Yosemite at a Glance:
The First People

The Ahwahnichi made seasonal migrations during the year. In the spring, summer, and fall, they lived in villages along the Merced River in Yosemite Valley. For the winter they moved to lower elevations along the Merced River in El Portal, to Hite's Cove on the South Fork of the Merced, the Bull Creek area, and along the Tuolumne River.

Geology
Waterfalls

Migrations

From late spring to early autumn, the Yosemite Miwok occasionally traveled across the Sierra to trade with the Mono Lake Paiute. The Yosemite Miwok traded black oak acorns, baskets and basket materials, berries, and shell beads with the Paiute. The Paiute supplied the Miwok with obsidian, salt, rabbit-skin blankets, pine nuts, and kachavi (brine fly larvae).

Some Paiute people wintered or spent several years in Yosemite Valley and some intermarried with the Yosemite Miwok. The Miwok lived this life for generations, but it changed forever with the influx of non-Indians to California.