Water in its myriad forms has created and sustained Yosemite National Park. As ice it has sculpted the sheer walled valleys, polished the shining shoulders of the mountains, and gouged hundreds of lake basins. Freezing and thawing day by day through thousands of springs and autumns, it has etched sharp peaks and mantled mountain slopes with boulder fields and scree.

As winter snow it whitens the High Sierra then melts to form the streams which flow across mountain meadows, rage through canyons, then plunge from cliff rim to valley floor.

Water from rain and melting snow freshens mountain meadows, producing ephemeral changing fields of color. In the Mariposa, Tuolumne, and Merced Groves, these life-giving waters nourish ancient sequoias through the centuries.

The stunning beauty of the incomparable Yosemite Valley and the majesty of the big trees in Mariposa Grove demanded protection and preservation, resulting in America's first great park. Later, the surrounding peaks and forests were added to become Yosemite National Park.

Today the natural beauties of Yosemite inspire millions of people, just as they inspired the ways of the Native Americans who lived here for centuries, the thoughts of philosophers like John Muir, and the art of Ansel Adams- all of whom have provided a human dimension which adds immeasurably to our appreciation of this great place.