Laurentia or the North American Craton is a large continental craton that forms the ancient geological core of the North American continent. Many times in its past, Laurentia has been a separate continent, as it is now in the form of North America, although originally it also included the cratonic areas of Greenland and also the northwestern part of Scotland, known as the Hebridean Terrane. During other times in its past, Laurentia has been part of larger continents and supercontinents and itself consists of many smaller terranes assembled on a network of Early Proterozoicorogenic belts. Small microcontinents and oceanic islands collided with and sutured onto the ever-growing Laurentia, and together formed the stable Precambrian craton seen today.
In eastern and central Canada, much of the stable craton is exposed at the surface as the Canadian Shield; when subsurface extensions are considered, the wider term Laurentian Shield
is more common, not least because large parts of the structure extend
outside Canada. In the United States, the craton bedrock is covered
with sedimentary rocks on the broad interior platform in the Midwest and Great Plains regions and is exposed only in northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, the New York Adirondacks, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The sequence of rocks varies from about 1,000 m to in excess of 6,100 m (3,500–20,000 ft) in thickness. The cratonic rocks are metamorphic or igneous with the overlying sedimentary layers composed mostly of limestones, sandstones, and shales. These sedimentary rocks were largely deposited from 650 to 290 million years ago.
Tectonic setting
The metamorphic and igneous rocks of the "basement complex" of Laurentia were formed 1.5 to 1.0 billion years ago in a tectonically active setting.
The younger sedimentary rocks that were deposited on top of this
basement complex were formed in a setting of quiet marine and river
waters. During much of Mississippian time, the craton was the site of an extensive marine carbonate platform on which mainly limestones and some dolomites and evaporites were deposited. This platform extended from either the present Appalachian Mountains or Mississippi Valley to the present Great Basin. The craton was covered by shallow, warm, tropical epicontinental or epicratonic sea (meaning literally "on the craton") that had maximum depths of only about 60 m (200 ft) at the shelf edge. During Cretaceous times, such a sea, the Western Interior Seaway, ran from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean, dividing North America into eastern and western land masses. Sometimes, land masses or mountain chains rose up on the distant edges of the craton and then eroded down, shedding their sand across the landscape. Subduction of the continent towards the Northwest, that lasted approximately 1.4 to 1.2 billion years, likely caused organic enrichment of the Grenvillian lithospheric mantle. This enrichment is thought to have contributed to the formation of the major supercontinent Rodinia.
Volcanism
The
southwestern portion of Laurentia consists of Precambrian basement
rocks deformed by continental collisions (violet area of the image
above). This area has been subjected to considerable rifting as the Basin and Range Province and has been stretched up to 100% of its original width. The area contains numerous large volcanic eruptions.
Equatorial location
The position of the equator during the Late Ordovicianepoch (c. 458 – c. 444 million years ago) on Laurentia has been determined via expansive shell bed records.
Flooding of the continent that occurred during the Ordovician provided
the shallow warm waters for the success of sea life and therefore a
spike in the carbonate shells of shellfish. Today the beds are composed
of fossilized shells or massive-bedded Thalassinoides facies (MBTF) and loose shells or nonamalgamated brachiopod shell beds (NABS).
These beds imply the presence of an equatorial climate belt that was
hurricane free which lay inside 10° of the equator at 22.1°S ± 13.5°. This ecological conclusion matches the previous paleomagnetic findings which confirms this equatorial location.
Paleoenvironmental change
Several climate events occurred in Laurentia during the Phanerozoic eon. During the late Cambrian through the Ordovician,
sea level fluctuated with ice cap melt. Nine macro scale fluctuations
of "Global hyper warming", or high intensity greenhouse gas conditions,
occurred. Due to sea level fluctuation, these intervals led to mudstone deposits on Laurentia that act as a record of events. The late Ordovician brought a cooling period, although the extent of this cooling is still debated. More than 100 million years later, in the Permian, an overall warming trend occurred.
As indicated by fossilized invertebrates, the western margin of
Laurentia was affected by a lasting southward bound cool current. This
current contrasted with waters warming in the Texas region. This opposition suggests that, during Permian global warm period, northern and northwestern Pangea (western Laurentia) remained relatively cool.
Geological history
Around 4.03 to 3.58 Ga, the oldest intact rock formation on the planet, the Acasta Gneiss, was formed in what is now Northwest Territories (older individual mineral grains are known, but not whole rocks).
Around 2.565 Ga, Arctica formed as an independent continent.
Around 2.72 to 2.45 Ga, Arctica was part of the major supercontinent Kenorland.
Around 2.1 to 1.84 Ga, when Kenorland shattered, the Arctican craton was part of the minor supercontinent Nena along with Baltica and Eastern Antarctica.
Around 1.82 Ga, Laurentia was part of the major supercontinent Columbia.
Around 1.35–1.3 Ga, Laurentia was an independent continent.
Around 1.3 Ga, Laurentia was part of the minor supercontinent Protorodinia.
Around 1.07 Ga, Laurentia was part of the major supercontinent Rodinia.
Around 750 Ma, Laurentia was part of the minor supercontinent Protolaurasia. Laurentia nearly rifted apart.
In the Ediacaran (635 to 541 ±0.3 Ma), Laurentia was part of the major supercontinent Pannotia.
In the Cambrian (541 ±0.3 to 485.4 ±1.7 Ma), Laurentia was an independent continent.
In the Ordovician (485.4 ± 1.7 to 443.8 ±1.5 Ma), Laurentia was shrinking and Baltica got bigger.
In the Devonian (419.2 ± 2.8 to 358.9 ±2.5 Ma), Laurentia collided against Baltica, forming the minor supercontinent Euramerica.
In the Permian (298.9 ± 0.8 to 252.17 ±0.4 Ma), all major continents collided against each other, forming the major supercontinent Pangaea.
In the Jurassic (201.3 ± 0.6 to 145 ±4 Ma), Pangaea rifted into two minor supercontinents: Laurasia and Gondwana. Laurentia was part of the minor supercontinent Laurasia.
In the Cretaceous (145 ± 4 to 66 Ma), Laurentia was an independent continent called North America.
In the Neogene (23.03 ± 0.05 Ma until today or ending 2.588 Ma), Laurentia, in the form of North America, crashed into South America, forming the minor supercontinent America.
Mammoth Cave National Park is an American national park in central Kentucky, encompassing portions of Mammoth Cave, the longest cave system known in the world.
Since the 1972 unification of Mammoth Cave with the even-longer system
under Flint Ridge to the north, the official name of the system has been
the Mammoth–Flint Ridge Cave System. The park was established as a
national park on July 1, 1941, a World Heritage Site on October 27, 1981, and an international Biosphere Reserve on September 26, 1990.
