Yosemite

Yosemite is a Sierra Nevada destination built around one of the most legible glacial landscapes anywhere. Rivers cut deep canyons and glaciers later widened and steepened them, which is why water here falls from cliffs rather than tumbling down slopes: Yosemite Falls drops 2,425 feet in three linked stages and is among the tallest waterfalls in the world, while Bridalveil Fall and Vernal Fall carry water all year. Most of the waterfalls depend on snowmelt, peaking in May or June and running low or dry by late summer, so the month a traveller arrives changes the landscape more than any decision made once inside the park. South of the valley floor, the Mariposa Grove holds more than 500 mature giant sequoias; the legislation President Lincoln signed in 1864 protecting that grove and Yosemite Valley is where the national park idea begins. The destination spans three settlements — Yosemite Valley, Wawona and Fish Camp — and the distances between them are real: Glacier Point is barely a mile above the valley floor in a straight line and about an hour away by road, in the months that road is open.