View allAll Photos Tagged johnmuir
Happy New Year!
Dünya da , Umutlu, Mutlu, Aydınlık Yıllar Dilerim.
El Capitan
www.yosemite.com/what-to-do/el-capitan/
El Capitan is 3,000 vertical feet of sheer rock granite, El Capitan is a beacon for visitors, a muse for photographers and one of the world’s ultimate challenges for climbers – Best time to see it? Any day of the year.
Best view? Inspiration Point by foot. Tunnel View or from El Capitan Meadow by car. Most knock-your-socks-off, one-of-a-kind El Capitan moment? During the last two weeks of February when conditions align perfectly and the setting sun turns the waters of Horsetail Fall into a dancing fire of light. Another great view is from El Capitan Meadow. The view from this beautiful meadow is view straight up El Capitan and also provides a great view of Cathedral Rocks. Located along one-way Northside Drive, plan to stop here on your way out of Yosemite Valley.
Merced River
www.yosemite.com/what-to-do/merced-river/
The main fork of the Merced River is a great place for swimming, hiking, fishing, rafting, gold-panning, camping and general recreation during the summer months. It’s low elevation also makes it a great place for a day hike in the winter.
There is day use and picnicking along Highway 140 and Briceburg, with overnight camping or fires only at designated campsites.
Yosemite National Park
UNESCO World Heritage List
whc.unesco.org/en/list/308/video
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park lies in the heart of California. With its 'hanging' valleys, many waterfalls, cirque lakes, polished domes, moraines and U-shaped valleys, it provides an excellent overview of all kinds of granite relief fashioned by glaciation. At 600–4,000 m, a great variety of flora and fauna can also be found here.
Statement of Significance
Yosemite National Park vividly illustrates the effects of glacial erosion of granitic bedrock, creating geologic features that are unique in the world. Repeated glaciations over millions of years have resulted in a concentration of distinctive landscape features, including soaring cliffs, domes, and free-falling waterfalls. There is exceptional glaciated topography, including the spectacular Yosemite Valley, a 914-meter (1/2 mile) deep, glacier-carved cleft with massive sheer granite walls. These geologic features provide a scenic backdrop for mountain meadows and giant sequoia groves, resulting in a diverse landscape of exceptional natural and scenic beauty.
Criterion (vii): Yosemite has exceptional natural beauty, including 5 of the world's highest waterfalls, a combination of granite domes and walls, deeply incised valleys, three groves of giant sequoia, numerous alpine meadows, lakes, diversity of life zones and variety of species.
Criterion (viii): Glacial action combined with the granitic bedrock has produced unique and pronounced landform features including distinctive polished dome structures, as well as hanging valleys, tarns, moraines and U-shaped valleys. Granitic landforms such as Half Dome and the vertical walls of El Capitan are classic distinctive reflections of geologic history. No other area portrays the effects of glaciation on underlying granitic domes as well as Yosemite does.
What makes California so special is the range of sites to see and places to visit. I have many friends who like to brag about surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding all in the same day. Myself, I'm a skier, and not much of a surfer or skater, so I can't make the same claim.
We have palm trees and beaches, and 14,000 ft. mountain peaks. There is something for everyone in California, and it's incredible how many places can be reached in a 1 day drive.
This is not the Zion Narrows. Why would I say such a ridiculous thing? Because I was supposed to be hiking that marvelous place today with a group of very talented photographers, and I hope they're having a fantastic time. I had some family obligations that sprang up at the last minute, so here I sit in Los Angeles, nowhere near the Narrows (I may make a quick drive to Pismo for sunset and low tide today, so I can at least get a little photo work in).
This shot is from the Merced River canyon, just west of the valley in Yosemite. It features some of the most dramatic soaring granite cliffs in the park, and I was fortunate to catch it on this morning as a storm moved in, filling the canyon with clouds and fog.
Update on what the heck this thing is: I'd wondered if this particular edifice had a name, but couldn't recall ever seeing it or hearing what it's called before. Thanks to my boyfriend asking around on a few rock climbing boards, I now know that this is called the Rostrum, and is rated as a 5/11 climb (in other words, about as challenging as you can get).
