On behalf of the National Park Service I take pleasure in welcoming you as a visitor to Yosemite National Park. I know that your visit was planned to afford you and your party a unique and happy experience in this, one of the world’s outstanding scenic areas. It is the purpose of this booklet to help you realize to the utmost the pleasures of this trip. Many will find time or inclination for seeing the park from auto roads only. Under these circumstances the use of this guide will bring a fuller understanding and appreciation of the essentials of the magnificent scenery which can be seen from the highway. For those who are disposed to explore the wonders of Yosemite further, you are invited to travel along the high country trails and spend your nights camping out under the stars. In this manner will you be able to gain a more intimate knowledge of the park and its many superlative features. By this experience one will more fully understand and appreciate the fragile nature of a wilderness area. Detailed trail guides and maps to help you are available in the park.

This booklet is intended to help you learn more about Yosemite. It is based on the combined experience and knowledge of the park gained by Richard P. Ditton of the Yosemite Park and Curry Company through 14 years of residence in the area, and that of Donald F. McHenry, Park Naturalist for over 9 years, assisted extensively by members of the naturalist staff, especially Douglass H. Hubbard, Wayne W. Bryant, Ruth Glass and Helen Doty as well as by Laurence V. Degnan, and by helpful suggestions from National Park Service and Company officials.