Yosemite

Extreme cliffs in one direction; roaring waterfalls in another. The beauty is almost too much to take in. Yosemite is the most gorgeous place on Earth.

Yosemite all started in the 1850s. The first humans in it were the Native American tribe Ahwahneeche. The first Americans in the park were people hired by the state of California to stop Indian raids on trading posts. With the Indians in the Yosemite also came small wars and fights. A man named John Muir was the person who was responsible for making Yosemite a national park. Muir was born in Scotland and immigrated to Wisconsin. In 1868 he travel to a place in California he had only read about. After visiting for a week, Muir decided to live in the forests that would soon be the Yosemite. So he built himself a log cabin and enjoyed at full blast. In those years he live there John Muir notice that all the livestock others had were majorly damaging the landscape. He told congress about this and in 1890 Yosemite officially became a national park.

Yosemite has change very much since John Muir was around. In his time there were only about 50 tourists in Yosemite a year. In 2010 there were 4,000,000. Before it was a national park people who lived in Yosemite could chop down trees and own land for farming, now that it’s a national park the land is all owned by the state so people can’t own it privately. Also a century ago there weren’t many buildings, only a couple hotels and cabins. Now there’s a small town with restaurants, grocery stores, gift shops, and a museum. All of this is owned by the park. Now there are countless trails and roads in Yosemite, compared to very few in the early days. Furthermore humans have affected the bears in Yosemite since it became a national park. When people leave food in their cars or campers overnight, the bears will break windows, bend frames, and pop open camper shells to get something to eat. Human food affects their habits and behavior in a bad way. Park rangers are urging people to not leave food in their cars overnight.

The part of Yosemite that everyone comes to see is the nature. I, myself have been there and trust me; it’s all a lot to take in. There are majestic waterfalls, giant cliffs with people climbing them, and Sequoia trees so humongous you can’t take a picture of all of it. In Yosemite there are 9 main waterfalls and hundreds of tiny only, some of which don’t even flow in the fall. One waterfall in particular, Yosemite Falls, is the fifth tallest waterfall in the world. It has three sections: the upper falls, the middle cascades, and the lower falls. All together they reach a height of 2,425 feet. That’s as tall as the Sears Tower and the Eiffel Tower on top of each other. The drop-offs in Yosemite are just as amazing, if not even more, as the waterfalls. And it’s just a piece of rock. El Capitan, to me, is the best. It’s a 7,500 foot shear drop that people climb. For fun. That’s awe inspiring. The last aspects of Yosemite’s nature are the enormous trees. One species, the Giant Sequoia, is the biggest of them all. You could probably tell a tree’s going to be big if it has the word “giant” in its name. The Sequoia’s age is just as astonishing as its height. The average Sequoia is 200 feet tall and 2,000 years old. They’re so big that if they were hallowed you could drive a car through it.

Yosemite is a beautiful place, that’s all there is to it. If you want to see it first hand, then go on a vacation. I did and now I’m writing an essay about how amazing it is. That has to tell you something.