The park's 52,830 acres (21,380 ha) are located primarily in Edmonson County, with small areas extending eastward into Hart and Barren counties. The Green River runs through the park, with a tributary called the Nolin River
feeding into the Green just inside the park. Mammoth Cave is the
world's longest known cave system with more than 400 miles (640 km) of
surveyed passageways, which is nearly twice as long as the second-longest cave system, Mexico's Sac Actun underwater cave.
Geology
Mammoth Cave developed in thick Mississippian-aged limestonestrata capped by a layer of sandstone, which has made the system remarkably stable. It is known to include more than 400 miles (640 km) of passageway;
new discoveries and connections add several miles to this figure each
year. Mammoth Cave National Park was established to preserve the cave
system.
The upper sandstone member is known as the Big Clifty Sandstone. Thin, sparse layers of limestone interspersed within the sandstones give rise to an epikarstic zone,
in which tiny conduits (cave passages too small to enter) are dissolved
by the natural acidity of groundwater. The epikarstic zone concentrates
local flows of runoff into high-elevation springs which emerge at the
edges of ridges. The resurgent water from these springs typically flows
briefly on the surface before sinking underground again at elevation of
the contact between the sandstone caprock
and the underlying massive limestones. It is in these underlying
massive limestone layers that the human-explorable caves of the region
have naturally developed.
The Bottomless Pit in Mammoth Cave, woodcut (1887)
The limestone layers of the stratigraphic column beneath the Big Clifty, in increasing order of depth below the ridgetops, are the Girkin Formation, the Ste. Genevieve Limestone, and the St. Louis Limestone.
For example, the large Main Cave passage seen on the Historic Tour is
located at the bottom of the Girkin and the top of the Ste. Genevieve
Formation.
Each of the primary layers of limestone is divided further into
named geological units and subunits. One area of cave research involves
correlating the stratigraphy with the cave survey produced by explorers.
This makes it possible to produce approximate three-dimensional maps
of the contours of the various layer boundaries without the necessity
for test wells and extracting core samples.
The upper sandstone caprock is relatively hard for water to
penetrate: the exceptions are where vertical cracks occur. This
protective role means that many of the older, upper passages of the cave
system are very dry, with no stalactites, stalagmites, or other formations which require flowing or dripping water to develop.
However, the sandstone caprock layer has been dissolved and
eroded at many locations within the park, such as the Frozen Niagara
room. The contact between limestone and sandstone can be found by hiking
from the valley bottoms to the ridgetops: typically, as one approaches
the top of a ridge, one sees the outcrops of exposed rock change in
composition from limestone to sandstone at a well-defined elevation.
At one valley bottom in the southern region of the park, a massive sinkhole has developed. Known as Cedar Sink, the sinkhole features a small river entering one side and disappearing back underground at the other side.
The National Park Service
offers several cave tours to visitors. Some notable features of the
cave, such as Grand Avenue, Frozen Niagara, and Fat Man's Misery, can be
seen on lighted tours ranging from one to six hours in length. Two
tours, lit only by visitor-carried paraffin lamps, are popular
alternatives to the electric-lit routes. Several "wild" tours venture
away from the developed parts of the cave into muddy crawls and dusty
tunnels.
The Echo River Tour, one of the cave's most famous attractions,
used to take visitors on a boat ride along an underground river. The
tour was discontinued for logistic and environmental reasons in the
early 1990s.
The story of human beings in relation to Mammoth Cave spans five thousand years. Several sets of Native American remains have been recovered from Mammoth Cave, or other nearby caves in the region, in both the 19th and 20th centuries. Most mummies found represent examples of intentional burial, with ample evidence of pre-Columbian funerary practice.
An exception to purposeful burial was discovered when in 1935 the
remains of an adult male were discovered under a large boulder. The
boulder had shifted and settled onto the victim, a pre-Columbian miner,
who had disturbed the rubble supporting it. The remains of the ancient
victim were named "Lost John" and exhibited to the public into the
1970s, when they were interred in a secret location in Mammoth Cave for
reasons of preservation as well as emerging political sensitivities with
respect to the public display of Native American remains.
Research beginning in the late 1950s led by Patty Jo Watson, of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, has done much to illuminate the lives of the late Archaic and early Woodland peoples who explored and exploited caves in the region. Preserved by the constant cave environment, dietary evidence yielded carbon dates
enabling Watson and others to determine the age of the specimens. An
analysis of their content, also pioneered by Watson, allows
determination of the relative content of plant and meat in the diet of
either culture over a period spanning several thousand years. This
analysis indicates a timed transition from a hunter-gatherer culture to plant domestication and agriculture.
Another technique employed in archaeological research, at Mammoth Cave, was "experimental archaeology"
in which modern explorers were sent into the cave using the same
technology as that employed by the ancient cultures whose leftover
implements lie discarded in many parts of the cave. The goal was to gain
insight into the problems faced by the ancient people who explored the
cave, by placing the researchers in a similar physical situation.
Ancient human remains and artifacts within the caves are
protected by various federal and state laws. One of the most basic facts
to be determined about a newly discovered artifact is its precise
location and situation. Even slightly moving a prehistoric artifact
contaminates it from a research perspective. Explorers are properly
trained not to disturb archaeological evidence, and some areas of the
cave remain out-of-bounds for even seasoned explorers, unless the
subject of the trip is archaeological research on that area.
Besides the remains that have been discovered in the portion of
the cave accessible through the Historic Entrance of Mammoth Cave, the
remains of cane torches used by Native Americans, as well as other
artifacts such as drawings, gourd fragments, and woven grass moccasin
slippers are found in the Salts Cave section of the system in Flint
Ridge.
Though there is undeniable proof of their existence and use of
the cave, there is no evidence of further use past the archaic period.
Experts and scientists have no answer as to why this is, making it one
of the greatest mysteries of Mammoth Cave to this day.
Earliest written history
The 31,000-acre (13,000 ha) tract known as the "Pollard Survey" was sold by indenture on September 10, 1791 in Philadelphia by William Pollard. 19,897 acres (8,052 ha) of the "Pollard Survey" between the North bank of Bacon Creek and the Green River were purchased by Thomas Lang, Jr., a British American merchant from Yorkshire, England on June 3, 1796, for £4,116/13s/0d (£4,116.65). The land was lost to a local county tax claim during the War of 1812.