11/11/10 update: This pic is Earthshots.org's photo of the day for November 12, 2010.
12/14/10 update: This is one of two of my images that have been chosen for inclusion in the upcoming Yosemite Renaissance exhibition.
As a passionate mountain climber, I can say this quote carries through me over and again.
Theme: Power In Words
Year Fourteen Of My 365 Project
I don't think any other place in any other National Park has a name as apt as Cathedral Grove in Muir Woods. It is a quiet place of grand contemplation; where the very air feels holy and fraught with the power and purpose of trees that are older than most other tliving things on the planet.
Sandwood Bay beach and north rock, sea spray and the ebbing tide under a cobalt sky. Quite nice really.
A small park in Martinez, CA, in the outer Bay Area. John Muir lived here with this parents-in-law and inherited the fruit ranch after their death. The ranch grew a range of fruits and nuts for sale. Remnant plantings still produce. National Park Service manages it.The Victorian house in which Muir lived when he wasn't roaming is restored for tours. The historic adobe house on the property (remnant of early Spanish settlement) is closed for repairs, Normally it’s open to view. .
Again & again I hike to this old firetower in the Appalachians, hoping to reveal the image which its' windows suggest to my imagination. I must've hiked a few hundred miles last month for something like 16 frames. But I can't get it quite right; each frame seems as if it were lacking, somehow. I will continue trying.
IG:
UNESCO World Heritage List
whc.unesco.org/en/list/308/video
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park lies in the heart of California. With its 'hanging' valleys, many waterfalls, cirque lakes, polished domes, moraines and U-shaped valleys, it provides an excellent overview of all kinds of granite relief fashioned by glaciation. At 600–4,000 m, a great variety of flora and fauna can also be found here.
Statement of Significance
Yosemite National Park vividly illustrates the effects of glacial erosion of granitic bedrock, creating geologic features that are unique in the world. Repeated glaciations over millions of years have resulted in a concentration of distinctive landscape features, including soaring cliffs, domes, and free-falling waterfalls. There is exceptional glaciated topography, including the spectacular Yosemite Valley, a 914-meter (1/2 mile) deep, glacier-carved cleft with massive sheer granite walls. These geologic features provide a scenic backdrop for mountain meadows and giant sequoia groves, resulting in a diverse landscape of exceptional natural and scenic beauty.
Criterion (vii): Yosemite has exceptional natural beauty, including 5 of the world's highest waterfalls, a combination of granite domes and walls, deeply incised valleys, three groves of giant sequoia, numerous alpine meadows, lakes, diversity of life zones and variety of species.
Criterion (viii): Glacial action combined with the granitic bedrock has produced unique and pronounced landform features including distinctive polished dome structures, as well as hanging valleys, tarns, moraines and U-shaped valleys. Granitic landforms such as Half Dome and the vertical walls of El Capitan are classic distinctive reflections of geologic history. No other area portrays the effects of glaciation on underlying granitic domes as well as Yosemite does.
Aquí se filmó la luna forestal de Endor en Star Wars "El regreso del Jedi".
El monumento fue escenario de "El origen del planeta de los simios" (2011) y "El amanecer del planeta de los simios" (2014), aunque ambas películas fueron filmadas en Columbia Británica.
The forest moon of Endor in Star Wars "The Return of the Jedi" was filmed here.
The monument was a setting in both "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" (2011) and "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" (2014), though both films were in fact filmed in British Columbia.
Muir Woods National Monument
San Francisco (California/ USA).
Early morning on Ediza Creek in the Ansel Adams Wilderness. 14 mosquitoes were killed and 42 injured (some critically) during the making of this photo. Names withheld pending notification of next of kin.
I shot this with a Canon Elan 7 loaded with Fuji Velvia 50 film using a Canon 17-40mm L lens and a Galen Rowell/Singh-Ray 2-stop hard GND. It was a long exposure but I forget how long, but I swatted a lot of skeeters while the shutter was open. Oh, I also had a B W 81B warming filter on the lens.
Hidden gem from the archives (no idea how I missed this the first time around). Gates of the Valley is the one iconic spot I can never resist shooting if conditions are good--and this sunset was pretty darn good.
Excerpt from www.citywindsor.ca/residents/Culture/Monuments/Pages/Tecu...:
Sandwich Town Roundabout
Mark Williams, John Muir
Tecumseh and Brock Monument, 2018
Bronze, 457 x 1220 (diameter) centimetres (approximately)
Two bronze sculptures stand together on a tall plinth at the centre of the Sandwich roundabout. Tecumseh, on his horse, sits tall and strong while Brock stands at his side peering through a telescope. This monument by artist Mark Williams and community builder John Muir commemorates the historic friendship between General Sir Isaac Brock, commander of the British forces in Canada, and Shawnee leader Tecumseh during the War of 1812.
Occasionally a weird sea fog develops offshore from Sandwood Bay much like the Haar of the east coast. However, it is more selective and drifts on shore in fingers from the horizon filling bank, rather than as a blanket over the whole coast like Haar. The beach remained largely clear all day but a broad finger enveloped the small island, Am Balg (the Calf), and then topped the south cliffs in varying thicknesses throughout the day. Lovely oddness.
Muir Woods National Monument is a unit of the National Park Service of the Pacific coast, state of California. It is located 19 km. North of the city of San Francisco and is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Muir Woods National Monument es una unidad del Servicio de Parques Nacionales de la costa del Pacífico, estado de California. Está situado a 19 km. Al norte de la ciudad de San Francisco y forma parte del Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
San Francisco (California/ USA).
"How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains! To behold this alone is worth the pains of any excursion a thousand times over.”
~ John Muir
Born April 21, 1838, John Muir has become America's most famous naturalist and conservationist. He shared his love of the outdoors through writing and inspired people to protect our country's wild places, earning him the nickname the Father of the National Parks.
Technical Information (or Nerdy Stuff):
Camera - Nikon D7200 (tripod mounted & wired remote control fired)
Lens – Nikkor 18-300mm Zoom
ISO – 400
Aperture – f/10
Exposure – 1/250 second
Focal Length – 18mm
The original RAW file was processed with Adobe Camera Raw and final adjustments were made with Photoshop CS6.
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11
Yosemite Winter Fine Art Landscapes! Sony A7RII yosemite National Park Winter Snow! Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape Photography! Ansel Adams Tribute!
Follow me on Instagram! instagram.com/45surf
John Muir: "When I reached the [Yosemite] valley, all the rocks seemed talkative, and more lovable than ever. They are dear friends, and have warm blood gushing through their granite flesh; and I love them with a love intensified by long and close companionship. … I … bathed in the bright river, sauntered over the meadows, conversed with the domes, and played with the pines."
"Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life."--John Muir
"I would advise sitting from morning till night under some willow bush on the river bank where there is a wide view. This will be "doing the valley" far more effectively than riding along trails in constant motion from point to point. The entire valley is made up of "points of interest." --John Muir on Yosemite!
Follow me on instagram for more!
Had a great time waking up at 5 AM every day to shoot tunnel view and then driving around down in the valley to Half Dome, Bridalviel Falls, Cook's Meadow and the glorious Cook's Meadow elm tree, Sentinel Bridge, Valley View, Swinging Bridge, and more! Yosemite winters are made for black and whites, and Ansel Adam's ghost haunts the brilliant landscape scenery!
The most epic "Ansel Adams" view is tunnel view where one can see El Capitan, Bridalviel Falls, and Half Dome over magnificent trees, snow, rising fogs, and breaking mists. Enjoy!
Been busy traveling and shooting landscapes and working on my books The Golden Hero's Odyssey about the golden rectangle and divine proportion I use in a lot of my compositions! Also working on my physics book on Dynamic Dimensions Theory! The equation dx4/dt=ic is on a lot of the 45surf swimsuit and shirts and all! :)
Follow me & 45surf!!
www.facebook.com/45surfAchillesOdysseyMythology/
www.facebook.com/elliot.mcgucken
My fine art landscape lenses for the A7RII are the Sony 16-35mm Vario-Tessar T FE F4 ZA OSS E-Mount Lens and the Sony FE 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS Lens ! Love the Carl Zeiss and super sharp Sony Glass!
Winter fine art landscapes!
Epic Yosemite valley village winter snowstorm!
Yosemite Winter Fine Art Landscapes! Sony A7RII yosemite National Park Winter Snow! Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape Photography
"The mountains are calling and I must go."
~John Muir
My husband and I climbed Mailbox Peak in North Bend, WA the other day. It is a very steep climb that basically ascends straight up the mountain with only a crude trail. It was tough, but the view and the sense of accomplishment and freedom makes the pain (and subsequently, not being able to walk the next day!) totally worth it.
Grasses lit by the late evening sunshine at Belhaven Bay, East Lothian, Scotland
(Explore 18th August 2012: #124)
© 2012 John Lawson. Please do not use this image in any way without asking me first.
Available for 'Request to Licence' with Getty Images - see 'additional info' on this image.
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you…while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.
~ John Muir
Majestic Cathedral Peak rises high above the biggest alpine meadow in the world, Tuolumne Meadows. High in the Sierra Nevada the wet air from the Pacific Ocean is pushed upward giving birth to massive summer thunderstorms.
When we arrived, there wasn't a single cloud over the Sierra for as far as you could see. Then, a few minutes later, one little puff appeared. I made the statement to a few folks up at Glacier Point that they would turn in to huge thunderstorms. They looked at me as if I were nuts. But I had seen this many times before.
We took off from Glacier Point headed towards the Tuolumne Meadows about a 2 hour drive. By the time we got there, the sky was dark and just as I walked out onto the meadow, crack lightning started striking all around us.
© Darvin Atkeson
Bumping this because it was just published in the current (April 2013) issue of Outdoor Photographer magazine; it's one of the images in the feature on national parks. :)
Yosemite Valley is lush and green--and a little flooded right now (notwithstanding the snow that fell yesterday in the valley). With the record snowpack this winter, the mighty Merced has swollen beyond its banks, with water water everywhere. The river is wider than I've ever seen it, which in this case made for beautiful reflections. I rarely shoot this location (because just about everybody else does), but it was just too pretty to pass up on Saturday.
I think the stone inscription is completely relevant:
WHEN WE TRY
TO PICK OUT
ANYTHING
BY ITSELF,
WE FIND IT
HITCHED TO
EVERYTHING
ELSE IN THE
UNIVERSE
JOHN MUIR
Yosemite Winter Fine Art Landscapes! Sony A7RII yosemite National Park Winter Snow! Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape Photography! Ansel Adams Tribute!
Follow me on Instagram! instagram.com/45surf
John Muir: "When I reached the [Yosemite] valley, all the rocks seemed talkative, and more lovable than ever. They are dear friends, and have warm blood gushing through their granite flesh; and I love them with a love intensified by long and close companionship. … I … bathed in the bright river, sauntered over the meadows, conversed with the domes, and played with the pines."
"Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life."--John Muir
"I would advise sitting from morning till night under some willow bush on the river bank where there is a wide view. This will be "doing the valley" far more effectively than riding along trails in constant motion from point to point. The entire valley is made up of "points of interest." --John Muir on Yosemite!
Follow me on instagram for more!
Had a great time waking up at 5 AM every day to shoot tunnel view and then driving around down in the valley to Half Dome, Bridalviel Falls, Cook's Meadow and the glorious Cook's Meadow elm tree, Sentinel Bridge, Valley View, Swinging Bridge, and more! Yosemite winters are made for black and whites, and Ansel Adam's ghost haunts the brilliant landscape scenery!
The most epic "Ansel Adams" view is tunnel view where one can see El Capitan, Bridalviel Falls, and Half Dome over magnificent trees, snow, rising fogs, and breaking mists. Enjoy!
Been busy traveling and shooting landscapes and working on my books The Golden Hero's Odyssey about the golden rectangle and divine proportion I use in a lot of my compositions! Also working on my physics book on Dynamic Dimensions Theory! The equation dx4/dt=ic is on a lot of the 45surf swimsuit and shirts and all! :)
Follow me & 45surf!!
www.facebook.com/45surfAchillesOdysseyMythology/
www.facebook.com/elliot.mcgucken
My fine art landscape lenses for the A7RII are the Sony 16-35mm Vario-Tessar T FE F4 ZA OSS E-Mount Lens and the Sony FE 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS Lens ! Love the Carl Zeiss and super sharp Sony Glass!
Winter fine art landscapes!
Epic Yosemite valley village winter snowstorm!
Yosemite Winter Fine Art Landscapes! Sony A7RII yosemite National Park Winter Snow! Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape Photography
Fractured Stone Landscape. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved.
A small subalpine lake, fractured granite slabs, and peaks on the Sierra Nevada crest.
This is the sort of Sierra Nevada landscape that usually appeals most strongly to me — that terrain just below the upper limits of trees, where small lakes and tarns dot the landscape, small meadows lie among them, high peaks tower, and rocks and slabs and boulders are everywhere. The latter — the "rocks and slabs and boulders" — are the most defining element of this landscape, all the way from the granite underfoot to the fractured faces and ridges of the peaks.
This spot, high in the Eastern Sierra, is essentially "at the end of the trail," as the maintained trail ends at a lake just beyond the low saddle between the foreground and the more distant peak. It is a wonderful place for wandering, as the open terrain is conducive to route finding — this is country where it is possible to say, "I think I'll go there," and then find a clear route to "there."
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, "California's Fall Color: A Photographer's Guide to Autumn in the Sierra" is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email
Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.
Even in June, the exposed north west facing beach at Sandwood Bay can be swept by some fairly intense weather and the seas result in big waves crashing along its mile long length.
Surfers do make their way here despite the 5 mile walk with a board and kit. Care is needed, however, since the Gulf Stream does not stretch this far north and the water is pure cold North Atlantic especially in early summer when it has not warmed any. There is also a strong rip current not far off shore that will carry you up the last seven miles of coast beneath sheer sandstone cliffs rising to 350 feet until they end at Cape Wrath and Scotland turns right.
Am Buchaille (Gaelic for the Shepherd/Watcher) marks the end of the pink Torridonian Sandstone cliffs with a little puff of cloud above. This sea stack was only climbed for the first time in 1968 which is unsurprising given its remoteness and the fact that to get to the base of the stack you have to scramble down the vertiginous cliffs opposite at low tide and then swim a 30 metre channel of freezing North Atlantic sea water, then assemble your climbing gear before scaling the 120 feet of the stack, all before the tide comes in.
Analogue photography using Fuji Velvia 50 and a Fuji G617 panoramic camera with a fixed 105 lens and a Sekonic light meter.
I set up my camera on a rock and then went to bed while it recorded photos at regular intervals during moonset. The extremely clear mountain air enabled the milky way to remain visible next to the 40% moon. John Muir Wilderness, CA.
This is Muir Woods (named after the naturalist John Muir) just north of San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge. Muir Woods National Monument was established to protect this old-growth coast redwood forest from destruction, and is one of the few places in the area which still has an old-growth forest of coast redwoods.
Esto es Muir Woods (llamado así por el naturalista John Muir) justo al norte de San Francisco al otro lado del puente Golden Gate. El Monumento Nacional Muir Woods se estableció para proteger de la destrucción este antiguo bosque de sequoyas costeras, y es uno de los pocos lugares en el área que todavía tiene un bosque antiguo de secuoyas costeras.
San Francisco (California/ USA).
From Lake to Peaks. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Light on a rocky saddle at the upper end of a subalpine lake beneath rugged peaks, John Muir Wilderness.
This was the view from my “front porch” during a week of backcountry photography in the Eastern Sierra during the summer of 2019, the last backcountry trip I managed before the shutdown cancelled most plans for 2020. Our group of (mostly) photographers camped near timberline in the John Muir Wilderness, photographing the surrounding landscape daily in a wide range of conditions.
Eastside Sierra locations create different photographic conditions than those to the west of the crest. The sharper profile here, as the range rises abruptly for high desert to ridges that can top 14, 000′, is wild and spectacular, and the east-facing escarpment is in the first morning light. But there are challenges, too. For example, scenes often fall into shadow well before sunset. In this location the ridge angles enough to the west and northwest that some sunlight sweeps across the face of the peaks late in the day, and a gap to the west allowed some of that light to fall on the rocky saddle beyond the water at the bottom of the frame.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.
"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn."
John Muir
"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul."
John Muir
Tree-Filled Meadow, Morning Clouds. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved.
