Teacher Resources: Visiting the Park

This page contains recommendations for using this web site as a teaching tool. It also suggests areas to visit if you are planning on taking your students on a field trip to the park.

Visiting the Park
Not Visiting the Park

Before You Arrive | When You Arrive | Helpful Resources | Maps | Teaching Recommendations

Teaching Recommendations: Using this Site

To learn about Yosemite National Park in general, direct students to topics in “Yosemite at a Glance,” which covers:

• Geology (overview)
• Water and Waterfalls
• Plants and Animals
• The First People
• Non-Indians
• Park History

“Yosemite at a Glance” presents an overview of Yosemite National Park. It contains no interactive questions or animations, but is a useful teaching aid.

To teach more in-depth, detailed topics, direct students to “Yosemite in Depth,” which contains a variety of interactive questions and activities. Icons labeled “Teaching Suggestions” at the bottom of the screens contain suggestions for teachers about how to conduct activities for each topic.

Topics covered in both “Yosemite at a Glance” and “Yosemite in Depth” can be used whether you plan to visit the park or not. “Yosemite in Depth” also contains activities, such as a virtual hike along the Mirror Lake trail in the Geology section, which students can also hike in person if you plan on visiting the park.

“Yosemite in Depth” currently contains a geology lesson. More in-depth topics will be added in the future.

Teaching Recommendations for Yosemite In Depth: Geology

Have students complete Field Journal questions before visiting the park. This will help reinforce concepts students have learned and help them make stronger connections to Yosemite National Park.

If you plan on teaching your geology program in the valley, the Activities section includes a map of the Mirror Lake Trail detailing suggested stops for each of the activities.

Also, see the map showing location of the terminal moraine left behind by the last glacier in Yosemite Valley.

Yosemite Valley is available year-round as a teaching site; however, check on road closures into Yosemite Valley (209) 372-0200.

The best places to get views of U-shaped Yosemite Valley are:

• Hike up the Yosemite Fall trail to Columbia Point (about a two-hour round-trip hike).
• Drive to Glacier Point parking lot and walk out to Glacier Point.
• Stop at the viewpoint parking lot at the east end of the Wawona Tunnel on Highway 41 in the park.

U-shaped Tenaya Canyon can be viewed from Mirror Lake. See the Mirror Lake Trail Map.

Places to view a V-shaped river-cut canyon:

Merced River Canyon along Highway 140 before entering the park is an excellent example of a V-shaped river canyon. If possible, enter or exit the park on Highway 140, which travels through the Merced River canyon. Give a talk on the bus pointing out the V-shaped river-cut canyon as you drive through it or stop to observe it. There are safe places to park where the road remains level between the Briceburg Visitor Center and El Portal along highway 140 before you enter Yosemite. After leaving El Portal the road narrows and parking is not advised until you reach the floor of Yosemite Valley.

Places outside Yosemite Valley to stop and teach geology:

Glacier Point:
It is a 300-yard walk from the parking lot to Glacier Point. There are excellent views of U-shaped glacially carved Yosemite Valley and the paths glaciers took down Tenaya Canyon and Merced Canyon (Nevada and Vernal falls flow through this canyon). Students can imagine how glacial ice flowed through an existing river-cut valley, filling it completely. Glacier Point was under 600 feet of ice during one glaciation. A spectacular panoramic view of the crest of the Sierra Nevada range helps students visualize where the glaciers originated. This area is accessible seasonally. The road opens in June and closes at first snowfall. Some of the geology activities could be taught at Glacier Point.

Olmsted Point (On Highway 120 East, Tioga Road):
There are some glacial erratic boulders at Olmsted Point across from the parking lot. A 1/4-mile trail leads to a dome for views down Tenaya Canyon to Half Dome and views up the canyon to Tenaya Lake. Glacial polish, joints and fractures, dome-formation, and glacial erratics are visible from this spot or across the highway from the parking lot. This area is only accessible after Tioga Road opens for the season, usually late June, and closes at the first snowfall. Some of the on-site activities can be taught at Olmsted Point.

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Useful links to help plan your visit:

Resource Education Fee Waivers | Permit Application | Educational Visits