Yosemite National Park is located in the central Sierra Nevada Range of California. It ranges in elevation from 2000 feet above sea level to over 13,000 feet and includes spectacular alpine wilderness with glacially polished granite domes and slopes, groves of the massive and ancient giant sequoias, and Yosemite Valley, possibly the world's best known example of a glacier-carved canyon..

After the arrival of Euro-American settlers following the California Gold Rush in 1849, individuals, including Frederick Law Olmsted and I.W. Raymond appealed to Congress and requested that the splendor of the region be preserved. Thus, in 1864, President Lincoln signed a bill granting protection of the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias to California as a public trust. Yosemite was established as a National Park in 1890. Additional tracts acquired over the years from U.S. Forest Service and private lands have increased the total acreage of the park to it's present 747,956 acres.