Yosemite National Park celebrates 120th anniversary

Yosemite National Park will turn 120 years old in October. However, according to the Merced Sun Star newspaper, the park will delay celebrating the milestone until 2014, when a large celebration will mark the the 150th anniversary of the Yosemite Grant.

Congress designated Yosemite as the U.S.'s third national park on October 1, 1890.

The park encompasses 747,956 acres in the central Sierra Nevada Mountain Range in California, and approximately 95 percent of the park is federally designated wilderness.

Approximately 4 million visitors travel to Yosemite National Park each year. The park is best known for its waterfalls. Visitors can also explore its deep valleys, grand meadows, ancient giant sequoias, a vast wilderness and much more.

Park activities include camping, hiking, biking, backpacking, bird-watching, fishing, horseback riding, rock climbing, swimming, rafting, skiing, ice skating and snow shoeing.

The park is open year-round, however visitors should know that some areas of the park are inaccessible by car from approximately November through May due to snow. The park's website, NPS.gov/Yose, contains detailed information about park conditions.