Research Paper on Yosemite National ParkYosemite National Park, is a beautiful piece of nature, is a 195 mile nature escape from the urban life experienced in San Francisco, California and to 315 miles away from the fast paced, whirlwind life of living in Los Angeles, California. This place is unmatched in the beauty of its nature. The park is “747,956 acres and home to hundreds of wildlife species and thousands of Yosemite plants” (US Nat. Park Service). Yosemite is known for so much beauty, from its granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, giant sequoia groves and biological diversity. And also for its two rivers which are the Tuolumne and the Merced. These rivers begin in the park and flow all the way west to the Central Valley. The park is an asymmetrical mountain range, is 50 to 80 miles wide and extends in altitude from sea level along its western edge to over 13,000 feet. along the ridge in the Yosemite area. The highest peak in the Sierra Nevada and the United States is Mount Whitney, located in Sequoia National Park. Yosemite is dominated by a huge amount of granite, as is much of the Sierra Nevada. Mount Hoffman and most of what is visible from there are composed of granite. Granite is formed deep in the earth by the solidification of molten rock material and is also due to the exposure of the erosion of overlapping rocks. Before this place was called Yosemite, the Ahwahneechee lived here for generations, followed by the arrival of Europeans in the mid-1800s. About seven current tribes are descended from the people who first called this place their home. But it was with the arrival of the Europeans that a violent upheaval occurred and it was then that th...... middle of paper ......al/muir/2. States. National Park Service. (2014, May 12). Environmental issues. National Park Service. Retrieved May 19, 2014, from http://www.nps.gov/yose/naturescience/environmentalfactors.htm3. States. National Park Service. (2014, May 12). National Park Service. Retrieved May 19, 2014, from http://www.nps.gov/yose/naturescience/geology.htm4. States. National Park Service. (2014, May 12). Nature and science. National Park Service. Retrieved May 19, 2014, from http://www.nps.gov/yose/naturescience/index.htm5. States. National Park Service. (2014, May 12). History and culture. National Park Service. Retrieved May 18, 2014, from http://www.nps.gov/yose/historyculture/index.htm6. Yosemite Flora (plants and flowers). (n.d.). Yosemite trees, plants and flowers. Retrieved May 19, 2014, from http://www.yosemitepark.com/yosemite-trees-plants.aspx