Located in California's historical and naturally significant Yosemite National Park, Half Dome is one of the most recognizable and well known geological features in America. Prominently rising above the Yosemite Valley, Half Dome's unique and distinguishable shape is a result of glacial activity during the earth's Ice Ages.

Prior to the arrival of American settlers in the mid 19th century, native peoples, settled the area around Half Dome within the Yosemite Valley. The first recorded non-Native people to explore the valley arrived along with the flood of miners during the California Gold Rush.

A journal belonging to William Abrams and dated to October of 1849, provides an early description of what would later be called Half Dome. Abrams aptly characterizes the feature as a "Rounded mountain, the valley side of which looked as though it had been sliced with a knife."

Decades after Abrams passed through Yosemite, conservationist and Sierra Club Founder John Muir began actively petitioning President Roosevelt and others to protect the entire valley, including Half Dome.

In 1890, Muir succeeded and Congress designated Yosemite Valley the Yosemite National Park. Under this designation, the State of California maintained the site until 1906, when the newly formed National Park Service assumed responsibility for the area.

Yosemite National Park is now one of the most widely visited and recognized natural preserves in America.

Centuries later, Half Dome's unique characteristics still attract thousands of visitors looking for the same experience shared by native peoples, explorers, and America's earliest conservationists.