Olmsted Point is a famous viewpoint of the north side of Half Dome, Tenaya Canyon, and Tenaya Lake to the east from Tioga Pass off State Highway 120 in Mariposa County. Olmsted Point is a must-see on the way over Tioga Pass. We admire the "erratic" boulders staggered around the granite slopes. These huge boulders were left behind when the last glacier broke through. Olmsted Point is named after landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. Olmsted was instrumental in protecting Yosemite National Park in the 1860s when he worked with Senator John Conness of California to declare Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove as public land under state protection. This was the first land set aside by Congress for public use and laid the foundation for what would become the National Parks.