"By far the grandest of the western ranges is the Sierra Nevada, a
long and massive uplift lying between the arid deserts of the Great
Basin and the Californian exuberance of grain-fields and orchards;
its eastern slope, a defiant wall of rock plunging abruptly down to
the plain; the western, a long, dry sweep, well watered and overgrown
with cool, stately forests; its crest a line of sharp, snowy peaks
springing into the sky and catching the _alpenglow_ long after the sun
has set for all the rest of America."[1]
[1] From "Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada," by Charles
King.
About midway between the north and south ends of this "Snowy Range"
and extending from the ragged summits of its eastern edge to the
semi-arid foothills at the west, lies Yosemite National Park, 1125
square miles of incomparable scenic beauty.
Yosemite Valley, contrary to most peoples' preconceived idea, lies
fully 25 miles west of the Sierra crest. It is countersunk 4000 feet
into the granite of the gently inclined plateau, which above its rim
averages from 7000 to 8000 feet in elevation. The characteristics of
this region immediately adjacent to Yosemite Valley are different from
those of the High Sierra to the past. Very little of it is above the
timber-line, as the dominating summits--Mount Hoffman (10,921) at the
north, Clouds Rest (9924) at the east, Mount Starr King (9179) at the
southeast, and Horse Ridge (9600) at the south--average less than
10,000 feet in altitude. The magnificent forests with which the slopes
are clothed are interspersed with perfectly formed granite domes, with
meadows and wild-flower gardens, with polished granite pavements, and
with innumerable manifestations of Nature which give the trails of the
region an ever-changing charm.