Play along - Yosemite Trivia [Archive]

Kahlua Kid

Feb 22, 2006, 07:08 PM

I've recently bought some books on Yosemite - one is a early 1900 souvineer book - some more recent - but history of Yosemite etc. Thought it would be fun to start a Yosemite Trivia thread.

Ask a question - see if anyone can answer... so here's one:

What was the original Vista "point" for Yosemite for horse-drawn wagons/stagecoaches in the mid-to-late 1800's?

(It was called by Lafayette Bunnell "Mount Beatitude". He wrote, "The grandeur of the scene was but softened by the haze that hung over the valley, -- light as gossamer -- and and by the clouds which partially dimmed the higher cliffs and mountains.")

reference: Yosemite: An American Treasure from National Geographic Publications

beautiful_mess38

Feb 23, 2006, 07:35 AM

Is it El Cap.

Kahlua Kid

Feb 23, 2006, 09:57 AM

Nope... hint... its the same as it is today! http://oakhurstonline.com/icon/laugh.gif

BGW

Feb 23, 2006, 10:36 AM

Lafayette Bunnell "Mount Beatitude

Glacier Point?????

There\'s Ointment For That

Feb 23, 2006, 01:33 PM

Half Dome

monkey

Feb 23, 2006, 03:46 PM

I think it is what is now called "Tunnel View"

Kahlua Kid

Feb 23, 2006, 06:05 PM

Originally posted by monkey:
I think it is what is now called "Tunnel View"

Yes, its above the tunnel - its called "Inspiration Point"! It can be hiked to.

Next question:

What President signed an act that ceded to California the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees and Yosemite Valley,federal land at that time, a total of 48.6 square miles, to "protect" it in 1864 because the Federal Government wasn't able to?

This was the first time Congress set aside land to preserve and recognize it for "scenic values" only. Congress set aside these two tracts for ublic use, resort and recreation... inalienable for all time.

reference: Yosemite, Valley of Thunder by Ann Zwinger.

BGW

Feb 23, 2006, 06:21 PM

Good Ol' Abe Lincoln

Kahlua Kid

Feb 23, 2006, 06:29 PM

Originally posted by bgirlsworld:
Good Ol' Abe Lincoln

Yes -

Ok smarty:

What are the rocks left behind and scattered, sometimes even huge boulders placed on top of a smaller boulder, due to glaciers called? Yosemite has these types of proof that it was formed by a glacier.

Newcomer

Feb 23, 2006, 06:31 PM

Stone River Rocks! LOL

BGW

Feb 23, 2006, 07:32 PM

Monkey- the answer to this one is in the book I was reading while at the Gauge last month!!

beautiful_mess38

Feb 24, 2006, 08:08 AM

Is it the Tenaya Rocks...

Kahlua Kid

Feb 24, 2006, 08:33 AM

No sorry - Hint: It is a specific Geological term.

monkey

Feb 24, 2006, 08:34 AM

Ummm... Glacial something or other?

monkey

Feb 24, 2006, 08:35 AM

Originally posted by bgirlsworld:
Monkey- the answer to this one is in the book I was reading while at the Gauge last month!!
Are you speaking of Discovery of the Yosemite? I got a first edition on eBay a couple of years ago!

monkey

Feb 24, 2006, 08:37 AM

Oh, oh, oh I remember- Glacial erratics?

Kahlua Kid

Feb 24, 2006, 11:46 AM

Originally posted by monkey:
Oh, oh, oh I remember- Glacial erratics?

Yes Erratics!

Next Question:

What was the group of Miwok Indians that lived in Yosemite called?

monkey

Feb 24, 2006, 11:57 AM

KK, these are too easy! I'll let someone else answer.

BGW

Feb 24, 2006, 12:28 PM

Originally posted by monkey:
KK, these are too easy! I'll let someone else answer.

http://oakhurstonline.com/icon/lol.gif agreed! Isn't our Bar Babe married to just such a Native American!? Feels almost like cheating!http://oakhurstonline.com/icon/lol.gif

Kahlua Kid

Feb 24, 2006, 01:18 PM

Put a question out yourself - There could be tougher ones, but I wanted to warm up to them!

