New photo exhibit restores John Muir's plant images and his botanical legacy

John Muir is widely known for his towering environmental achievements -- as the Sierra Club founder, father of the national park system, and champion of California's redwood forests and Yosemite Valley. He also looked at the small stuff in nature -- plants and flowers. Muir's much-overlooked role in collecting, discovering and ...

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Pristine Yosemite National Park is a joy in winter

It’s early February — Super Bowl weekend — and Yosemite is quiet. The crowds that clog the roads and tramp through the meadows when it’s warm are gathered around their TVs with chips and dip. I have the park to myself. No voices. No crowds. No parking problems. Only the muffled ...

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Holidays in the Parks

If you’re looking for something to do this holiday season, look no further than our national parks! Celebrate the holidays by sharing in traditions handed down through the ages or make your own tradition. This holiday season discover a range of winter activities including fireside chats, winter caroling, backcountry ...

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Yosemite to require Half Dome permits on weekdays

Concerns over safety prompted the National Park Service to require hikers to obtain a permit seven days a week for a shot at the hair-raising push up the summit cables to the top of Yosemite's Half Dome. The climb up the 400-foot summit dome attracts thousands of climbers every year ...

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Winter Travel Deals at our National Parks

Most budget conscious (and flexible) travelers know that some of the best travel deals are often available during the next several weeks between the peak Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Years travel period. The lucky ones, those who can make their own schedules, have extra day off in the bank, or ...

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Winter Sports in Yosemite National Park

By Sydney Taylor Your next winter adventure waits at Yosemite National Park. Whether you want to enjoy snow sports in the backcountry or at a popular ski resort, you can tailor your Yosemite vacation with a variety of in-park properties and winter travel deals. Badger Pass Ski Area is located about ...

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Shelton Johnson's 'Glorlyland' tells story of Yosemite's Buffalo Soldiers

  The development of Yosemite and Sequoia & Kings Canyon national parks hinges on the service of African American Buffalo Soldiers, who blazed trails, constructed roads, created maps, evicted poachers and loggers, and protected tourists as they started to visit our parks. Their role in national park history lay buried ...

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Oprah Show to Feature her Yosemite Camping Trip

In a 2009 interview with the San Jose Mercury News, Yosemite Park Ranger Shelton Johnson, who has been working to encourage more minorities to visit our national parks, said, "If Oprah Winfrey took a road trip to the national parks, it would send a message that this is an environment ...

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A Winter Visit to Yosemite

Looking for a family winter adventure? Consider a visit to Yosemite National Park. Yosemite, one of the first wilderness parks in the United States, is best known for its waterfalls, deep valleys, grand meadows, ancient giant sequoias and a vast wilderness area. During the late fall and winter months, however, ...

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Existence of rare red fox confirmed near Yosemite

The genetic signature of canine slobber on a bait bag of chicken scraps and a fuzzy photograph from a motion-sensitive camera north of Yosemite National Park have confirmed the existence of a red fox, thought to have been all but wiped out, the U.S. Forest Service announced. "The last known ...

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Gear Review: Osprey Aura 65 Pack

by Leyla Heckrotte Among many naturalists of the past and present, John Muir knew well that wild places are essential to the health of human beings. “Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity...” he wrote ...

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United States Mint Introduces Yosemite National Park Quarter

Today the United States Mint will introduce the Yosemite National Park quarter at a ceremony co-hosted by National Park Service officials at 11 a.m. at the Valley Visitor Center in Yosemite National Park.  Following the ceremony, the public can exchange their cash for $10 rolls of the Yosemite National ...

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Yosemite National Park Quarter Coming July 26

The Yosemite National Park quarter is the third release in the United States Mint America the Beautiful Quarters Program, a new multi-year initiative to honor 56 national parks and other sites in each state, the District of Columbia and the five U.S. territories. The coin's reverse (tails side) design depicts ...

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Free Photo Walks at Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite

Yosemite National Park is a showcase of spectacular geological features and can only be described in superlatives. Within its borders, it boasts the tallest waterfalls, the largest exposed granite monoliths and groves of giant sequoias. The park, which also includes magnificent alpine and subalpine wilderness and staggering biologic diversity, ...

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Canon Photography in the Parks heads to Yosemite

Join American Park Network and Canon at Yosemite National Park to learn how to take better digital photographs at the FREE Photography in the Parks workshops. Beginners and seasoned photographers alike will benefit from the guidance and direction offered by our team of expert photographers, all while exploring the most ...

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