national park
landscape. The distinctive landscape of hanging valleys, waterfalls, cirque
lakes, polished domes, moraines, and U-shaped valleys. Major park areas are the
Yosemite Valley, Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River, which is in a roadless
area between Tuolumne Meadows and Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, Tuolumne Grove,
Mariposas Grove, Wawona Dome and Chilnualna Fall, and Glacier Point. The high
meadows between 4500 and 7000 feet are part of the Sierra Meadows South
important bird area (IBA). One of the few trans-mountain roads in the southern
Sierra Nevada is the Tioga Road, which passes through Tuolumne Meadows. The
Sierra Nevada Research Station of the University California Natural Reserve
System is located in Wawona along the South Fork of the Merced River. Most of
the park is also designated as the 704,600-acre Yosemite Wilderness. Exclusion areas outside the wilderness are the
roads, hydroelectric reservoirs, private inholdings, campgrounds, and
high-volume visitor areas including Yosemite Valley, Wawona, and Glacier Point.
These are described first, then the wilderness is described. In addition to the
natural features, there are five national historic landmarks in the park.
Places
Northwestern Area
Hetch Hetchy Reservoir
(N37º57’ W119º47’) and Lake Eleanor (N37º59’
W119º52’) within the park are part of the Hetch Hetchy hydroelectric
development of the City of San Francisco. Aspen Valley
(N37º50’ W119º46’) is an area of private inholdings at 6,200-feet elevation on
the former Tioga Road (connecting White Wolf with Big Oak Flat) off of
Evergreen Road. The 1879 two-story Hodgdon Homestead Cabin was relocated from
Aspen Valley to the Pioneer Yosemite History Center in 1960. It is used as an
authentic building to interpret pioneer history.
Big Oak Flat Road
On Big Oak Flat Road are campgrounds
and sequoia groves. Merced Grove (N37º45’ W119º50’) is an area of 20 sequoia
trees about one mile south of Big Oak Flat Road. Tuolumne Grove (N37º46’ W119º48’)
of giant sequoias is one mile north of the junction of Tioga Pass Road and Big
Oak Flat Road. Foresta (N37º42’ W119º45’)
is an area of private inholdings at 4,200-foot elevation with 30 private homes,
some of which are available for vacation rentals, on the western boundary of
the park off of Big Oak Flat Road on Coulterville Road.
Tioga Road
On Tioga Road are campgrounds and
spur roads to other campgrounds such as Tamarack Flat, White Wolf, and Yosemite
Creek. White Wolf (N37º52’ W119º39’) is a lodge and campground area and
trailhead for the western part of Tioga Road. Tuolumne Meadows (N37º52’ W119º22’)
is a lodge and trail head for the high alpine meadows portion of the park along
Tioga Road. Yosemite High Sierra Camps are a series of five hike-in tent
villages to the west and south of Tuolumne Meadows. These facilities have beds
and serve dinner. The camps are located at Glen Aulin (N37º55’ W119º25’), May
Lake (N37º51’ W119º30’), Merced Lake (N37º44’ W119º24’), Sunrise (N37º48’ W119º26’),
and Vogelsang (N37º48’ W119º21’). The immediate area around the camps is
excluded from the wilderness, but the entire trail access is within the
wilderness. Vogelsang is the highest camp, at 10,300 feet elevation, and Merced
Lake is the lowest, at 7,150 feet. It is currently possible to make
reservations at individual camps rather than for the entire 50-mile loop (Ryan
2015).
Parsons Memorial Lodge
National Historic Landmark (N37º53’ W119º22’) is located in the Tuolumne
Meadows area off Tioga Pass Road. Built
in 1915 by the Sierra Club, it was one of the earliest rustic stone buildings
in the national parks. The building was named for Edward Taylor Parsons, a
Sierra Club director who was involved in the political fight over allowing
Hetch Hetchy Dam to be built in a national park. The Sierra Club lost that
battle when Hetch Hetchy and Lake Eleanor were authorized by Congress in 1913.
The site commemorates the role of the Tuolumne River in inspiring conservation
of the natural world nationwide.
Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Valley (N37º45’ W119º35’)
was the center of the first land grant for Yosemite in 1864 and is the major
park destination today. The 1980 park General Management Plan describes it as
the premiere masterwork of the natural world. Iconic waterfalls line the sheer
rock walls of the glaciated valley. Campgrounds and visitor accommodations are
also here, although reservations are hard to get. Trails in Yosemite Valley
lead to Bridalveil Fall, Mirror Lake, Vernal Fall, Nevada Fall, Yosemite Falls,
and Half Dome. At 2,425 feet, Yosemite Falls is the highest waterfall in North
America.
Ahwahnee Hotel
National Historic Landmark (N37º45’ W119º34’) is part of the Yosemite Valley
Historic District and is on the north side of the Merced River at the base of
the Royal Arches rock formation on the north valley wall. Built in 1927, the
hotel is seven stories and a symbol of design excellence, 1920 architectural
ideals, and Rustic-style architecture on a previously unimagined scale. A Great
Lounge provides the feel of a national park hotel. The NHL is significant for
its role in development of tourism, national parks, concessions in national
parks, and in the public appreciation of the national park system (National
Park Service 2011).
Le Conte Memorial Lodge
National Historic Landmark (N37º45’ W119º35’) is on the south side of the
Merced River in the Yosemite Valley near the Housekeeping Camp. It was
constructed in 1903 by the Sierra Club to disseminate information about the
Sierra Nevada and is still used for that purpose. Club volunteers man the
memorial in the summer months. In 1919 it was moved to its present location
across from the Housekeeping Camp. The structure is unique in the national
parks for its Tudor revival architecture. Its historic significance is as a
principal foothold of the Sierra Club in the mountains for which it was named.
