Yosemite National Park

A park of 1,187 square miles in California, spread across four counties – centered in Tuolumne and Mariposa, reaching north and east into Mono and south into Madera – and bordered by the Sierra National Forest and the Stanislaus National Forest. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, it is recognized internationally for its granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, groves of giant sequoia, lakes, mountains, meadows, glaciers and biological diversity. Almost 95 percent of it is designated wilderness, making it one of the largest and least fragmented habitat blocks in the Sierra Nevada. About 10 million years ago the range was uplifted and tilted into the slopes seen today.