Legend has it that the first European to visit Mammoth Cave was
either John Houchin or his brother Francis Houchin, in 1797. While
hunting, Houchin pursued a wounded bear to the cave's large entrance
opening near the Green River. Some Houchin Family tales have John
Decatur "Johnny Dick" Houchin as the discoverer of the cave, but this is
highly unlikely because Johnny Dick was only 10 years old in 1797 and
was unlikely to be out hunting bears at such a tender age. His father
John is the more likely candidate from that branch of the family tree,
but the most probable candidate for discoverer of Mammoth Cave is
Francis "Frank" Houchin whose land was much closer to the cave entrance
than his brother John's. There is also the argument that their brother
Charles Houchin, who was known as a great hunter and trapper, was the
man who shot that bear and chased it into the cave. The shadow over
Charles's claim is the fact that he was residing in Illinois until 1801.
Contrary to this story is Brucker and Watson's The Longest Cave,
which asserts that the cave was "certainly known before that time."
Caves in the area were known before the discovery of the entrance to
Mammoth Cave. Even Francis Houchin had a cave entrance on his land very
near the bend in the Green River known as the Turnhole, which is less
than a mile from the main entrance of Mammoth Cave.
The land containing this historic entrance was first surveyed and
registered in 1798 under the name of Valentine Simons. Simons began
exploiting Mammoth Cave for its saltpeter reserves.
According to family records passed down through the Houchin, and
later Henderson families, John Houchin was bear hunting and the bear
turned and began to chase him. He found the cave entrance when he ran
into the cave for protection from the charging bear.
19th century
Map of Mammoth Cave (1897)
In partnership with Valentine Simon, various other individuals would own the land through the War of 1812, when Mammoth Cave's saltpeter reserves became significant due to the Jefferson Embargo Act of 1807 which prohibited all foreign trade. The blockade starved the American military of saltpeter and therefore gunpowder.
As a result, the domestic price of saltpeter rose and production based
on nitrates extracted from caves such as Mammoth Cave became more
lucrative.
In July 1812, the cave was purchased from Simon and other owners
by Charles Wilkins and an investor from Philadelphia named Hyman Gratz.
Soon the cave was being mined for calcium nitrate
on an industrial scale, utilizing a labor force of 70 slaves to build
and operate the soil leaching apparatus, as well as to haul the raw soil
from deep in the cave to the central processing site.
A half-interest in the cave changed hands for ten thousand
dollars (a huge sum at the time). After the war when prices fell, the
workings were abandoned and it became a minor tourist attraction
centering on a Native Americanmummy discovered nearby.
When Wilkins died his estate's executors sold his interest in the
cave to Gratz. In the spring of 1838, the cave was sold by the Gratz
brothers to Franklin Gorin, who intended to operate Mammoth Cave purely
as a tourist attraction, the bottom long having since fallen out of the
saltpeter market. Gorin was a slave owner, and used his slaves as tour
guides. One of these slaves would make a number of important
contributions to human knowledge of the cave, and become one of Mammoth
Cave's most celebrated historical figures.
Stephen Bishop, an African-Americanslave and a guide to the cave during the 1840s and 1850s, was one of the first people to make extensive maps of the cave, and named many of the cave's features.
Stephen Bishop was introduced to Mammoth Cave in 1838 by Franklin
Gorin. Gorin wrote, after Bishop's death: "I placed a guide in the cave
– the celebrated and great Stephen, and he aided in making the
discoveries. He was the first person who ever crossed the Bottomless
Pit, and he, myself and another person whose name I have forgotten were
the only persons ever at the bottom of Gorin's Dome to my knowledge."
"After Stephen crossed the Bottomless Pit, we discovered all that
part of the cave now known beyond that point. Previous to those
discoveries, all interest centered in what is known as the 'Old Cave'
... but now many of the points are but little known, although as Stephen
was wont to say, they were 'grand, gloomy and peculiar'."
The Mammoth Cave of Kentucky: An illustrated manual (1897)
In 1839, John Croghan of Louisville
bought the Mammoth Cave Estate, including Bishop and its other slaves
from their previous owner, Franklin Gorin. Croghan briefly ran an
ill-fated tuberculosis hospital
in the cave in 1842-43, the vapors of which he believed would cure his
patients. A widespread epidemic of the period, tuberculosis would
ultimately claim the life of Dr. Croghan in 1849.
Throughout the 19th century, the fame of Mammoth Cave would grow so that the cave became an international sensation.
At the same time, the cave attracted the attention of 19th century writers such as Robert Montgomery Bird, the Rev. Robert Davidson, the Rev. Horace Martin, Alexander Clark Bullitt, Nathaniel Parker Willis (who visited in June 1852), Bayard Taylor (in May 1855), William Stump Forwood (in spring 1867), the naturalist John Muir (early September 1867), the Rev. Horace Carter Hovey, and others. As a result of the growing renown of Mammoth Cave, the cave boasted famous visitors such as actor Edwin Booth (whose brother, John Wilkes Booth, assassinatedAbraham Lincoln in 1865), singer Jenny Lind (who visited the cave on April 5, 1851), and violinist Ole Bull
who together gave a concert in one of the caves. Two chambers in the
caves have since been known as "Booth's Amphitheatre" and "Ole Bull's
Concert Hall".
By 1859, when the Louisville and Nashville Railroad
opened its main line between these cities, Colonel Larkin J. Procter
owned the Mammoth Cave Estate. He also owned the stagecoach line that
ran between Glasgow Junction (Park City) and the Mammoth Cave Estate. This line transported tourists to Mammoth Caves until 1886, when he established the Mammoth Cave Railroad.
Early 20th century: The Kentucky Cave Wars
Historic signatures on the ceiling of Gothic Avenue
The difficulties of farming life in the hardscrabble, poor soil of
the cave-country influenced local owners of smaller nearby caves to see
opportunities for commercial exploitation, particularly given the
success of Mammoth Cave as a tourist attraction. The "Kentucky Cave
Wars" was a period of bitter competition between local cave owners for
tourist money. Broad tactics of deception were used to lure visitors
away from their intended destination to other private show caves.
Misleading signs were placed along the roads leading to the Mammoth
Cave. A typical strategy during the early days of automobile travel
involved representatives (known as "cappers") of other private show
caves hopping aboard a tourist's car's running board, and leading the
passengers to believe that Mammoth Cave was closed, quarantined, caved
in or otherwise inaccessible.
In 1908, Max Kämper,
a young German mining engineer, arrived at the cave by way of New York.
Kämper had just graduated from technical college and his family had
sent him on a trip abroad as a graduation present. Originally intending
to spend two weeks at Mammoth Cave, Kämper spent several months. With
the assistance Stephen Bishop, a Mammoth Cave Guide, Kämper produced a
remarkably accurate instrumental survey of many kilometers of Mammoth
Cave, including many new discoveries. Reportedly, Kämper also produced a
corresponding survey of the land surface overlying the cave: this
information was to be useful in the opening of other entrances to the
cave, as soon happened with the Violet City entrance.
