06/30/2015 10:41 AM EDT
Happy 151th birthday to Yosemite National Park! On this day in 1864, Yosemite was first protected with the Yosemite Grant Act of 1864, which set aside 39,000 acres of Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove to the State of California. This historic legislation was the beginning of not only the California State Park System, but the national park idea we know today. Pictured here is the park’s iconic Half Dome from Glacier Point at sunset. Photo by Brandon Nimon (www.sharetheexperience.org).