Frommer's National Parks of the American West - Don Laine [430]
Next door, you'll find the Yosemite Museum and Indian Cultural Exhibit. Both are free and provide a historic picture of the park, before and after it was settled and secured as a national treasure. The museum entrance is marked by a crowd-pleaser—the cross-section of a 1,000-year-old sequoia with memorable dates identified on the tree's rings. Highlights include the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215, the landing of Columbus in the New World, and the Civil War. The ring was cut in 1919 from a tree that fell in the Mariposa Grove south of the valley in Wawona. The Indian Cultural Exhibit strives to explain the life of the American Indians who once lived here, and members of regional tribes regularly speak or give demonstrations of traditional arts such as basket weaving. The Yosemite Museum Book Shop, next door, sells books as well as traditional American Indian arts and crafts.
The village of the Ahwahneechee is behind the museum and Indian Cultural Exhibit; a free self-guided walking tour is accessible from the back door of the visitor center. This exhibit guides visitors through the transformation of the Ahwahneechee, the tribe that inhabited Yosemite Valley until the mid-1850s. The village includes a ceremonial roundhouse that's still in use.
The Ansel Adams Gallery (☎ 209/ 372-4413; www.anseladams.com) sells prints and cards of images made by the famed photographer. The shop also serves as a small gallery for current artisans, some with works for sale.
One mile east of Yosemite Village on a narrow, dead-end road is the majestic old Ahwahnee hotel (shuttle bus stop no. 3; see "Where to Stay," later in this chapter). It's definitely worth a visit for anyone interested in architecture and design.
The Yosemite Chapel is on the south side of the Merced River (shuttle bus stop no. 11). From the bus stop, walk across the bridge and to the left for just under a quarter mile. Schedules for worship services in the chapel are posted in Yosemite Today and available by phone (☎ 209/372-4831).
The LeConte Memorial Lodge (shuttle bus stop no. 12) is an educational center and library. Built in 1903 in honor of University of California geologist Joseph LeConte, the Tudor-style granite building schedules a number of free educational programs. Talks are listed in the Yosemite Guide.
At the valley's far eastern end, beyond Curry Village, is the Happy Isles Nature Center (shuttle bus stop no. 16). Summer hours are 9am to 5pm daily, and it's closed fall through spring. The nature center offers exhibits and books on the animal and plant life of Yosemite, and is a super place for children to explore. This is also where the park's Little Cub and Junior Ranger programs are held. Happy Isles is named for three nearby inlets labeled by Yosemite's guardian in 1880.
NORTH OF THE VALLEY
Hetch Hetchy and Tuolumne Meadows are remarkably different regions on opposite sides of the park. Hetch Hetchy is on the western border; take the turnoff just outside the park's Big Oak Flat Entrance. Tuolumne Meadows is on the eastern border, just inside Tioga Pass, and is inaccessible by motor vehicle during the winter.
Hetch Hetchy is home to the park's reviled reservoir, fought over for years by the famed conservationist John Muir. In the end, Muir lost and the dam was built, ensuring water for the city of San Francisco. Many believe the loss exhausted Muir and hastened his death in 1914, a year after a bill was signed to fund the dam project. Construction began on the dam in 1919, and it was completed in 1923.
South of Hetch Hetchy, inside the park, are two large stands of giant sequoias. The Merced and Tuolumne groves offer a quiet alternative to the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees in Wawona. Both groves are accessible only on foot. The Merced Grove is a 4-mile round-trip walk that begins on Big Oak Flat Road about 4½ miles inside the Big Oak Flat Entrance. Although the trees don't mirror the majesty of the Mariposa Grove, the solitude makes this