The Croghan family suppressed the topographic element of Kämper's
map, and it is not known to survive today, although the cave map
portion of Kämper's work stands as a triumph of accurate cave
cartography: not until the early 1960s and the advent of the modern
exploration period would these passages be surveyed and mapped with
greater accuracy. Kämper returned to Berlin, and from the point of view
of the Mammoth Cave country, disappeared entirely. It was not until the
turn of the 21st century that a group of German tourists, after visiting
the cave, researched Kämper's family and determined his fate: the young
Kämper was killed in trench warfare in World War I at the Battle of the Somme December 10, 1916.
Stalactites, and stalagmites formed from travertine inside Mammoth Cave
Famed French cave explorer Édouard-Alfred Martel
visited the cave for three days in October 1912. Without access to the
closely held survey data, Martel was permitted to make barometric
observations in the cave for the purpose of determining the relative
elevation of different locations in the cave. He identified different
levels of the cave and correctly noted that the level of the Echo River
within the cave was controlled by that of the Green River on the
surface. Martel lamented the 1906 construction of the dam at
Brownsville, pointing out that this made a full hydrologic study of the
cave impossible. Among his precise descriptions of the hydrogeologic
setting of Mammoth Cave, Martel offered the speculative conclusion that
Mammoth Cave was connected to Salts and Colossal Caves: this would not be proven correct until 60 years after Martel's visit.
In the early 1920s, George Morrison created, via blasting, a
number of entrances to Mammoth Cave on land not owned by the Croghan
Estate. Absent the data from the Croghan's secretive surveys, performed
by Kämper, Bishop, and others, which had not been published in a form
suitable for determining the geographic extent of the cave, it was now
conclusively shown that the Croghans had been for years exhibiting
portions of Mammoth Cave which were not under land they owned. Lawsuits
were filed and, for a time, different entrances to the cave were
operated in direct competition with each other.
In the early 20th century, Floyd Collins
spent ten years exploring the Flint Ridge Cave System (the most
important legacy of these explorations was the discovery of Floyd
Collins' Crystal Cave and exploration in Salts Cave) before dying at
Sand Cave, Kentucky, in 1925. While exploring Sand Cave, he dislodged a
rock onto his leg while in a tight crawlway and was unable to be rescued
before dying of starvation. Attempts to rescue Collins created a mass media sensation; the resulting publicity would draw prominent Kentuckians to initiate a movement which would soon result in the formation of Mammoth Cave National Park.
The national park movement (1926–1941)
River Styx cave boat tour
As the last of the Croghan heirs died, advocacy momentum grew among
wealthy citizens of Kentucky for the establishment of Mammoth Cave
National Park. Private citizens formed the Mammoth Cave National Park
Association in 1924. The park was authorized May 25, 1926.
Donated funds were used to purchase some farmsteads in the
region, while other tracts within the proposed national park boundary
were acquired by right of eminent domain.
In contrast to the formation of other national parks in the sparsely
populated American West, thousands of people would be forcibly relocated
in the process of forming Mammoth Cave National Park. Often eminent
domain proceedings were bitter, with landowners paid what were
considered to be inadequate sums. The resulting acrimony still resonates
within the region.
For legal reasons, the federal government was prohibited from
restoring or developing the cleared farmsteads while the private
Association held the land: this regulation was evaded by the operation
of "a maximum of four" CCC camps from May 22, 1933 to July 1942.
According to the National Park Service, "By May 22, 1936, 27,402
acres of land had been acquired and accepted by the Secretary of the
Interior. The area was declared a national park on July 1, 1941 when the
minimum of 45,310 acres (over 600 parcels) had been assembled."
Superintendent Hoskins later wrote of a summer tanager
named Pete who arrived at the guide house on or around every April 20,
starting in 1938. The bird ate from food held in the hands of the
guides, to the delight of visitors, and provided food to his less-tame
mate.
Birth of the national park (1941)
Mammoth Cave National Park was officially dedicated on July 1, 1941. By coincidence, the same year saw the incorporation of the National Speleological Society.
R. Taylor Hoskins, the second Acting Superintendent under the old
Association, became the first official Superintendent, a position he
held until 1951.
The New Entrance, closed to visitors since 1941, was reopened on
December 26, 1951, becoming the entrance used for the beginning of the
Frozen Niagara tour.
The longest cave (1954–1972)
Staircase tower in Mammoth Dome
By 1954, Mammoth Cave National Park's land holdings encompassed all
lands within its outer boundary with the exception of two privately held
tracts. One of these, the old Lee Collins farm, had been sold to Harry
Thomas of Horse Cave, Kentucky, whose grandson, William "Bill" Austin,
operated Collins Crystal Cave as a show cave in direct competition with
the national park, which was forced to maintain roads leading to the
property. Condemnation and purchase of the Crystal Cave property seemed
only a matter of time.
In February 1954, a two-week expedition under the auspices of the National Speleological Society was organized at the invitation of Austin: this expedition became known as C-3, or the Collins Crystal Cave Expedition.
The C-3 expedition drew public interest, first from a photo essay
published by Robert Halmi in the July 1954 issue of True Magazine and
later from the publication of a double first-person account of the
expedition, The Caves Beyond: The Story of the Collins Crystal Cave Expedition by Joe Lawrence, Jr. (then president of the National Speleological Society) and Roger Brucker.
The expedition proved conclusively that passages in Crystal Cave
extended toward Mammoth Cave proper, at least exceeding the Crystal Cave
property boundaries. However, this information was closely held by the
explorers: it was feared that the National Park Service might forbid
exploration were this known.
In 1955 Crystal Cave was connected by survey with Unknown Cave, the first connection in the Flint Ridge system.
Some of the participants in the C-3 expedition wished to continue
their explorations past the conclusion of the C-3 Expedition, and
organized as the Flint Ridge Reconnaissance under the guidance of
Austin, Jim Dyer, John J. Lehrberger and E. Robert Pohl. This
organization was incorporated in 1957 as the Cave Research Foundation.
The organization sought to legitimize the cave explorers' activity
through the support of original academic and scientific research.
Notable scientists who studied Mammoth Cave during this period include Patty Jo Watson (see section on prehistory.)
In March 1961, the Crystal Cave property was sold to the National Park Service for $285,000. At the same time, the Great Onyx Cave property, the only other remaining private inholding,
was purchased for $365,000. The Cave Research Foundation was permitted
to continue their exploration through a Memorandum of Understanding with
the National Park Service.
