Читать книгу 50 Best Short Hikes: Yosemite National Park and Vicinity онлайн

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Persistent searching—and a dose of luck—might lead to some treats: a weasel peering over a rock, a pika chirping from the middle of a high-elevation talus pile (or at Olmsted Point), a glimpse of a mountain lion in Yosemite Valley, or even a herd of Sierra bighorn sheep near Mono Pass. Other mammal species are so rare that they will likely go undetected during a lifetime of exploring the park. The Sierra Nevada red fox and the fisher are so rare that scientists generally see them only with motion-sensitive cameras. Animal species even continue to be found in Yosemite. In 2010 a new species, the Yosemite cave pseudoscorpion, was found lurking in granite talus in the park. Each species is found in a specific habitat—a particular elevation, meadows versus forests versus peaks—and only by hiking in many of Yosemite’s habitats will a visitor have the opportunity to meet many of the park’s permanent inhabitants.

In addition, 1,350 species of plants, from the giant stately sequoias to minute alpine cushion plants, have been recorded in Yosemite. Each species has its preferred habitat, delineated foremost by elevation (and therefore temperature) but also by moisture, soil depth, rock type, sunlight, and many more factors that create nearly infinite fine-scale habitats across a short distance—you will cross many on even a short walk.