[36], At middle elevations, most of the park consists of montane mixed-conifer forests: ponderosa pine, incense cedar, white fir, sugar pine and scattered groves of giant sequoias prevail in areas such as Cedar Grove and the mid-elevation slopes around Grant Grove. The first of several sawmills opened in 1862, and logging operations expanded north and almost entirely leveled Converse Basin, then one of the largest sequoia groves in the world (although the Boole tree, the grove's biggest, was spared). However, those sites were now inside the park boundary as designated in 1940. A hundred peaks in sight over thirteen thousand feetmany very sharpdeep canyons, cliffs in every direction almost rival Yosemite, sharp ridges inaccessible to man, on which human foot has never trodall combined to produce a view of sublimity of which is rarely equaled, one which few are privileged to behold. [124] The rainbow trout in the Kings river are small, usually no more than 8 to 9 inches (20 to 23cm). [106] During high demand periods, additional campsites may be placed on a reservation system. [8] In addition to Sequoia National Park on the south, Kings Canyon is surrounded by multiple national forests and wilderness areas. In the northwest section of the park are other very steep and rugged ranges such as the Goddard Divide, LeConte Divide and Black Divide, all of which are dotted with high mountain lakes and separated by deep chasms. [55]:4647 The General Grant tree was discovered by Joseph H. Thomas, a sawmill operator, in 1862. [11] The Monarch Divide, stretching between the lower Middle and South Forks of the Kings, has some of the most inaccessible terrain in the entire park. Over thousands of years, cliff collapses have built up large talus piles or scree slopes at their bases along almost every glacial valley in the park. In the Grant Grove area a one-mile (1.6km) trail leads to the General Grant Tree, and several longer trails reach nearby points of interest such as Redwood Mountain, the largest sequoia grove. Runoff drops significantly by late July (or August in wet years), and rivers are usually a trickle by autumn. By 1947 the Park Service had drafted a general plan including tourist lodges, concessions and a pack station. [44] The forks of the Kings River at these middle and lower elevations are also well known for their wild trout; the Kings is known as "one of the finest large trout fisheries in the state". [53] The Yokuts, who lived in the Central Valley, also ventured into the mountains during summer to collect plants, hunt game, and trade. [50][51], The park continues to host a healthy population of black bears, which are typically not aggressive towards humans, but have a tendency to steal human food. [102] Highway 180 is plowed only as far as Princess Meadow, the junction with the Hume Lake Road, which remains open to Hume Lake in winter. [87]:84 On August 6, 1965, Cedar Grove and Tehipite Valley were finally added to the park, making them permanently off-limits to new dams as well. Ice Age glaciations did not extend all the way to the confluence of the Middle and South Forks; consequently, the canyons downstream of Cedar Grove and Tehipite are typical V-shaped river gorges, in contrast to the U-shaped valleys upstream. Ultimately, the preservation lobby prevailed and today, the park has only limited services and lodgings despite its size. At lower elevations the park touches the fairly dry Sierra foothill zone which mostly consists of chaparral, brush and shrubs. [15]:32 Outside the quota period permits are still required, although the limit no longer applies. [10] The Great Western Divide extends through the south-central part of the park and also has many peaks over 13,000 feet (4,000m), including Mount Brewer. As visitation rose postWorld War II, further debate took place over whether the park should be developed as a tourist resort, or retained as a more natural environment restricted to simpler recreation such as hiking and camping. Kings Canyon is north of and contiguous with Sequoia National Park, and both parks are jointly administered by the National Park Service as the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.
Were they too much of a good thing? [117]:202 Several trails also access the park from the Owens Valley to the east; all surmount passes more than 11,000 feet (3,400m) high. In 1963, scientists deliberately set fire to part of the Redwood Mountain Grove, the first fire in any of the park's sequoia groves for 75years. Many of the sequoia groves destroyed by logging, such as the Big Stump Grove, have begun to regenerate, a process that will take many hundreds of years. The Sequoia-Kings Canyon Wilderness encompasses over 768,000 acres (311,000ha) in Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, or nearly 90percent of their combined area. [17] Meadows were trampled by thousands of hooves, leading to increased erosion and watershed degradation. It is striking from a distance and has routes that will challenge climbers of all abilities and preferences. [28] Snow accumulations in the higher areas of Kings Canyon National Park can be extremely large, often totaling in the hundreds of inches, although the annual snowpack fluctuates greatly between wet and dry years. Several passes cross the crest into the park, including Bishop Pass, Taboose Pass, Sawmill Pass, and Kearsarge Pass. The Middle Fork Kings River originates near Mount Powell and drains most of the park's northern half. ", "Kings Canyon cave stays closed in clash between Forest Service, private firm", "Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks", "Minimum Impact Restrictions Terms and Conditions of Wilderness Permits", "Kings Canyon, the Forgotten National Park: For Fishing and Beauty, Cedar Grove Is Equal to Yosemite's Merced River", "Paddle the Parks: Sequoia National Park", Official site for Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, Sequoia Natural History Association: "Challenge of the Big Trees", Virtualparks.org: Panoramic photos of North Kings Canyon NP, Virtualparks.org: Panoramic photos of South Kings Canyon NP, Virtualparks.org: Panoramic photo of Kearsarge Pass, Kings Canyon NP, Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front, California State Mining and Mineral Museum, Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, ShastaTrinity National Recreation Area, University of California Natural Reserve System, Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center, Bluff Lake (San Bernardino County, California), Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kings_Canyon_National_Park&oldid=1090531490, Landforms of the Sierra Nevada (United States), Protected areas of the Sierra Nevada (United States), History of the Sierra Nevada (United States), Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, October 1, 1890 (General Grant National Park), This page was last edited on 30 May 2022, at 00:33. General Grant National Park was initially created to protect a small area of giant sequoias from logging. [123] While rainbow, brown, and brook trout are found in various stretches of the river, only rainbows are native to the Sierra Nevada, the others having been planted by sportsmen in the early 20th century. The success of the experiment led to the establishment of the park's first long-term prescribed burn program in 1972. However, not much gold, nor other minerals, were discovered in this area. [128], National park in California, United States, This article is about the national park in the United States. [14][15]:17. Further up, approaching the subalpine zone, red fir and lodgepole pine are found in increasing numbers; whitebark pine, mountain hemlock and foxtail pine dominate in areas approaching the tree line. [122], In Cedar Grove, about 10 miles (16km) of the South Fork are considered good waters for fly fishing. 