Colossal Cave was connected by survey to Salts Cave in 1960 and
in 1961 Colossal-Salts cave was similarly connected to Crystal-Unknown
cave, creating a single cave system under much of Flint Ridge. By 1972,
the Flint Ridge Cave System had been surveyed to a length of 86.5 miles
(139.2 km), making it the longest cave in the world.
Flint–Mammoth connection (1972)
River Styx, one of the cave's semi-subterranean waterways, emerges onto the surface in the park.
During the 1960s, Cave Research Foundation (CRF) exploration and
mapping teams had found passageways in the Flint Ridge Cave System that
penetrated under Houchins Valley and came within 800 feet of known
passages in Mammoth Cave. In 1972, CRF Chief Cartographer John Wilcox
pursued an aggressive program to finally connect the caves, fielding
several expeditions from the Flint Ridge side as well as exploring leads
in Mammoth Cave.
On a July 1972 trip, deep in the Flint Ridge Cave System, Patricia Crowther—with her slight frame of 115 pounds
(52 kg)—crawled through a narrow canyon later dubbed the "Tight Spot",
which acted as a filter for larger cavers.
A subsequent trip past the Tight Spot on August 30, 1972, by Wilcox,
Crowther, Richard Zopf, and Tom Brucker discovered the name "Pete H"
inscribed on the wall of a river passage with an arrow pointing in the
direction of Mammoth Cave.
The name is believed to have been carved by Warner P. "Pete" Hanson,
who was active in exploring the cave in the 1930s. Hanson had been
killed in World War II. The passage was named Hanson's Lost River by the explorers.
Finally, on September 9, 1972, a six-person CRF team of Wilcox,
Crowther, Zopf, Gary Eller, Stephen Wells, and Cleveland Pinnix (a
National Park Service ranger) followed Hanson's Lost River downstream to
discover its connection with Echo River in Cascade Hall of Mammoth
Cave. With this linking of the Flint Ridge and Mammoth Cave systems, the
"Everest of speleology" had been climbed. The integrated cave system
contained 144.4 miles (232.4 km) of surveyed passages and had fourteen
entrances.
Recent discoveries
Further
connections between Mammoth Cave and smaller caves or cave systems have
followed, notably to Proctor/Morrison Cave beneath nearby Joppa Ridge
in 1979. Proctor Cave was discovered by Jonathan Doyle, a Union Army
deserter during the Civil War, and was later owned by the Mammoth Cave
Railroad, before being explored by the CRF. Morrison cave was discovered
by George Morrison in the 1920s. This connection pushed the frontier of
Mammoth exploration southeastward.
At the same time, discoveries made outside the park by an
independent group called the Central Kentucky Karst Coalition or CKKC
resulted in the survey of tens of miles in Roppel Cave east of the park.
Discovered in 1976, Roppel Cave was briefly on the list of the nation's
longest caves before it was connected to the Proctor/Morrison's section
of the Mammoth Cave System on September 10, 1983. The connection was
made by two mixed parties of CRF and CKKC explorers. Each party entered
through a separate entrance and met in the middle before continuing in
the same direction to exit at the opposite entrance. The resulting total
surveyed length was near 300 miles (480 km).
On March 19, 2005, a connection into the Roppel Cave portion of
the system was surveyed from a small cave under Eudora Ridge, adding
approximately three miles to the known length of the Mammoth Cave
System. The newly found entrance to the cave, now termed the "Hoover
Entrance", had been discovered in September 2003, by Alan Canon and
James Wells. Incremental discoveries since then have pushed the total to more than 400 miles (640 km).
It is certain that many more miles of cave passages await
discovery in the region. Discovery of new natural entrances is a rare
event: the primary mode of discovery involves the pursuit of side
passages identified during routine systematic exploration of cave
passages entered from known entrances.
Related and nearby caves
At least two other massive cave systems lie short distances from Mammoth Cave: the Fisher Ridge Cave System and the Martin Ridge Cave System.
The Fisher Ridge Cave System was discovered in January 1981 by a group
of Michigan cavers associated with the Detroit Urban Grotto of the National Speleological Society. So far, the Fisher Ridge Cave System has been mapped to 125 miles (201 km).
In 1976, Rick Schwartz discovered a large cave south of the Mammoth
Cave park boundary. This cave became known as the Martin Ridge Cave
System in 1996, as new exploration connected the 3 nearby caves of
Whigpistle Cave (Schwartz's original entrance), Martin Ridge Cave, and
Jackpot Cave. As of 2018, the Martin Ridge Cave System had been mapped
to a length of 34 miles (55 km), and exploration continued.
All together, these and more rare bat species such as the eastern small-footed bat
had estimated populations of 9–12 million just in the Historic Section.
While these species still exist in Mammoth Cave, their numbers are now
no more than a few thousand at best. Ecological restoration of this
portion of Mammoth Cave, and facilitating the return of bats, is an
ongoing effort. Not all bat species here inhabit the cave; the red bat (Lasiurus borealis) is a forest-dweller, as found underground only rarely.
In addition, some surface animals may take refuge in the
entrances of the caves but do not generally venture into the deep
portions of the cavern system.
The section of the Green River that flows through the park is
legally designated as "Kentucky Wild River" by the Kentucky General
Assembly, through the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves' Wild Rivers Program.
Common fossils of the cave include crinoids, blastoids, and gastropods.
The Mississippian limestone has yielded fossils of more than a dozen
species of shark. In 2020, scientists reported the discovery of part of a
Saivodus striatus, a species comparable in size to a modern great white shark.
Name
The cave's name refers to the large width and length of the passages connecting to the Rotunda just inside the entrance.
The name was used long before the extensive cave system was more fully
explored and mapped, to reveal a mammoth length of passageways. No
fossils of the woolly mammoth have ever been found in Mammoth Cave, and the name of the cave has nothing to do with this extinct mammal.
Cultural references
A significant amount of the work of American poet Donald Finkel
stems from his experiences caving in Mammoth Cave National Park.
Examples include "Answer Back" from 1968, and the book-length "Going
Under," published in 1978.
The video game Kentucky Route Zero has a standalone expansion, set between its Acts III and IV, called Here And There Along The Echo,
which is a fictionalised hotline number providing information about the
Echo River for "drifters" and "pilgrims". The game's third act itself
also partially takes place within the Mammoth Cave system, and has
references to Colossal Cave Adventure.
Fiction writer Lillie Devereux Blake writing for The Knickerbocker
magazine in 1858 told a fictional story of a woman, Melissa, who
murdered her tutor who did not return her love, by abandoning him in the
cave without a lamp. According to the story, Melissa goes back into the
cave fifteen years later to end her misery. Researcher Joe Nickell writing for Skeptical Inquirer
magazine explains that this gives "Credulous believers in ghosts...
confirmation of their superstitious beliefs" who tell of hearing Melissa
weeping and calling out for her murdered tutor. Nickell states that it
is common to hear sounds in caves which "the brain interprets (as words
and weeping)... it's called pareidolia".
