Yosemite National Park embraces a spectacular tract of mountain-and-valley scenery in the Sierra Nevada, set aside as a national park in 1890. The park harbors a grand collection of waterfalls, meadows, and forests that include groves of giant sequoias, the world's largest living things.
Highlights include Yosemite Valley with its towering cliffs and waterfalls; Wawona's history center and historic hotel; the Mariposa Grove, which contains hundreds of ancient giant sequoias; Glacier Point's spectacular view of Yosemite Valley and the high country (open summer through fall); Tuolumne Meadows, a large subalpine meadow surrounded by mountain peaks (summer through fall); and Hetch Hetchy, a reservoir in a valley considered by many a twin of Yosemite Valley.