The Father of National Parks...

A bill creating the first national park, Yellowstone, was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872. But Yosemite Valley was the first "protected federal land. President Abraham Lincoln's signing of the Yosemite Grant of 1864 declared Yosemite as federally preserved land. Yosemite was critical to the development of the concept of national parks; therefore, this park is the Father of National Parks even though it was not declared as such until 1890 along with Sequoia National Park. We have been to all of these parks within the last 6 months and while they all have their own beauty, I like Yosemite the best. There is so much to see and do in the area, great biking, hiking, wildlife (hard to beat Yellowstone for wildlife) and so many majestic waterfalls. The park is clean and easy to navigate, I like the one-way roads and the Yosemite Valley has beauty in 360 degrees, everywhere you turn there is something to just sit and look at for hours. Yosemite Valley represents like only 1% of the park area, but was where we, as many tourists, spent most of our time. The Tunnel View gives a view of the valley, as we exit the tunnel the cars were lined up and there was no place to park. El Capitan is a prominent granite cliff that looms over the valley and is a rock-climbing favorite because of its sheer size, diverse climbing routes, and year-round accessibility. We did see some climbers on the day we visited the area, lots of people were sitting in an open field looking up and sitting in their chairs watching the climbers. Take your binoculars to see the wild and crazy climbers and the wildlife. Check out our photos below and there are a couple of videos to watch.

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