Melissa is pure fiction, but author Blake did visit Mammoth Cave with
her husband Frank Umsted, "traveling by train, steamer, and stagecoach".
Kings Canyon National Park is an American national park in the southern Sierra Nevada, in Fresno and Tulare Counties, California.
Originally established in 1890 as General Grant National Park, the park
was greatly expanded and renamed to Kings Canyon National Park on March
4, 1940. The park's namesake, Kings Canyon, is a rugged glacier-carved
valley more than a mile (1,600 m) deep. Other natural features include
multiple 14,000-foot (4,300 m) peaks, high mountain meadows,
swift-flowing rivers, and some of the world's largest stands of giant sequoia trees. 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.
The majority of the 461,901-acre (186,925 ha) park, drained by the Middle and South Forks of the Kings River and many smaller streams, is designated wilderness. Tourist facilities are concentrated in two areas: Grant Grove, home to General Grant (the second largest tree in the world, measured by trunk volume) and Cedar Grove,
located in the heart of Kings Canyon. Overnight hiking is required to
access most of the park's backcountry, or high country, which for much
of the year is covered in deep snow. The combined Pacific Crest Trail/John Muir Trail, a backpacking route, traverses the entire length of the park from north to south.
General Grant National Park was initially created to protect a small area of giant sequoias from logging. Although John Muir's
visits brought public attention to the huge wilderness area to the
east, it took more than fifty years for the rest of Kings Canyon to be
designated a national park. Environmental groups, park visitors and many
local politicians wanted to see the area preserved; however,
development interests wanted to build hydroelectric dams in the canyon. Even after President Franklin D. Roosevelt expanded the park in 1940, the fight continued until 1965, when the Cedar Grove and Tehipite Valley dam sites were finally annexed into the park.
As visitation rose post–World 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. Ultimately, the
preservation lobby prevailed and today, the park has only limited
services and lodgings despite its size. Due to this and the lack of road
access to most of the park, Kings Canyon remains the least visited of
the major Sierra parks, with just under 700,000 visitors in 2017 compared to 1.3 million visitors at Sequoia and over 4 million at Yosemite.
Geography and natural history
Map of Kings Canyon National Park
Kings Canyon National Park, located on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada to the east of the San Joaquin Valley, is divided into two distinct sections. 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. The larger eastern section, which accounts for the majority
of the park's area, is almost entirely wilderness, and contains the deep
canyons of the Middle and South Forks of the Kings River. Cedar Grove,
located at the bottom of the Kings Canyon, is the only part of the
park's vast eastern portion accessible by road (via Highway 180). Although most of the park is forested, much of the eastern section consists of alpine regions above the tree line. Usually snow free only from late June until late October, the high country is accessible solely via foot and horse trails.
The Sequoia-Kings Canyon Wilderness
encompasses over 768,000 acres (311,000 ha) in Kings Canyon and Sequoia
National Parks, or nearly 90 percent of their combined area.
In addition to Sequoia National Park on the south, Kings Canyon is
surrounded by multiple national forests and wilderness areas. The Sierra National Forest, Sequoia National Forest and Inyo National Forest border it on the northwest, west and east, respectively. The John Muir Wilderness wraps around much of the northern half of the park, and the Monarch Wilderness preserves much of the area between the park's two sections.
Mountains and valleys
Kings
Canyon is characterized by some of the steepest vertical relief in
North America, with numerous peaks over 14,000 feet (4,300 m) on the Sierra Crest
along the park's eastern border, falling to 4,500 feet (1,400 m) in the
valley floor of Cedar Grove just ten miles (16 km) to the west. The
Sierran crest forms the eastern boundary of the park, from Mount Goethe in the north, down to Junction Peak, at the boundary with Sequoia National Park. Several 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 (3,400 m) in elevation.
Mount Agassiz is located on the Sierra Crest along the eastern edge of the park.
There are several prominent subranges of the Sierra within and around the park. The Palisades,
along the park's eastern boundary, have four peaks over 14,000 feet
(4,300 m) including the highest point in the park, 14,248 feet
(4,343 m) NAVD 88 at the summit of North Palisade. The Great Western Divide extends through the south-central part of the park and also has many peaks over 13,000 feet (4,000 m), including Mount Brewer.
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. 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.
Most of the mountains and canyons, as in other parts of the Sierra Nevada, are formed in igneous intrusive rocks such as granite, diorite and monzonite, formed at least 100 million years ago due to subduction along the North American–Pacific Plate boundary. However, the Sierra itself is a young mountain range, no more than 10 million years old. Huge tectonic forces along the western edge of the Great Basin forced the local crustal block
to tilt and uplift, creating the mountains' gradual slope to the west
and the nearly vertical escarpment to the east bordering the Owens Valley. Many cave systems are also formed in the rock layers, including Boyden Cave along the South Fork of the Kings River.
Glacial features
The upper part of Kings Canyon, seen here at Zumwalt Meadow, was carved out by Ice Age glaciers.
The present shape of the high country was largely sculpted by glaciations during successive Ice Ages over the last 2.5 million years. Large valley glaciers moved as far as 44 miles (71 km)
down the South and Middle Forks of the Kings River, carving out the
distinctive deep U-shaped valleys at Cedar Grove and Paradise Valley on
the South Fork, and Tehipite Valley
on the Middle Fork. 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.
The glacial valleys are characterized by flat floors and exposed
granite cliffs and domes many thousands of feet high, similar in form to
the more famous Yosemite Valley to the north, and in fact the term "yosemite" was used in the 19th century by John Muir to describe these valleys before they were widely known by their own names. In A Rival of the Yosemite, published in 1891 in The Century Illustrated Magazine,John Muir wrote of Kings Canyon:
In the vast Sierra wilderness far
to the southward of the famous Yosemite Valley, there is a yet grander
valley of the same kind. It is situated on the south fork of the Kings
River, above the most extensive groves and forests of the giant sequoia,
and beneath the shadows of the highest mountains in the range, where
the cañons are deepest and the snow-laden peaks are crowded most closely
together. It is called the Big King's River Cañon, or King's River
Yosemite ... 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.
The bottom of the valley ... is diversified with flowery meadows
and groves and open sunny flats, through the midst of which the crystal
river, ever changing, ever beautiful, makes its way; now gliding softly
with scarce a ripple over beds of brown pebbles, now rustling and
leaping in wild exultation across avalanche rock-dams or terminal
moraines ... From this long, flowery, forested, well-watered park the
walls rise abruptly in plain precipices or richly sculptured masses
partly separated by side cañons baring wonderful wealth and variety of
architectural forms.
From the brink of the walls on either side the ground still rises in a
series of ice-carved ridges and basins, superbly forested and adorned
with many small lakes and meadows where deer and bear find grateful
homes; while from the head of the valley other mountains rise beyond in
glorious array, every one of them shining with rock crystals and snow,
and with a network of streams that sing their way down from lake to lake
through a labyrinth of ice-burnished cañons.
Dusy Basin includes many small lakes, such as this one, carved by glaciers from granite.
Other significant glacial features include Tehipite Dome, the largest granite dome in the Sierra, rising 3,500 feet (1,100 m) above the floor of Tehipite Valley. 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. 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.
Zumwalt Meadow, one of the few large areas of flat land in the park, was formed by the accumulation of sediment behind the terminal moraine
of a retreating glacier. In Kings Canyon there are in fact four such
moraines, which the Kings River cascades over, forming whitewater
rapids, in an area where it otherwise winds calmly across meadows. The
series of moraines one behind the other are termed "nested moraines",
each created during a different glacial period by glaciers of varying
length.
Elsewhere in the high country, the landscape of bare rock and talus left by former glaciers is replete with hanging valleys, waterfalls, serrated ridges (arêtes), cirques, and hundreds of alpine tarns. Some of the highest peaks retain permanent snowfields and even glaciers. Palisade Glacier, the largest in the Sierra, is located near the park's edge in the John Muir Wilderness.
These glaciers are not holdovers from the Ice Ages; rather, they were
most likely formed during cold periods in the last 1,000 years. The
park's glaciers are now melting rapidly due to increased temperatures,
and may disappear completely within a few decades.
Watersheds
The Roaring River, a tributary of the South Fork Kings River
Grizzly Falls, near Cedar Grove
A number of major Sierra rivers have their origins in the park. The South Fork Kings River
flows from near Taboose Pass, on the park's eastern boundary, and
drains much of the southern half of the park, carving the canyon from
which the park takes its name. The Middle Fork Kings River originates near Mount Powell and drains most of the park's northern half. A smaller section in the northern tip of the park is drained by the South Fork of the San Joaquin River. The Kings River falls more than 13,000 feet (4,000 m) from the Sierra crest to Pine Flat Reservoir in the San Joaquin Valley – the longest undammed drop of any North American river.
Most of the park's borders are formed by watershed divides between river basins. The eastern boundary follows the Sierra Crest, which to the east is drained by the Owens River, part of the Great Basin watershed. The southern boundary with Sequoia National Park is the divide between the Kings, Kaweah and Kern Rivers. Part of the western boundary follows the divide between the Middle and North Forks of the Kings River.
The forks of the Kings River converge in the Sequoia National
Forest, a few miles outside the western boundary of the park, to form
the main stem
of the river. Here, the river forms one of the deepest canyons in North
America, its walls rising as much as 8,200 feet (2,500 m) from river to
rim – about half a mile (0.8 km) deeper than the Grand Canyon. The canyons upstream at Cedar Grove are also more than 5,000 feet (1,500 m) deep.
Although the geology and topography of Cedar Grove and Tehipite Valley
are similar to that of Yosemite Valley, the park does not have waterfalls as high and spectacular as those in Yosemite.
There are several powerful but short waterfalls including Mist Falls,
Roaring River Falls and Grizzly Falls in the Cedar Grove area. The backcountry is home to some much higher falls. Silver Spray Falls in Tehipite Valley drops about 700 feet (210 m) in several tiers. In a 1910 article in Out West, Ernestine Winchell describes the falls and Tehipite Valley:
... We paused a moment at the
colossal doorway where Tehipite, shimmering through spaces of summer
sunshine, in peaceful grandeur compelled our reverential gaze ... Across
the river and below the dome Crown Creek races in sparkling cascades to
grind a score of horrible pot-holes big enough to swallow a horse and
rider; leaves that ferocious task to foam lightly down a cliff as Silver
Spray Fall, whirls lazily at its foot, and then hurries to join King's
River in its journey to the desert.
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.
The seasonal rise and fall of the park's rivers is driven by heavy
snowfall (typically between November and April) followed by a rapid melt
during May and June. Runoff drops significantly by late July (or August
in wet years), and rivers are usually a trickle by autumn.
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.
Over 1,200 species of plants occur in Kings Canyon and Sequoia Parks,
representing about 20 percent of all plant species in the state. In 1976, Kings Canyon was designated by UNESCO as part of the Sequoia-Kings Canyon Biosphere Reserve.
Due to the large range in elevation, the park is characterized by
several major plant communities. At lower elevations the park touches
the fairly dry Sierra foothill zone which mostly consists of chaparral,
brush and shrubs. Oaks, sycamores, willows and various hardwoods are
often found along streams and springs at lower elevations.
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.
In Kings Canyon, which runs almost due east to west, there is a marked
difference between the north wall – which is hotter and drier due to
receiving more sunlight – and the more cool, shaded south wall which is
more heavily forested. 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. A total of 202,430 acres (81,920 ha) of old-growth forests are shared by Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.
Although its sister park to the south, Sequoia, is better known for its giant sequoias, Kings Canyon also has large stands of sequoias – including General Grant, the second largest tree on Earth, in the middle of General Grant Grove. The Redwood Mountain Grove, located a short distance further south, is the largest surviving sequoia grove in the world, covering more than 2,500 acres (1,000 ha); it also has the tallest known sequoia, at 311 feet (95 m).
The Converse Basin Grove, located just outside the park boundary, is
believed to have once been more than twice as large, but was almost
completely clear-cut
in the late 1800s. 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 forests provide habitat to many mammal species such as mule deer, Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep, mountain lions and black bears, and a diversity of bird and reptile species.
The Park Service is involved in restoring the population of bighorn
sheep, which are considered endangered in the area; in 2014 several
bighorns were released into the Sequoia-Kings Canyon area. Grizzly bears
originally roamed the park as well, but were hunted to extinction by
the early 1900s.
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".
In the high alpine country, plant communities are mostly meadows,
herbs and shrubs with some scattered groves of foxtail pine and stunted
whitebark pine. Trees often create krummholtz
formations, or a stunted, deformed growth pattern characterized by
branches closely hugging the ground. Talus slopes are home to small
mammals such as pikas and yellow-bellied marmots. Birds such as gray-crowned rosy finches and American pipits, and sensitive amphibian species such as mountain yellow-legged frogs and Yosemite toads, feed on insects near alpine lakes and wetlands.
