"Hiking and Camping in Yosemite " a Yosemite National Park Travel Page by Ewingjr98

We spent a weekend at Yosemite in late March/early April 2007. I entered the park on California Route 140 via Mariposa and the beautiful Merced River Vally. We camped in the Upper Pines Campground in Yosemite Calley, hiked up to Vernal and Nevada Falls, and took a scenic detour to Hetch Hetchy Reservoir on the way out of the park via Route 120. It was a beautiful weekend to enjoy the outdoors in this amazing national park.

The first official record of Europeans entering the Yosemite Valley shows US Army forces pursuing Ahwaneechee Indians through the area during the "Mariposa Wars." In 1864 President Lincoln signed a bill creating the Yosemite Grant, the world's first nationally protected recreation area. In 1890 Yosemite became America's third national park after Yellowstone and Sequoia NPs. The O'Shaughnessy Dam and Hetch Hetchy Reservoir were approved in 1913 to provide drinking water to San Francisco.

Yosemite hosts 3.5 million visitors each year, making it the third most visited US national park after the Great Smoky Mountains and the Grand Canyon.