Everyone I talked with before going to Yosemite had been there at least once. This was my first visit. Unless, of course, you count viewing the marvelous black and white photography that made Ansel Adams a name well known and forever connected with Yosemite's waterfalls, rivers, valleys, and rock formations, especially El Capitan.

Yosemite is still a photographer's dream. Most of us, however, now use color film, video or digital cameras. Yet the mystic beauty captured in Adams's black and white photography demands our attention, and we see the wonders of nature as he saw them.

Adams died in 1984 at the age of 82, but his legacy lives on at the Ansel Adams Gallery in the heart of the Yosemite Valley, next to the Visitor Center, Museum, and Park Service Headquarters. The Gallery, founded by painter Harry Best and operated by the family of Ansel Adams since 1902, has been a leader in photographic education since Ansel Adams began teaching in Yosemite in 1940. Complimentary two-hour programs and camera walks are guided by Gallery staff photographers throughout the year.

Many roads lead to Yosemite, some are open all year. Some roads are more difficult than others depending on how large a rig you drive and how much you have in tow. On May 2, we entered Yosemite Park from the south on highway 41, after spending the previous night at an RV camp in Oakhurst, and stopping at the Pioneer Yosemite History Center.

We exited two days later by highway 140 toward Mariposa and highway 49, based on advice from the Park Rangers representative. On the map 140 looks like a less desirable choice than 120, but they told us 120 is long, curvy and difficult. Depending on choice, many RV adventurers park their big rigs in Mariposa, Midpines, Briceburg or El Portal, and drive their cars in the rest of the way for a day trip. Coming from the west on 120 there are RV sites at Big Oak Flat, Buck Meadows and Harden Flat. The road from the east on 120 is closed in winter. For road conditions call 209-372-0200, or contact www.nps.gov/yose.

There are 13 campgrounds inside the park. During peak season there is a seven day limit in the North Pines, Upper Pines, Lower Pines and Camp 4 campgrounds in Yosemite Valley. There are no hookups. Regulations and reservation information for Yosemite and 387 other national parks and 440 campgrounds can be found on www.nps.gov/yose/trip/camping.htm and www.reservations.nps.gov.

We stayed in the Upper Pines Campground, half price with Golden Age Passport, and were parked a short distance from a shuttle bus stop. Parking is limited in the valley and we walked or took the shuttle for the two days. Free shuttles run every 10 to 15 minutes during peak season. We took the bus all the way around once and then got off where we wanted to go next.

Also, we took the tram guided tour, for a price, from that location. If you are in the park on a day trip the open-air trams park service guide provides valuable information. Since we drove in from the south entrance we already had been to some of the tram stops.

A food court offers hot and cold items at Yosemite Lodge. In addition, we appreciated the convenience of preparing most of our meals in our RV. For a special treat, we enjoyed a delicious lunch in the historic and amazing Ahwahnee dining room, with its 34-foot-tall trestle-beamed ceiling, floor-to-ceiling windows and many twinkling chandeliers. Dinnertime requires proper attire, and the cost is considerable.

Yosemite -- What's it all about, anyway?

If you've been to other United States National Parks, you know the standards are high for our country's grand and beautiful works of nature. For overall orientation, be sure to see the film, Spirit of Yosemite, in the Valley Visitor Center Theater. During your visit to the Museum you can listen to Julia Parker, Coastal Miwok Indian, tell traditional and historical stories, while she weaves her popular baskets.

You come to Yosemite Valley to see the numerous waterfalls in the spring and early summer, the blankets of colorful spring flowers, and watch with amazement as the sunlight and shadows create an ever constantly changing landscape.

The Ahwahneechee called Bridalveil Fall, Spirit of the Puffing Wind. So, stand back from the 620-foot drop or bring an umbrella for spray protection.

Yosemite Falls is actually two waterfalls, dropping a combined total of 2,425 feet, to become the tallest waterfall in North America. It's an easy walk from the shuttle to the lower fall. The closer you get the more spray you get. Keep your camera dry.
El Capitan, a massive, granite monolith standing 3,593 feet from the base to the summit, claims to be the largest granite monolith in the world. Rock climbers come from all over the world for this one.

We could see Half Dome from the picnic table at our RV space. We observed changes in color on the gigantic rock from early morning to late afternoon. This 8,842 monument is only 87 million years young, and the missing half of the dome is said to have been sheered off during the cooling phase. We heard some of the sheering, as rocks rumbled down the dome.

In the morning we watched a group of school children heading for a hike and followed them to the trailhead to Vernal and Nevada falls. That is one relatively short but strenuous uphill walk, and we went as far as the Vernal Fall footbridge. We hear from younger hikers that the seven mile round-trip trail to the top of Nevada Fall is challenging and, for them, worth the effort.

Other wondrous sights include: Mirror Lake, Valley View Turnout, Tunnel View, Wawona, Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, Glacier Point Road, Badger Pass, Hetch Hetchy, Tioga Road and High County, Tuolummne Meadows, and more, weather permitting. Much of the following information appears in the National Park Foundation Official Guide for Yosemite, 22nd edition, or on the www.AmericanParkNetwork.com.

As is true of most of our national parks, the native inhabitants of this continent discovered these beautiful places long before the Europeans arrived. The Yosemite Valley was inhabited more than 6,000 years ago, and the Southern Sierra Miwok Indians lived in the valley when the Euro-Americans arrived in the mid-19th century.

The 1848, discovery of gold in California brought thousands of prospectors into the Yosemite area. Few non-Indians knew of the existence of the Valley prior to the discovery of gold in the Sierra foothills. By 1851, the continued theft of Indian lands and murder of native people resulted in the Mariposa Indian War.

The state-sanctioned Mariposa Battalion was engaged to subdue the Indian uprising. They were the first non-Indians to record their entry into the Valley. Yosemite's reputation grew and tourists began to arrive.

In the middle of the Civil War a group of influential Californians persuaded Congress and President Abraham Lincoln to grant Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove to the state of California as its first public preserve. This was accomplished when Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant on June 30, 1864.

The grant, considered to be the foundation upon which national parks were later established, did not protect the vast wilderness surrounding the Valley and sequoia grove.

Conservationist John Muir first visited the Valley in 1868. By 1872, Muir, and Robert Underwood Johnson, editor of Century Magazine, had joined forces in lobbying to preserve the entire area. Johnson used his contacts with important private citizens and politicians on the east coast, and Muir spoke and wrote eloquently of the need for the legislation to set aside more than 1,500 square miles of reserved forest lands that surrounded, but did not include, Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. The U.S. Congress passed legislation on October 1, 1890, paving the way for the country' second national park. Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872.

To complete the Yosemite National Park picture, in 1906, at the urging of John Muir and railroad magnate Edward H. Harriman, President Theodore Roosevelt had Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove ceded from the state of California's control and included as part of the Yosemite National Park.

Today, the National Park Service staff, together with park partners and volunteers continue to protect Yosemite's natural and cultural treasures for future generations of nature lovers, campers, hikers, artists and photographers while providing for the enjoyment of millions of visitors annually.