Letters to the Editor: Returning to the Sierra Nevada — a reporter took these readers on a journey of discovery where they might not have otherwise gone in the Sierra Nevada, and learned a lot about themselves
The return of Yosemite to the public spotlight is bittersweet, but not in the way many of us might expect. You may have experienced some of this yourself when the word “Yosemite” was first mentioned in the news, or the word “Yosemite” itself was first uttered in a news article.
You may have seen the “Yosemite” name and its connection to the Yosemite National Park, then later the “Mt. Tam.” Both references to a Yosemite were given before the park had been officially established and was even still in the planning stages.
The idea for a park, and the idea for the park by that name, took root in Congress in the late 19th century and was officially approved in California in 1905. The first Yosemite was established on February 17, 1868.
A few years after the first Yosemite was opened, the Park was expanded to include most of what we know as Yosemite Valley, but because of the difficulties of transportation and construction of the railroad, the bulk of the park remained untouched while the valley was opened up and developed.
The first major addition to the park was made in 1891 when Yosemite Valley was opened to hikers and cyclists on a 1-mile (1.6 km) by 5-mile (8 km) footpath on the south side of the valley. By the early 1900s, visitors to the valley were often surprised to find that there was little public access to the valley, and the trails themselves only went as far as the top of the valley. In fact, the only way for people to get to the bottom of the valley was by an exhausting 1-mile (1.6 km) hike up a trail that took over two hours to reach the bottom.
This was the beginning of the “Yosemite Trail” that today continues to be a popular day trip, with hikers scrambling up a steep climb along the north side of the valley. And, because of the difficulty of the hike and the long hike up to the meadows at the top of the valley, many visitors to the valley were turned away from it. In fact, in 1933 the Park was opened up to hikers and