14 Things You Didn't Know About Yosemite

On June 30, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Valley Grant Act, which, according to the Library of Congress, preserved the land for "public use, resort, and recreation." It was the first time in history that the United States government did something like that and came to be a stepping stone for what we would later recognize as “national parks.”

Okay, while it's not actually fire, the Horsetail Fall on the eastern edge of El Capitan in the Yosemite Valley gives off the illusion of a fiery orange fall when the sunset hits at just the right angle for a few short weeks in February.

According to Atlas Obscura," If the conditions are just right, once the sun dips behind the horizon line everything will begin to go dark and it will seem, for a moment, as if the firefall has failed to ignite. But as the sunlight disappears, the waterfall catches the final rays, which reflect off the falls to create a spectacular, short-lived, effect that looks like a beautiful cascade of liquid fire."

Several eerie urban legends surround Yosemite, but the most bone-chilling story is that of a young deceased boy who haunts campground six and likes to spook any camper that peeks out of their tent between the hours of 11:00 P.M. and 3:00 A.M.

An honorable mention goes to the curse of Tenaya Canyon, the setting of many unsolved disappearances, which is often referred to as the Bermuda Triangle of Yosemite.

Yosemite National Park was the third designated national park in the United States. The park "opened" October 1, 1890, behind Yellowstone (1872) and Sequoia (1890).

The highest point in Yosemite National Park is Mount Lyell at 13,100 feet. That's equivalent of stacking seven One World Trade Centers, the tallest building in North America, on top of one another.

With all of its jaw-dropping views, it's no surprise that Yosemite attracts millions of visitors every year. But just how many people pay a visit to the park? An astounding four million! That comes down to roughly 10,000 visitors a day on average.

If you're ever going to take in the breathtaking vistas that Yosemite has to offer, it's important to know when the park's busy season is. Typically, the summertime is when the park experiences a large influx of visitors. Roughly 75% of its visitors come May through October, while it experiences a peak number every August, with roughly 600,349 visitors on average.

The least busy months to visit Yosemite are (not surprisingly) January and February, with an average 108,026 and 112,897 visitors, respectively.

One of the most popular attractions in all of Yosemite is the Half Dome, a mountain that boasts a 14 mile to 16 mile round-trip path that takes hikers approximately 10 to 12 hours to complete.

So, just how big is Yosemite? Well, according to the National Park Service, the park spans 747,956 acres, with approximately 95% designated to untamed wilderness.

A 2018 report (via the National Park Service) revealed that visitors spend, on average, approximately $495,245,000 in communities surrounding Yosemite National Park every year.

Yosemite experiences *a lot* of snow every year - approximately 65.3 inches of accumulated snow a year to be exact.