Last light on Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California, USA

© Adam Burton/Alamy Stock Phot

Yosemite National Park, California, USA

There's a reason why famed American photographer Ansel Adams fell in love with Yosemite National Park: vistas like today's image of Half Dome. Located in central California's Sierra Nevada mountain range, the park has been a popular destination for artists, mountaineers, settlers and nature lovers since the mid-1800s. To preserve the area and protect it from logging and overgrazing by cattle, the US Congress designated Yosemite a national park on this day in 1890. It's one of the most visited parks in the United States, with annual attendance exceeding 3 million, and it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

At almost 2,743 metres tall, Half Dome—named because it looks like a dome that's been cut in half—is only one of Yosemite's geological wonders. Other famous climbing destinations include El Capitan and Mount Lyell, which at 3,997 metres tall is the park's highest summit. Yosemite is also famous for its waterfalls and is home to giant sequoia trees, black bears, mountain lions and endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep.