Yosemite Valley

Yosemite Valley, on the western slope of California’s Sierra Nevada, is Yosemite National Park’s best-known landscape and its main visitor hub. This glacial valley, about 7.5 miles long, was formed through a long geologic history of granitic intrusion, uplift, erosion, ice ages, and later sediments that created its broad floor. Granite landmarks such as El Capitan, Half Dome, Glacier Point, and the Royal Arches rise above the Merced River and famous waterfalls including Yosemite Falls and Bridalveil Fall. Home to the Ahwahnechee for about 3,000 years before European contact, the valley later became an early landmark in conservation when Abraham Lincoln granted it to California for preservation in 1864.

California · United States