10 stunning images of Yosemite National Park

National Park This year the park celebrates its 130th anniversary. by JoAnna Wendel Oct. 1, 2020 Shutterstock

Shutterstock National Parks are a mainstay of American life.

Shutterstock They offer a chance for people to connect with nature and reap the mental-health benefits of being outside.

Shutterstock But this year is a tough one for national parks, as they face closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as fires in the West .

Shutterstock This year marks the 130th anniversary of Yosemite National Park in California.

Shutterstock Originally protected in 1864 from the influx of tourists and those looking for gold, it took another 30 years for the area to become a National Park, on October 1, 1890.

Shutterstock Here are ten images, old and new, celebrating 130 years of Yosemite National Park.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858 - 1919) (left), the 26th President of the United States, with the Scottish born American conservationist John Muir (1838 - 1914) on Glacier Point in Yosemite, California. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

Upper falls, Yosemite National Park Jim & Robin Kunze

The Half Dome in Yosemite Valley, a glacial gorge about 7 miles long and 1 mile wide running through the Yosemite National Park in California. (Photo by Carleton E. Watkins/Getty Images).

Yosemite Park stagecoach with Bridalveil Fall in background. Last coach to operate here, Ed Hacker driver. Photograph, early 1900's. Photo by Bettmann / Contributor/Getty Images)

Half Dome, Yosemite National Park Alexandra Carré

Photomechanical print of the Yosemite Valley, El Captain, California. Photographed by William Henry Jackson (1843-1942). Dated 1899. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Visitors look out at Yosemite National Park from Glacier Point on July 21, 2014 in Yosemite National Park, California. Yosemite is among California's biggest tourist destinaitons. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point, circa 1872, printedcirca 1876. Artist Carleton Emmons Watkins. (Photo by Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images)

Merced River, Yosemite National Park Rudy Wilms

'Overlooking Nature's Grandest Scenery - from Glacier Point (N.E.) Yosemite Valley, Cal.', 1902. A woman stands on a rocky outcrop looking towards the Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, California, USA. Stereocard. [Underwood & Underwood, 1902]. Artist Underwood & Underwood. (Photo by The Print Collector via Getty Images)

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10 stunning images of Yosemite National Park

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