[50], The decline of natural predators in the early 1900s led to a huge spike in the deer population, which further rose due to park visitors feeding them.
They created trade routes connecting the Owens Valley with the Central Valley west of the Sierra Nevada. The majority of the 461,901-acre (186,925ha) park, drained by the Middle and South Forks of the Kings River and many smaller streams, is designated wilderness. [69]:30 Although details on the Keough expedition are scarce, the miners had been prospecting on the North Fork of the Kings River and were returning to their homes in the Owens Valley, indicating that they must have crossed the Middle Fork then considered a region impossible to access by white settlers making them the first non-natives to do so. This has been successful in the backcountry, where bears have largely ceased to associate backpackers with food, but remains an issue near developed campgrounds. Johnson party successfully crossed the Sierra via the route Fremont had intended to find, via Kearsarge Pass at the far eastern end of Kings Canyon.[65]. "[63], The first non-native people to venture into what is today considered the Kings Canyon backcountry or high country were likely John C. Fremont's party in 1844, which attempted to cross the Sierra Nevada by way of the Kings River. Usually snow free only from late June until late October, the high country is accessible solely via foot and horse trails.[7]. [128] Kayakers take about five days to descend the Class V Middle Fork from its 12,000-foot (3,700m) headwaters to 900 feet (270m) at Pine Flat Reservoir. Although the river was once stocked with trout, the Park Service has not stocked the river since the 1970s, in favor of letting the fishery return to natural conditions. [20]:80 Although there are many alpine lakes in the park at high elevations, most are impractical to access for boating or swimming. The smaller and older western section centers around Grant Grove home of many of the park's sequoias and has most of the visitor facilities. Part of the western boundary follows the divide between the Middle and North Forks of the Kings River.[9]. [48], Although the Sierra Forest Reserve, including what would become Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, was established in 1893, as many as half a million sheep were illegally grazed there. In the early years staff and expertise were often loaned from Sequoia National Park. They were followed by prospectors during the California Gold Rush, which began in 1848. Occasionally hikers may come across gated drift fences in the wilderness designed to control livestock movement. [7] The canyons upstream at Cedar Grove are also more than 5,000 feet (1,500m) deep. For Kings Canyon in Australia, see. Starting in 1937, large campgrounds were developed in Kings Canyon by the U.S. Forest Service, but construction of more permanent facilities was foregone since the area would lie at the bottom of one of the proposed reservoirs. The stupendous rocks of purplish gray granite that form the walls are from 2500 to 5000 feet in height, while the depth of the valley is considerably more than a mile. [34] However, a proposal to extend the state highway over Kearsarge Pass to the Owens Valley was defeated. [34] Postwar, visitation jumped enormously, from just over 82,000 in 1945 to 450,000 in 1951. Stewart. Both the Kings and San Joaquin Rivers flow west into the arid San Joaquin Valley; however, while the San Joaquin eventually empties into San Francisco Bay, the Kings ends in the terminal sink of Tulare Lake, which before its waters were diverted for irrigation was one of the largest freshwater lakes in the western United States. In 1939 State Route 180 from Grant Grove to Kings Canyon was finally completed after ten years of construction, finally allowing large numbers of tourists to visit Cedar Grove for the first time. In order to clear areas for hunting game and to encourage the germination of certain plants, Native Americans set controlled burns in areas of overgrown brush and grass. [73], In March 1890 a bill (H.R. [89], After the Cedar Grove development was delayed by the final years of the dam debacle, the Park Service released a new plan in 1972, which included cabins for 260 people, and an 11,000-square-foot (1,000m2) store and cafeteria complex, hoping to develop the area in a way similar to Yosemite Valley. The Park Service has placed bear lockers in campgrounds, required the use of bear canisters and attempted to relocate bears away from heavily visited areas. [107] In Cedar Grove, easy hikes include the boardwalk path through Zumwalt Meadow providing broad views of Kings Canyon and the short walk to Roaring River Falls; there are also many longer day hikes such as an 8-mile (13km) round trip to Mist Falls, and the 13-mile (21km) round trip climb to Lookout Peak above Kings Canyon. [15]:34, Due to its limited road access, Kings Canyon receives many fewer visitors than its neighboring national parks, Sequoia and Yosemite. [18] In Kings Canyon and across the high country, such sheer granite cliffs are subject to exfoliation, frost weathering and earthquakes which cause sudden and dramatic rockfalls. [118][20]:376 Many of the park's prominent peaks also require technical climbing including North Palisade, the highest point in the park, and some of its neighbors along the Sierra crest. 
[34][35] Due to the large range in elevation, the park is characterized by several major plant communities. This group became known as the Monaches, or Western Mono. [72]:46 Instead, the area was targeted by water supply and power interests including the city of Los Angeles, who wanted to build hydroelectric dams in Kings Canyon. 
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