Rangers’ Club
National Historic Landmark (N37º45’ W119º35’) is on the south side of the
Merced River in Curry Village. The rustic chalet was built in 1920 and donated
to the park by Stephen Mather, the first director of the National Park Service,
with the idea that rangers serving in the remote location could be provided a
place of their own. The Rustic style was intended for national park
architecture to harmonize with nature. The interior of the building has Arts
and Crafts characteristics.
Wawona Road
South of Yosemite Valley, Wawona
Road leads to the south entrance. A spur road off of the Wawona Road leads to
Badger Pass, Bridalveil Creek, and Glacier Point. Glacier Point (N37º44’ W119º34’)
is a 3,000-foot sheer cliff that overlooks Yosemite Valley and is a trailhead
for the southern portions of the park. Ostrander Ski Hut (N37º37’ W119º33’) is
a winter use facility south of Bridalveil Creek. The immediate area around the
hut is excluded from the wilderness, but the trail access traverses the
wilderness. Wawona (N37º32’ W119º39’) includes the Pioneer Yosemite History
Center and the Wawona Hotel National Historic Landmark, described below. The
Pioneer Yosemite History Center is a collection of historic structures from
different locations within Yosemite.
Wawona Hotel
National Historic Landmark (N37º32’ W119º39’) is on the South Fork Merced
River. It is the largest Victorian hotel in a national park, built between 1876
and 1918, and it has operated for more than 100 years. It was constructed on
the homestead of one of Yosemite’s earliest settlers, Galen Clark, and and was
also the site of a stage station at the crossing of the South Fork Merced
River. The seven-building national historic landmark complex contains the
studio of Thomas Hill, a landscape painter of the Hudson River School, who
painted here from 1886 to 1908. The other six buildings are the main hotel, the
Annex, Clark Cottage, the Manager’s House, Moore’s Cottage, and Washburn
Cottage.
At the southwestern edge of the park
is Mariposa Grove (N37º31’ W119º36’). Together with Yosemite Valley, this was
the first area set aside by Congress for preservation of Yosemite in 1864 and
is considered the birthplace of the national park idea. The giant sequoias
occupy about 500 acres and include 500 mature trees. In 2015, a parking area
and transit hub is being developed at the park’s south entrance to provide
visitor access and protection of the grove.
Yosemite Wilderness
The Yosemite Wilderness designation as part of the national wilderness preservation system includes 705,000 acres. The
wilderness is bordered by the Emigrant Wilderness to the north, Hoover to the
northeast, Ansel Adams to the southeast. The northernmost point is near Dorothy
Lake (N38º11’ W119º35’), the southernmost near Mariposa Grove (N37º30’ W119º35’),
the westernmost near Lake Eleanor (N37º59’ W119º53’), and the easternmost at Mount
Lewis (N37º51’ W119º12’). Some major features within the wilderness are Jack
Main Canyon (N38º3’ W119º41’), the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River (N37º56’
W119º33’), Lyell Canyon (N37º49’ W119º17’), Little Yosemite Valley (N37º44’
W119º30’), and Buena Vista Crest (N37º36’
W119º29’).
Trails lead into the wilderness from
Hetch Hetchy area (Wapama Falls, Rancheria Falls, Smith Peak), Big Oak Flat (Carlon
Falls on South Fork Tuolumne River [from Evergreen Road in Stanislaus National
Forest]), Tuolumne Meadows (Lyell Canyon, Mono Pass, Cathedral lakes, Gaylor
Lake, Elizabeth Lakes, and Tuolumne River waterfalls), White Wolf (Lukens Lake,
Harden Lake, North Dome, Ten Lakes), Glacier Point Road (Sentinel Dome, McGurk
Meadow, Mono Meadow), and Wawona (Chilnaulna Falls). The John Muir Trail begins
in Yosemite Valley and climbs to Tuolumne Meadows, where it joins the Pacific
Crest Trail and continues south to Mount Whitney in Sequoia National Park. The
Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail traverses the wilderness from Donohue Pass
on the Ansel Adams Wilderness boundary (N37 46’ W119 15’) north to Dorothy
Lakes Pass on the Hoover Wilderness boundary (N38 11’ W119 35’), passing Lyell
Canyon, Tuolumne Meadows, Tuolumne Falls, Virginia Canyon, Matterhorn Canyon,
and Jack Main Canyon.
National Wild and Scenic River System
Merced River within Yosemite National Park and wilderness is part of the
wild and scenic river system. The river is designated from its source on Mount
Lyell to Briceburg (N37º36’ W119º58’), including glacially carved Yosemite
Valley. There are four source streams that are included in the designation. Red
Peak Fork (N37º40’ W119º23’), Merced Peak Fork (N37º39’ W119º23’), and Triple
Peak Fork (N37º38’ W119º20’) confluence from the south, and Lyell Fork (N37º44’
W119º16’) enters from the east. From its source to El Portal (N37º40’
W119º49’)(the Yosemite National Park portion), the river flows through a
conifer forest. South Fork Merced River
within Yosemite National Park and Wilderness is a wild and scenic river from
its source at Chain Lakes (N37º34’ W119º24’) downstream for 22 miles to the
park boundary (N37º35’ W119º42’). The river passes the Wawona area. The Tuolumne River and its headwater tributaries
Dana Fork and Lyell Fork are designated as wild and scenic rivers within the park
and wilderness except for a section of the Tuolumne River at Hetch Hetchy
Reservoir.
