page_title: Yosemite Valley
hierarchical_section_title: Yosemite Valley
caption_attribution_description: English: This image must be attributed to the author if used in any way.
context_page_description: Yosemite Valley is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about 7.5 miles long and approximately 3000–3500 feet deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Half Dome and El Capitan, and densely forested with pines. The valley is drained by the Merced River, and a multitude of streams and waterfalls flow into it, including Tenaya, Illilouette, Yosemite and Bridalveil Creeks. Yosemite Falls is the highest waterfall in North America, and is a big attraction especially in the spring when the water flow is at its peak. The valley is renowned for its natural environment, and is regarded as the centerpiece of Yosemite National Park, attracting visitors from around the world.
  The Valley is the main attraction in the park for the majority of visitors, and a bustling hub of activity during tourist season in the summer months.
  Most visitors enter the valley from roads to the west and pass through the Tunnel View entrance. Visitor facilities are located in the center of the valley.
context_section_description: Yosemite Valley (/joʊˈsɛmɪtiː/ yoh-SEM-i-tee) is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about 7.5 miles (12 km) long and approximately 3000–3500 feet deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Half Dome and El Capitan, and densely forested with pines. The valley is drained by the Merced River, and a multitude of streams and waterfalls flow into it, including Tenaya, Illilouette, Yosemite and Bridalveil Creeks. Yosemite Falls is the highest waterfall in North America, and is a big attraction especially in the spring when the water flow is at its peak. The valley is renowned for its natural environment, and is regarded as the centerpiece of Yosemite National Park, attracting visitors from around the world.
  The Valley is the main attraction in the park for the majority of visitors, and a bustling hub of activity during tourist season in the summer months.  
  Most visitors enter the valley from roads to the west and pass through the Tunnel View entrance. Visitor facilities are located in the center of the valley. There are both hiking trail loops that stay within the valley and trailheads that lead to higher elevations, all of which afford glimpses of the park's many scenic wonders.[data unknown/missing]
  Yosemite Valley is located on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains, 150 miles (240 km) due east of San Francisco. It stretches for 7.5 miles (12 km) in a roughly east–west direction, with an average width of about 1 mile (1.6 km).
  Yosemite Valley represents only one percent of the park area, but this is where most visitors arrive and stay. More than half a dozen creeks tumble from hanging valleys at the top of granite cliffs that can rise 3000–3500 feet (914–1067 m) above the valley floor, which itself is 4000 ft (1219 m) above sea level.  These streams combine into the Merced River, which flows out from the western end of the valley, down the rest of its canyon to the San Joaquin Valley.  The flat floor of Yosemite Valley holds both forest and large open meadows, which have views of the surrounding crests and waterfalls.
  Below is a description of these features, looking first at the walls above, moving west to east as a visitor does when entering the valley, then visiting the waterfalls and other water features, returning east to west with the flow of water.
  The first view of Yosemite Valley many visitors see is the Tunnel View. So many paintings were made from a viewpoint nearby that the National Park Service named that viewpoint Artist Point. The view from the lower (western) end of the Valley contains the great granite monolith El Capitan on the left, and Cathedral Rocks on the right with Bridalveil Fall.  Just past this spot the Valley suddenly widens with the Cathedral Spires, then the pointed obelisk of Sentinel Rock to the south.  Across the Valley on the northern side are the Three Brothers, rising one above the other like gables built on the same angle – the highest crest is Eagle Peak, with the two below known as the Middle and Lower Brothers.
  To this point the Valley has been curving gently to the left (north).  Now a grand curve back to the right begins, with Yosemite Falls on the north, followed by the Royal Arches, topped by North Dome.  Opposite, to the south, is Glacier Point, 3,200 feet (975 m) above the Valley floor. At this point the Valley splits in two, one section slanting northeast, with the other curving from south to southeast. Between them, at the eastern end of the valley, is Half Dome, among the most prominent natural features in the Sierra Nevada.  Above and to the northeast of Half Dome is Clouds Rest; at 9926 feet (3025 m), the highest point around Yosemite Valley.
caption: Tunnel View
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