While Ahwahnee or "yo-se-mi-te" may be the obvious answer - I'm looking for the "real" name! Expansion on Ahwahnee.

oakhurstleaf

Feb 24, 2006, 02:48 PM

Ahwahnee-chee or ahwahnee-chi...something like that, right?

Originally posted by Kahlua Kid:
Put a question out yourself - There could be tougher ones, but I wanted to warm up to them!

While Ahwahnee or "yo-se-mi-te" may be the obvious answer - I'm looking for the "real" name! Expansion on Ahwahnee.

Kahlua Kid

Feb 25, 2006, 06:37 AM

Originally posted by oakhurstleaf:
Ahwahnee-chee or ahwahnee-chi...something like that, right?

Yes - Awahneechee.

Next:

Who left axe-blazes (Inside the blaze, carved in thin lines with a knife, are a cross with triangular extremities engraved more than a century ago), now found up at 7 feet high, on mostly lodgepole pines in the high country of Yosemite?

monkey

Feb 25, 2006, 07:35 AM

Oooooo good one! I am guessing maybe Galen Clark or John Muir?

Kahlua Kid

Feb 25, 2006, 07:42 AM

Originally posted by monkey:
Oooooo good one! I am guessing maybe Galen Clark or John Muir?

Uh-huh - and they were just too easy weren't they now!

No- sorry - not Clark or Muir!

monkey

Feb 25, 2006, 08:02 AM

Originally posted by Kahlua Kid:What was the original Vista "point" for Yosemite for horse-drawn wagons/stagecoaches in the mid-to-late 1800's?

You can still see the old stagecoach road on the right side of the road shortly after going through the tunnel. There is a big rock in the middle of it.

BGW

Feb 25, 2006, 09:17 AM

Grizzly Adams???

Kahlua Kid

Feb 25, 2006, 09:33 AM

hee hee - no! I've stumped the Narrow Gauge Inn crew!!! http://oakhurstonline.com/icon/happy.gif

Although, I loved that show growing up!

oakhurstleaf

Feb 25, 2006, 10:18 AM

These are my two best guesses...

Chief Tenaya? He was also referred to as the "Old Grizzly" Maybe Bgirlsworld isn't too far off. http://oakhurstonline.com/icon/laugh.gif

If not him...

Tom Hutchings (aka or nicknamed Indian Tom)?

Originally posted by Kahlua Kid:
hee hee - no! I've stumped the Narrow Gauge Inn crew!!! http://oakhurstonline.com/icon/happy.gif

Although, I loved that show growing up!

monkey

Feb 25, 2006, 11:11 AM

Good guesses, Leaf. I wonder if you are right???

BGW

Feb 25, 2006, 11:49 AM

My other guess is the US ARMY

CatdaBrat

Feb 25, 2006, 12:52 PM

Jedediah Smith or Joseph Walker?

Kahlua Kid

Feb 25, 2006, 08:07 PM

No sorry- hint: Its a group of people/nationality type and type of "job"...

You wanted more difficult!

I thought it was interesting and also cool to think about how the marks they made in the tree trunks long ago are now higher due to the growth of the trees over the last century.

These people were actually pushed out of Yosemite's borders by governmental patrols. Hint #2: And they were not Indians.

oakhurstleaf

Feb 26, 2006, 04:53 AM

Chinese miners?

Summer

Feb 26, 2006, 06:40 AM

49ers?

Kahlua Kid

Feb 26, 2006, 06:50 AM

Hint #3: Think "Woolgrowers" Restaurant in Bakersfield...

BGW

Feb 26, 2006, 06:56 AM

Wool Growers = Basque. I am intriged now KK because to date I have read nothing on there existence in Yosemite

Ah Ha!

