Trip To Yosemite National Park-Glaciers

     I have decided to take my wife on a trip to a place I've always wanted to visit after seeing many awe-inspiring photos.  That place is to Yosemite National Park.   I've always been fascinated by glaciation and even though many of its glaciers have since shifted and melted away, Yosemite Valley is still home to two glaciers; the Lyell and Maclure glaciers. After a 13 mile drive from the entrance of the park, we arrived to a stunning overlook known as Glacier Point.  It is from this vantage point that we were able to have a full perspective of the valley of Yosemite.
     The valley itself is formed in a horseshoe U-shape with expansive mountains protruding toward the sky.  I explained to my wife that millions of years ago, this valley was quite different in appearance.  The Yosemite valley was much more shallow and home to vast forests.  However, glaciation that occurred during an Ice Age over 2-3 million years ago thinned the forests and filled the valley with glacial advances.  As these glaciers shifted and melted, the valley became deeper and more pronounced with sharp vertical walls.
     The melting of these glaciers are also the cause of the park's many lakes.  However, due to the advancement of sediment deposits, these lakes will soon be non-existent.  As we continued to view the landscape, I alerted my wife to a wall of granite.  This wall of granite stood out to me as it was a sheet of bedrock that had a very smooth and polished appearance.  I explained to my wife that this polished appearance was the result of a glacier that contained fine particles melting over the granite.  These finer particles and a lack of visible boulders leads me to believe that much of Yosemite's sedimentary deposits are stratified drift.  As we departed the national park, I found myself in awe of the majesty that can be created through Earth's many processes.

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