Most Visited NPS Units in the Southwest: 5, Yosemite National Park

Established in 1890, Yosemite National Park protects a 40 mile section of the central Sierra Nevada, containing innumerable lakes, peaks and canyons, with landscapes ranging from wooded foothills (including several groves of giant sequoia trees) to granite plateaus well above the treeline. The vast majority of visitors come only to Yosemite Valley, a 3,000 foot deep gorge home to several of the world's highest waterfalls; the secondary center of Tuolumne Meadows is by comparison much less visited, though can still be very busy in summer. Hundreds of miles of trails explore most areas of the backcountry.

2014 Visitation: 3,882,642
Yosemite National Park - full description