Little need be said of the Yosemite Valley. After these many years of
visitation and exploration it remains incomparable. It is often said
that the Sierra contains “many Yosemites,” but there is no other of its
superabundance of sheer beauty. It has been so celebrated in book and
magazine and newspaper that the Three Brothers, El Capitan, Bridalveil
Fall, Cathedral Spires, Mirror Lake, Half Dome, and Glacier Point are
old familiar friends to millions who have never seen them except in
picture.
The Yosemite Valley was discovered in 1851 as an incidental result of
the effort to settle Indian problems which had arisen in that region.
Dr. L. H. Bunnel, a member of the expedition, suggested the
appropriateness of naming it after the aborigines who dwelt there. It
rapidly became celebrated.
[Illustration: An unusual view of Yosemite Valley from the Nevada
Fall Trail.]
No matter what their expectation, most visitors are delightfully
astonished upon entering the Yosemite Valley. The sheer immensity of the
precipices on either side of the Valley’s peaceful floor; the loftiness
and the romantic suggestion of the numerous waterfalls; the majesty of
the granite walls; and the unreal, almost fairy quality of the
ever-varying whole cannot be successfully foretold. The Valley is 7
miles long. Its floor averages 1 mile in width, its walls rising from
3,000 to 4,000 feet.