5. SOME FACTS
• IT Is 277 miles long and up to 18 miles wide
• Below Yavapai point is 2,400 feet above sea level, about 4,500 feet
below the South Rim and 5,400 feet below the North Rim for an
average depth of about one mile
• Took 3-6 million years to form; erosion continues to alter its contours
• Includes approximately 70 species of mammals, 250 species of birds,
25 types of reptiles and five species of amphibians
• It was formed by the Colorado River, which flows west through the
canyon and averages about 300 feet width, 100 feet in depth and flows
at an average speed of four miles per hour
• It was made a national monument in 1908 and became a national park
in 1919
• It Is populated by five Indian tribes: The Hopi, Navajo, Havasupai,
Paiute and Hualapai
7. Yosemite history
• . Here’s a list of ten Yosemite facts we bet you didn’t know about
this amazing park.
• 1. Male deer (bucks) in Yosemite Park shed their antlers every fall
after mating season. They grow them back in the spring.
• 2. Giant Sequoias which grow in Yosemite National Park are the
biggest living things on the planet. However, the seed for the Giant
Sequoia is only the size of a piece of oatmeal. Grizzly Giant is the
name of the oldest Sequoia in Yosemite Park.
• 3. The American Indians who live in Yosemite are called the
Ahwahneechee Indians. Their traditional homes look like teepees,
but are actually made of incense-cedar bark.
• 4. Yosemite National Park is visited by over 3.5 million people every
year. Summer is by far the busiest season at Yosemite.
• 5. Yosemite Park was the first area of land set aside by the US
government for preservation and protection.
8. • .
• 6. Though Half Dome and El Capitan are Yosemite’s most well known
summits, Mt. Lyell is actually Yosemite’s highest peak.
• 7. Yosemite National Park covers nearly 1,200 square miles. However, only
a tiny fraction of that land is traversed by visitors. The vast majority of the
park is largely untouched and uninhabited by humans.
• 8. California has approximately 7,000 known plant species. Yosemite
contains twenty percent of those species.
• 9. Galen Clark was the first designated Guardian of Yosemite. He used to
hike through the park barefoot and was quoted as saying that shoes are
“cruel and silly instruments of torture, at once uncivilized, unhuman and
unnecessary.”
• 10. Black bears found in Yosemite weigh between 150 and 500 pounds
when full grown, but when they are born, they weigh less than half a pound.
The mother black bear is fast asleep during hibernation when her baby is
born.
