Many Americans who travelled West were especially struck by the reverence of the Yosemite Valley.

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The evening that I saw the buck, I was near the spot that Muir first laid eyes on Yosemite Valley.

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But you can spend only so much time in Yosemite Valley before feeling the need to climb El Capitan.

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At California's Yosemite National Park, the Yosemite Valley visitor center will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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In May 1864, Conness introduced legislation to bring Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias under the control of the state of California.

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Over the head table at the lunch will hang an 1865 painting, "View of the Yosemite Valley, " by American artist Thomas Hill.

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The divide between the two camps is as wide as Yosemite Valley.

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Under Roosevelt, Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove were placed under federal protection, making them part of Yosemite National Park, and Roosevelt went on to create five additional national parks, as well as scores of national monuments, bird sanctuaries, wildlife refuges and national forests.

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