Small trees and wildflowers spread across a large subalpine Sierra Nevada meadow.
We spent a week camped next to this lovely subalpine meadow, with its small lake, forest of small trees, and surrounding alpine peaks. For those whose backpacking mostly consists of daily walking from camp to camp (as it did for me for many years) the idea of staying in one place for a week can seem boring or even upsetting. But I've learned that over time such places reveal plenty of interesting stuff — and I've never reached the end of a week in one of them feeling that I've exhausted its potential.
Our camp was hidden in trees on top of a rocky moraine, mostly invisible to passers-by. But a short walk down the side of the moraine quickly brought us to the edge of this meadow. The centerpiece of the meadow was a quiet lake, surrounded by grass and wildflowers and covered in places with wildflowers. This was one of those rare and special years when prodigious and late snowfall keeps the meadows green all the way into September, and late season wildflowers were everywhere.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, "California's Fall Color: A Photographer's Guide to Autumn in the Sierra" is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email
Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.
There's a special kind of stillness that snow seems to provide, a kind of quiet that's quieter that pure silence. We were the first ones to visit Cathedral Beach yesterday morning (after hiking through thigh-deep powder to get there), and I was speechless when we reached the river's edge. This is always a lovely location, but I'd never seen it covered in snow before.
UNESCO World Heritage List
whc.unesco.org/en/list/308
whc.unesco.org/en/list/308/video
MERCED RIVER
www.yosemite.com/what-to-do/merced-river/
The main fork of the Merced River is a great place for swimming, hiking, fishing, rafting, gold-panning, camping and general recreation during the summer months. It’s low elevation also makes it a great place for a day hike in the winter.
Merced River History
Many Native American tribes have lived on the Merced River including the Miwok (consisting of Plains Miwok and Sierra Miwok), Paiute, and Ahwahneechee. The Plains Miwok settled in the lowlands along the lower Merced River. In the early 19th century, military expeditions sent by Spanish colonists from coastal California traveled into the Central Valley. On one of these trips, headed by lieutenant Gabriel Moraga, the colonists arrived on the south bank of the Merced River thirsty and low on provisions. They named the river Rio de Nuestra Señora de la Merced (River of Our Lady of Mercy) because it provided much needed water.
You can still see some evidence on the banks of the Merced River of the Yosemite Valley Railroad, originally established with the discovery of mineral deposits in Yosemite Valley and Merced Canyon, and continuing to function through the early 20th century carrying tourists to Yosemite Valley along the Merced River. El Portal Road, constructed through Merced Canyon in 1926, put an end to passenger service on the railway, but operations continued until the mid-1940s, when major flooding occurred, destroying sections of the railroad.
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park lies in the heart of California. With its 'hanging' valleys, many waterfalls, cirque lakes, polished domes, moraines and U-shaped valleys, it provides an excellent overview of all kinds of granite relief fashioned by glaciation. At 600–4,000 m, a great variety of flora and fauna can also be found here.
Statement of Significance
Yosemite National Park vividly illustrates the effects of glacial erosion of granitic bedrock, creating geologic features that are unique in the world. Repeated glaciations over millions of years have resulted in a concentration of distinctive landscape features, including soaring cliffs, domes, and free-falling waterfalls. There is exceptional glaciated topography, including the spectacular Yosemite Valley, a 914-meter (1/2 mile) deep, glacier-carved cleft with massive sheer granite walls. These geologic features provide a scenic backdrop for mountain meadows and giant sequoia groves, resulting in a diverse landscape of exceptional natural and scenic beauty.
Criterion (vii): Yosemite has exceptional natural beauty, including 5 of the world's highest waterfalls, a combination of granite domes and walls, deeply incised valleys, three groves of giant sequoia, numerous alpine meadows, lakes, diversity of life zones and variety of species.
Criterion (viii): Glacial action combined with the granitic bedrock has produced unique and pronounced landform features including distinctive polished dome structures, as well as hanging valleys, tarns, moraines and U-shaped valleys. Granitic landforms such as Half Dome and the vertical walls of El Capitan are classic distinctive reflections of geologic history. No other area portrays the effects of glaciation on underlying granitic domes as well as Yosemite does.