Kings Canyon National Park

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Kings Canyon National Park
IUCN Category II (National Park)

Location:	California, USA
Nearest city:	Fresno, CA
Coordinates:	36°48′0″N, 118°33′0″W
Area:	461,901 acres (1,869 km²)
Established:	March 4, 1940
Visitation:	1,520,835 (in 2003)
Governing body:	National Park Service

This article is about Kings Canyon National Park, USA. For Kings Canyon, Australia, see Kings Canyon (Northern Territory).

Kings Canyon National Park is a U.S. National Park in the southern Sierra Nevada, east of Fresno, California. The park was established in 1940 and covers 462,901 acres (1,869.25 km²).

The park is contiguous to Sequoia National Park; the two are administered by the National Park Service as one unit, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

1 Geography
2 History
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Geography

Kings Canyon National Park consists of two sections. The small, detached General Grant Grove section of Kings Canyon National Park preserves several groves of giant sequoia including the General Grant Grove, with the famous General Grant Tree, and the Redwood Mountain Grove, which is the largest remaining natural Giant Sequoia grove in the world (covering 3100 acres (13 km²) and witb 15,800 sequoia trees over one foot (0.30 m) in diameter at their bases). This section of the park is mostly mixed conifer forest, and is readily accessible via paved highways.<ref name="sekiffmp">Description of the Parks (pdf). Sequoia and Kings Canyon Fire Managment Plan. Retrieved on 2006-11-25.</ref>

The remainder of Kings Canyon National Park, which comprises over 90% of the total acreage of the park, is located to the east of General Grant Grove and forms the headwaters of the South and Middle Forks of the Kings River and the South Fork of the San Joaquin River. Both the South and Middle Forks of the Kings Rivers have extensive glacial canyons. One portion of the South Fork canyon, known as the Kings Canyon, gives the entire park its name. Kings Canyon is a 4,000 foot (1,2 km) deep canyon carved by glaciers out of granite. The Kings Canyon, and its developed area, Cedar Grove, is the only portion of the main part of the park that is accessible by motor vehicle. Both the Kings Canyon, and its Middle Fork twin, Tehipite Valley, are glacial “Yosemites” – deeply incised glacial gorges with relatively flat floors and towering granite cliffs thousands of feet high. <ref name="sekiffmp" />

Image:Cloud Canyon.jpg

To the east of the canyons are the high peaks of the Sierra Crest culminating in 14,242 foot high North Palisade, the highest point in the park. This is classic high Sierra country – barren alpine ridges and glacially scoured lake-filled basins. Usually snow free only from late June until late October, the high country is accessible only via foot and horse trails<ref name="sekiffmp" />. The Sierran crest forms the eastern boundary of the park, from the Mount Goethe in the north, down to Junction Peak, at the boundary with Sequoia National Park. Several well-travelled passes cross the crest into the park, including Bishop Pass, Taboose Pass, Sawmill Pass, and Kearsarge Pass. All of these passes are above 11,000 feet (3400 m) elevation.

[edit] History

Kings Canyon had been known to white settlers since the mid-1800's, but it was not until Muir first visited in 1873 that the canyon began receiving attention. Muir was delighted at the canyon's similarity to Yosemite Valley, as it reinforced his theory regarding the origin of both valleys, which, though competing with Josiah Whitney's then-accepted theory, later proved true: that both valleys were carved by massive glaciers during the last Ice Age.

Kings Canyon's future was in doubt for nearly fifty years. Some wanted to build a dam at the western end of the valley while others wanted to preserve it as a park. The debate was settled in 1965 when the valley, along with Tehipite Valley, was added to the already existing Grant Grove National Park.