Page 709 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - USA

THE HIGH SIERR AS  707

great Yosemite panorama is
best experienced from the
3,215-ft- (980-m-) high Glacier
Point. It can be reached only in
summer, because snow blocks
the road during winter.
Among the park’s most
recognizable features are the
cascading Yosemite waterfalls,
the highest in North America.
Tumbling from a height of
2,425 ft (740 m) in two great
leaps, Upper and Lower
Yosemite Falls are at their peak Tufa spires rising out of Mono Lake, Eastern Sierras
in May and June, when the
snow melts. By September, declined when the gold ran of the parks; the rest is
however, the falls often dry up. out in 1882. Now protected as a accessible only to hikers or
In summer, when the state historic park, Bodie’s 170 rented pack-trains of horses
wildflowers are in full bloom, buildings have been maintained or mules.
the park’s striking landscape in a state of “arrested decay.” The The parks embrace 34
is best explored in the sub- result is an experience of empty separate groves of the sequoia
alpine Tuolumne Meadows streets lined by deserted wooden tree, the earth’s largest living
along the Tuolumne River at buildings. The Miner’s Union species. Giant Forest, at the
the Yosemite’s eastern edge. Hall has been converted into a southern end of Sequoia
A few miles past Yosemite’s visitor center and a museum. National Park, is one of the
southern entrance, Mariposa Nearby Mono Lake, covering world’s largest groves of living
Grove features over 500 giant 60 sq miles (155 sq km), lies at sequoias. A 3-mile (5-km) trail
sequoia trees (Sequoiadendron the eastern foot of the Sierra from here leads to Moro Rock,
gigantea), some more than Nevada Mountains and presents a granite monolith affording a
3,000 years old. an eerie sight of limestone 360-degree view of the High
towers rising from the water. Sierras and the Central Valley.
Set between two volcanic To its east lies the marshy
islands, the lake has no natural Crescent Meadow, bordered by
outlet, but evaporation and sequoias. Another short trail
water diversion to Los Angeles, leads to Tharp’s Log, a
through aqueducts, have hollowed-out sequoia, home to
caused it to shrink to one-fifth Hale Tharp, a 19th-century
of its size. The lake’s water has farmer who was introduced to
turned brackish and alkaline, the area by Native Americans.
putting the local wildlife and North of Giant Forest is the
ecosystem in grave danger. world’s largest living thing,
In recent years, Mono Lake has the 275-ft (84-m) General
been the subject of much Sherman’s Tree. It still grows
environmental debate. 0.4 inches (1 cm) every ten
years and is rivaled by the third-
The 1879 Yosemite Chapel, Yosemite largest sequoia, General Grant
National Park $ Sequoia & Kings Tree, in Kings Canyon Park. This
Canyon National park also features the Big Stump
Trail, lined with tall stumps, left
£ Eastern Sierras Parks by loggers in the 1880s.
Bodie State Historic Park: @ from Ash Mountain, Three Rivers. Tel (559) Along the eastern boundary
Bridgeport. n End of Hwy 270, (760) 565-3135. Open daily. & 7 call of Sequoia is the 14,496-ft
647-6445. Open daily. Mono Lake: ahead. = 8 summer only. - (4,420-m) Mount Whitney, one
Tel (760) 647-3044. £ Merced. ∑ nps.gov/seki of the highest peaks on the
∑ monolake.org US mainland. A steep trail leads
These twin national parks from Whitney Portal Road to the
High up in the foothills of the preserve lush green forests, summit, offering a panorama
eastern Sierras lies Bodie State magnificent glacier-carved over the High Sierras. The
Historic Park, the largest ghost canyons, and granite peaks. mountain, named in honor of
town in California. It was named America’s deepest canyon, geologist Josiah Whitney, was
after the prospector Waterman S. the south fork of the Kings first climbed in 1873. The lovely
Bodey, who discovered surface River, cuts a depth of 8,200 ft green alpine meadows around
gold here in 1859. The town (2,500 m) through Kings Canyon. it are ideal for backpacking in
thrived in the mid-1870s but Roads serve the western side the summer months.

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