Yosemite National Park

Designated as a UNESCO World Heritate Site in 1984, the 1,200-square-mile Yosemite Park (3½ hours east of San Francisco) is renowned for its dramatic waterfalls, giant sequoia trees, granite cliffs and deep valleys. John Muir, the key crusader in designating this land as a national park, wrote, "No temple made with human hands can compare with Yosemite." The park spans across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada and attracts around 4 million visitors each year.