Geography of the Yosemite area
Yosemite National Park is located in the central Sierra Nevada of California. Yosemite is surrounded by wilderness areas: the Ansel Adams Wilderness to the southeast, the Hoover Wilderness to the northeast, and the Emigrant Wilderness to the north.
The 1,189 sq mi (3,081 km²) park is roughly the size of Rhode Island and contains thousands of lakes and ponds, 1,600 miles (2,600 km) of streams, 800 miles (1300 km) of hiking trails, and 350 miles (560 km) of roads.[1] Two federally designated Wild and Scenic Rivers, the Merced and the Tuolumne, begin within Yosemite's borders and flow westward through the Sierra foothills, into the Central Valley of California. Annual park visitation exceeds 3.5 million, with most visitor use concentrated in the seven square mile (18 km²) area of Yosemite Valley.[1]
The geography of the Yosemite area can be visualized with the clickable map, below:
Notes
- 1 2 "Nature & Science". United States National Park Service: Yosemite National Park. Retrieved January 27, 2007.