Yosemite National Park in California, USA was one of the USA’s first protected natural areas and an early US National Park.

The area of over 1000 square miles, mostly wilderness, is recognized around the globe as one of the world’s most beautiful and sublime mountain landscapes.

Bridalveil Falls and Yosemite Falls tumble thousands of feet over sheer granite cliffs into the valley below, joining the quiet Merced River as it winds through forest and meadow.

El Capitan’s 3000 foot sheer cliff and Half Dome are two of the most striking granite features in the world.

Yosemite is the most famous of California’s five National Parks and stands with Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming as one of the USA’s most famous national parks, known worldwide for both its natural beauty and for the role it played in fostering the works of John Muir and the parks and environmental protection movements.

Yosemite was home to Scottish born naturalist John Muir and was the source of much of Muir’s inspiration as his writings led to profound changes in the way Americans viewed the wilderness. Yosemite park is a critical key to an understanding of the Sierra Club, one of America’s most influential voices for the preservation of wilderness. Today, Yosemite remains one of America’s finest unspoiled natural landscapes and will always rank as one of the greatest of all the world’s natural treasures.

Hike to Half Dome
Hike to Clouds Rest
More Yosemite Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=yosemite&w=all&s=int
National Park Service Website: http://www.nps.gov/yose/index.htm

Just back from Yosemite National Park in California I’m even more convinced that the UNESCO World Heritage Site list is a great way to guarantee you find fantastic places as you visit countries around the world.      Obviously no small list can be completely fair or inclusive, especially for the huge territory of the USA, but this is a GREAT group of extraordinary natural and cultural places:

• Mesa Verde National Park
• Yellowstone National Park
• Everglades National Park
• Grand Canyon National Park
• Independence Hall
• Kluane / Wrangell-St Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek ^# * ³⁴
• Redwood National and State Parks
• Mammoth Cave National Park
• Olympic National Park
• Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site
• La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico
• Great Smoky Mountains National Park
• Statue of Liberty
• Yosemite National Park ^#
• Chaco Culture
• Hawaii Volcanoes National Park ^#
• Monticello and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville
• Pueblo de Taos
• Carlsbad Caverns National Park
• Waterton Glacier International Peace Park *
• Papahānaumokuākea

Clearly this approach to travel in the USA would probably be supplemented by at least a few days of big city sightseeing.     Many coming to America may want to see places like Las Vegas and  Hollywood which are unlikely to ever have “UNESCO World Heritage” status.    But the UNESCO list is a  superb starting points for your travel, especially to unfamiliar areas.     For the trip to Vietnam I was happy that the list seems to match up well with the “word of mouth” information I’ve been collecting from my Vietnamese pals and others.    There I’ll be able to take in most of the UNESCO sites such as historic Hoi An, Saigon, Hanoi, and Ha Long Bay near Hanoi.      In Italy in June my favorite place was the Cinque Terre – a UNESCO site.      Interestingly, the Cinque Terre and some places really seem to play up this status where I didn’t even know Yosemite was on the list until I checked this morning.

Half Dome top overhang, Yosemite NP

I couldn’t resist blogging another picture of Yosemite.

This shot was taken at the top of Half Dome, which is not a technical climb if you go around the back. Still, it’s a long day of about 16 miles round trip with a pretty intense final push up the rounded granite of Half Dome’s eastern flank.

Cables allow this final climb of about 1/4 mile to be safe, but it’s so steep that you feel at times like you are dangling off the edge.

The tip shown here is visible in most views of Half Dome.

Half Dome, Yosemite
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck

Yosemite National Park in California offers some of the most sublime and spectacular mountain scenery on earth. Yosemite was popularized by naturalist John Muir and later by photographer Ansel Adams, but the park needed no special advocates for its awesome splendor.

The hike up half dome (on the opposite side of the dome not seen in this picture) is one of the best in all the National Parks but is not for the faint of heart. The end of that hike is so steep you must pull yourself up the side of half dome via cables that are secured into the rock, though the hike does not require any technical climbing ability thanks to the cables.