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Yosemite National Park embraces a vast tract of scenic woodlands set aside in 1890 to preserve a portion of California's Sierra Nevada. The park ranges from 2,000 feet above sea level to more than 13,000 feet and offers three major features: alpine wilderness, groves of Giant Sequoias, and Yosemite Valley.
The story of Yosemite National Park began about 500 million years ago when what is now the Sierra Nevada region lay beneath an ancient sea. Thick layers of sediment lay on the sea bed, which eventually was folded and twisted and thrust above sea level. Simultaneously, molten rock welled up from deep within the earth and cooled slowly beneath the layers of sediment to form granite. Erosion gradually wore away almost all the overlying rock and exposed the granite. Even as uplifts continued to form the Sierra, water and then glaciers went to work to carve the face of Yosemite. Weathering and erosion continue to shape it today.
Because the park has such a variety of elevation, it encompasses several different life zones. The park's lowest areas are located near the western boundaries at El Portal and the Wawona and Big Oak Flat roads. These areas are in the foothill woodland zone of 2,000 to 3,000 feet. The most common trees here are the digger pine and the ponderosa pine. Here and there grow live oaks and California buckeye. In spring, this area is ablaze with wildflowers: orange California poppies, blue and purple lupine, sprays of blue ceanothus, and light pink manzanita.
The mixed-conifer forest zone ranges between 3,000 and 7,000 feet. Many different trees make their home here, including ponderosa pine, Jeffrey pine, Douglas fir, incense cedar, black oak, and California dogwood. The giant Sequoia grows in the zone, too. Yosemite has three groves: Mariposa, Tuolumne, and Merced. Wildflower highlights in this zone include western azalea, cow parsnip, milkweed, and many small jewels such as brodiae, larkspur, and pussy paws.
The lodgepole pine-red fir belt zone overlaps the mixed conifer forest. This zone grows between 6,500 and 9,000 feet. The red fir crowds into the areas with the best soil and rainfall. Where the soil is too wet or thin, the lodgepole pine holds forth. The wildflowers in this zone are among the most exquisite: monkey flower, paintbrush, larkspur, and shooting star.
The forest thins above the 9,000 foot line. The trees here include western white pine, mountain hemlock, and whitebark pine. The famous alpine wildflowers grow here, including alpine penstemon, Dana's lupine, spreading phlox, and white heather.
A varied and rich wildlife ranges through these zones. Mule deer are the park's only hoofed animals. You'll spot them usually singly, but you might be treated to seeing a small band. The Sierra black bear is the only bear that lives in the park. This is a wily creature for which you should take the usual bear precautions. Smaller animals include coyote, raccoon, gray fox, gray squirrels, porcupine, five species of chipmunks, the Sierra chickaree, and the red squirrel.
More than 220 species of birds have been found in Yosemite. You're certain to spot a Steller's jay, but keep your binoculars peeled for the several kinds of woodpeckers, mountain chickadee, western meadowlark, and if you're real lucky, the water ouzel.
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