New: 125th Yosemite Anniversary Site

Want to keep track of all the celebrations? This site can help.

MULTIPLE MAJOR ANNIVERSARIES: Every human being, every relationship, and every institution boasts not just one meaningful date on their particular calendars, but, very likely, several. We people have birthdays, but there are other significant happenings that we pause and remember. Same with relationships: You might celebrate the anniversary of when you met, and your first date, and your engagement, and your marriage. It is no surprise, then, that something as large and as grand as Yosemite National Park has numerous important occasions and momentous anniversaries orbiting its magnificent, tree- and granite-filled expanse. We just marked the 150th anniversary of the Yosemite Grant in 2014 (that's when President Lincoln signed into law protections for this not-so-little slice of wilderness). Now, as the Facebook page for Yosemite National Park wryly notes, it seems like the park "is getting younger" with its next big anniversary: 125 years in 2015. The 125th celebration will spotlight Yosemite's official entry into the national park system, which happened in 1890 (yep, the grant was much earlier, in 1864). So, how do you mark a quasquicentennial for one of the planet's most treasured treasures?

YOU START WITH A SITE, OF COURSE: And the Yosemite National Park 125th Anniversary site is now live, complete with stunning graphics, a timeline tab, and a portal to events that'll roll out during 2015. Oct. 1, by the by, is the actual date Yosemite reached the zenith of national-park-dom, if you want to circle that on your own calendar, so you're sure to be in the park on that pretty, probably-warm-and-glorious fall day. Want to get involved, volunteer, or even look ahead to yet another related anniversary, the National Park Service's centennial? The 125th anniversary site will lead you there, much as the Merced River leads adventurers deeper into beautiful Yosemite Valley. 

Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media
Contact Us