In the early years after the arrival of the white man Basque shepherds brought their flocks from the east to graze on the grasses of Tuolumne Meadows. Although John Muir was originally hired to bring a flock of sheep from the valley into the high country, in 1869, he soon came to understand the devastating effects of their grazing, referring to them as "hooved locusts." The overgrazing of the sheep indeed caused tremendous damage until the 1890's when they were eliminated

Kahlua Kid

Feb 26, 2006, 07:50 AM

Yup - Basque Sheepherders!

Next:

Yosemite is located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. What does Sierra Nevada mean in Spanish?

monkey

Feb 26, 2006, 10:09 AM

Sierra Nevada = Frosty cold ale!

Kahlua Kid

Feb 26, 2006, 10:11 AM

Originally posted by monkey:
Sierra Nevada = Frosty cold ale!

http://oakhurstonline.com/icon/laugh.gif

But, alas, not the answer we are looking for!

monkey

Feb 26, 2006, 10:22 AM

How about snow covered ale?

Kahlua Kid

Feb 26, 2006, 10:29 AM

Originally posted by monkey:
How about snow covered ale?

http://oakhurstonline.com/icon/happy.gif
1/2 way there...

Snow-Covered is Nevada.

So what is Sierra?

Dodgergirl

Feb 26, 2006, 10:30 AM

Something like "See the Snowfall"?

monkey

Feb 26, 2006, 10:32 AM

See the snow covered ale?

Dodgergirl

Feb 26, 2006, 10:35 AM

http://oakhurstonline.com/icon/laugh.gif

Kahlua Kid

Feb 26, 2006, 11:01 AM

Nope - Sierra does not mean "See".

Vista is View!

Dodgergirl

Feb 26, 2006, 11:04 AM

Translation.com translates it as "saw"

Kahlua Kid

Feb 26, 2006, 12:46 PM

Yes - Padre Pedro Font is credited with placing the Sierra Nevada definitively on a map for the first time in 1776. Sierra means saw-toothed mountain range and Nevada means snow-covered.

Next:

Who was the first to scale El Capitan? And in what year?

monkey

Feb 26, 2006, 12:59 PM

Royal Robbins? Sometime in the mid-60's?

Kahlua Kid

Feb 26, 2006, 04:06 PM

No - a different decade and there were 4 people who made the ascent over a 2 month time period.

The Park Service would not allow them to sleep on the face. So they'd go up, pioneer their route, and then come back down to sleep... go back up... over and over... Now that took fortitude!

El Capitan is 3,600 feet high, one of the highest unbroken faces of granite in the world.

monkey

Feb 26, 2006, 05:09 PM

Was Warren Harding one of them? Late 50's?

Kahlua Kid

Feb 27, 2006, 09:07 AM

Yes - there were 3 others and the year was... 195_?

monkey

Feb 27, 2006, 01:14 PM

Kahlua Kid

Feb 27, 2006, 07:07 PM

Originally posted by monkey:
8?

Yes - on November 11, 1958, Dick Calderwood, Warren Harding, George Whitmore and Wayne Merry completed the first climb of El Capitan with rather primitive equipment.

Next:
What is Yosemite's highest point at 13,000 feet called? The Lowest valley's of Yosemite sit at 2,000 feet.

BGW

Feb 27, 2006, 08:13 PM

I know! I know! there are 2 over 13,000 feet but the tallest is MT Lyell.

Kahlua Kid

Feb 27, 2006, 08:20 PM

Originally posted by bgirlsworld:
I know! I know! there are 2 over 13,000 feet but the tallest is MT Lyell.

Yes - Mt. Lyell

How many pounds of Black Oak Acorns would an Ahwahneechee family need per year? They would practice burns which would remove all encroaching saplings from their beloved and staple food, the mature Black Oaks.

BGW

Mar 02, 2006, 09:41 AM

I have seen an acorn storage/curing bin and it was something like 8X8X8. That is a lot of acorns. After seeing this 'bin' I asked a few questions and acorns take a couple of years to mature/ripen which is why the large size of the bin. I would have to say since black oaks do not produce consistantly a family would gather 1000's pounds of acorns to be used of the course of a few years.

Not sure how that would break down into a yearly average though!

monkey

Mar 02, 2006, 12:29 PM

My answer is: as many as they could gather! http://oakhurstonline.com/icon/laugh.gif

Kahlua Kid

Mar 03, 2006, 10:15 AM

Ok, dumb question anyways!

500 pounds a year of acorns is what an indian family needed!

What fall in Yosemite is the 5th tallest in the world and would fit the Eiffel Tower on top of the Sears Tower at 2,425 feet tall?

CatdaBrat

Mar 03, 2006, 12:11 PM

hmmm...would that be the combined drop of upper and lower yosemite falls (and the cascades section)?

monkey

Mar 03, 2006, 12:31 PM

That's my guess also, followed by Ribbon Falls

Kahlua Kid

Mar 04, 2006, 05:59 AM

Originally posted by CatdaBrat:
hmmm...would that be the combined drop of upper and lower yosemite falls (and the cascades section)?

You got it!

Next: Over 706,000 acres of the park are managed as wilderness and can never be developed - what % of the park's land does that represent?

a) 67%
b) 78%
c) 89%
D) 94%

monkey

Mar 04, 2006, 06:03 AM

It had better be D) 94% if not it's a dirty shame

Kahlua Kid

Mar 04, 2006, 06:24 AM

Originally posted by monkey:
It had better be D) 94% if not it's a dirty shame

Yes! You guys are just too quick!

Next:
Who first proposed the bold theory that Yosemite was formed by glaciers? At the time, Yosemite was thought to have been formed by cataclysmic events when the valley floor simply dropped. This person was called a "mere sheepherder, an ignoramus" by Josiah Whitney.

monkey

Mar 04, 2006, 06:32 AM

Was it Joseph LeConte? I know he taught geology.

CatdaBrat

Mar 04, 2006, 09:24 AM

John Muir?

Kahlua Kid

Mar 04, 2006, 05:42 PM

Originally posted by CatdaBrat:
John Muir?

Yes!

Next:
What was the mark the Soldiers carved into trees in the late 1800's to mark trails in Yosemite?

wildography

Mar 05, 2006, 08:24 AM

"To mark trails, the cavalrymen blazed capital Ts into trees" from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Yosemite_area

I cheated! I used a search engine!

Kahlua Kid

Mar 05, 2006, 06:01 PM

Originally posted by wildography:
"To mark trails, the cavalrymen blazed capital Ts into trees" from:

Yes, that's right.

Next:
One of the smallest creatures in Yosemite, these organisms can become encysted in your very own intestines? What are they called?

CatdaBrat

Mar 05, 2006, 06:18 PM

giardia or cryptosporidium?

BGW

Mar 05, 2006, 06:48 PM

Originally posted by CatdaBrat:
giardia or cryptosporidium?

I agree

Kahlua Kid

Mar 22, 2006, 08:40 PM

Originally posted by CatdaBrat:
giardia ?

Yes - Giardiasis (GEE-are-DYE-uh-sis) is a diarrheal illness caused by a one-celled, microscopic parasite, Giardia intestinalis (also known as Giardia lamblia). Once an animal or person has been infected with Giardia intestinalis, the parasite lives in the intestine and is passed in the stool. Because the parasite is protected by an outer shell, it can survive outside the body and in the environment for long periods of time.

During the past 2 decades, Giardiainfection has become recognized as one of the most common causes of waterborne disease (found in both drinking and recreational water) in humans in the United States . Giardia are found worldwide and within every region of the United States.

Next Question:

Easy one, but too beautiful to leave out...
Who wrote:

"But no temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite. Every rock in its walls seems to glow with lfe... as if into this one mountain mansion Nature had gathered her choicest treasures..."