Larger animals such as bears may venture into the alpine zone in search
of food (a behavior now exacerbated by improper disposal of waste by
campers), but do not winter there.
Human impacts and management
Although
most of the park is now designated wilderness, human activities have
significantly modified the ecology of the area ever since Native
American times. 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. During the early 20th century, ""complete fire suppression"
policy led to a great build-up of debris and tinder in the park's
forests. By the 1960s it became apparent that this was interfering with
the reproductive cycle of the park's sequoias, whose bark is fire
resistant but require regular fires to clear away competing growth such
as white firs. 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 75 years. Thousands of new sequoia seedlings germinated. The
success of the experiment led to the establishment of the park's first
long-term prescribed burn program in 1972.
Meadow and forest habitat along the Copper Creek Trail, north side of Kings Canyon.
A major source of damage to the park in the late 19th century and
early 20th century was summer livestock grazing, particularly sheep, in
areas such as Tehipite Valley and the Roaring River valley (although
sheep never entered Cedar Grove, due to the difficulty of accessing the
bottom of Kings Canyon before Highway 180 was constructed). Ranchers
drove their herds up into the Sierra Nevada to escape the drought and
heat of the San Joaquin Valley. Meadows were trampled by thousands of hooves, leading to increased erosion and watershed degradation.
Grizzly bears and wolves which preyed on livestock were shot, trapped
and poisoned in large numbers, extirpating them from the Sierra by the
early 1900s.
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 1917 the federal government began to crack down on
illegal grazing and established a system of regulated management and
range restoration, before sheep were banned from Kings Canyon altogether
following the park's creation in 1940. Livestock grazing is still allowed in some national forest lands around the park. Occasionally hikers may come across gated drift fences
in the wilderness designed to control livestock movement. Visitors must
close all gates behind them to prevent livestock from wandering into
protected areas.
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. Ultimately, this led to overgrazing and the vegetation
understory was nearly eliminated in large areas of the park. When the
park was expanded in 1940, the Park Service began shooting deer in an
effort to reduce the size of the herd. Although the culling reduced deer
numbers to a more ecologically stable level, the program was criticized
for its reliance on brute force rather than more "hands-off" methods,
such as re-introducing predators.
Today, the only stock allowed in the park are pack horses and mules,
which are only permitted in certain areas along major trails, and
usually not early in the season in order to protect meadows in the
spring while they are wet and soft.
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. 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. This
has been successful in the backcountry, where bears have largely ceased
to associate backpackers with food, but remains an issue near developed
campgrounds. Visitors are encouraged to store all food and scented items
in lockers, and dispose of trash in bearproof garbage cans. However, rangers are still sometimes forced to kill "problem bears" who become habituated to human food.
Human history
Native Americans
Kearsarge and Bullfrog Lakes seen from Kearsarge Pass. The pass was the main route for Paiute peoples traveling from the Owens Valley into Kings Canyon.
People have inhabited what is now Kings Canyon National Park for about 6,000–7,000 years. The Owens ValleyPaiute
peoples (also known as the Eastern Monos) visited the region from their
homeland east of the Sierra Nevada, around Mono Lake. The Paiute mainly
used acorns, found in lower elevations of the park, for food, as well
as deer and other small animals. They created trade routes connecting
the Owens Valley with the Central Valley west of the Sierra Nevada. The Yokuts, who lived in the Central Valley, also ventured into the mountains during summer to collect plants, hunt game, and trade. Because of the inhospitable winter climate, they did not establish permanent villages in the high country. Prior to European contact the Yokut population numbered between 15,000–20,000, and the Monos about 6,000.
Around the 1500s AD, some of the Eastern Mono migrated across the
Sierra Nevada into the Central Valley, where they created settlements
adjoining Yokuts territory in the Sierra foothills near the Kings River.
This group became known as the Monaches, or Western Mono. They eventually divided into as many as six distinct bands, of which one, the Wobonuch, lived in the area near Grant Grove. The native population suffered greatly after Europeans arrived in the 19th century (a smallpox epidemic killed off most of the Monache in 1862), and very few remain in the area today.
Early exploration and logging
The early Spanish exploration of California largely bypassed what is now Kings Canyon National Park. In 1805 Gabriel Moraga led an expedition through the Central Valley and crossed what is now the Kings River, bestowing the name Rio de los Santo Reyes (River of the Holy Kings) on the stream.
Fur trappers also visited the areas in the 1820s, but most likely did
not venture into the high country since beaver were only present at
lower elevations. They were followed by prospectors during the California Gold Rush, which began in 1848. However, not much gold, nor other minerals, were discovered in this area. Hale Tharp, a disillusioned gold miner, is credited with the 1858 discovery of Giant Forest
in Sequoia National Park, which led to the further exploration and
discovery of the other sequoia forests in the area, including Grant
Grove.
Gamlin Cabin, built by loggers in 1872, is the oldest surviving structure in Kings Canyon National Park.
During the 1860s, a road was built to Grant Grove and many of the
sequoias there were logged. 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). The General Grant tree
was discovered by Joseph H. Thomas, a sawmill operator, in 1862.
Thomas' business partners, the Gamlin brothers, held a claim to the land
surrounding Grant Grove, and their dwelling (built around 1872) has
been preserved as a historic site.
During the 1870s a government survey "disclosed the remarkable
quality of General Grant Grove, and Israel Gamlin was persuaded to give
up his claim so the area could be preserved."
However, this did not entirely stop logging in the area – in 1875 a
300-foot (91 m) sequoia was chopped down and a section sent to the
Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876. Reportedly, "eastern people refused to accept the exhibit as part of a single tree and called it the 'California Hoax'."
The Centennial Stump, and most of the tree, remain as prominent
features in Grant Grove: "Ladies from a nearby logging camp used to
conduct Sunday school services for their children upon the stump."
Wilderness surveys
North Palisade from Windy Point, photographed by Ansel Adams, ca. 1936.
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. However, a snowstorm impeded their progress and they were
forced to retreat to the Central Valley. In 1858, the J.H. 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.
The first scientific expedition to the area was the 1864 Whitney Survey, conducted by the Geological Survey of California led by William Brewer. After failed attempts to summit Mount Whitney,
the Brewer party descended into the Kings Canyon via Native American
paths where "they remarked its resemblance to the Yosemite and were
impressed by the enormous height of its cliffs."
Although the rugged terrain made travel difficult, they discovered a
route up the north wall of the canyon and named several prominent
features, including Mount King, Mount Gardner, the Palisades, and Mount Brewer. From the summit of the peak that would bear his name, Brewer described the view:
Such a landscape! A hundred peaks
in sight over thirteen thousand feet—many very sharp—deep canyons,
cliffs in every direction almost rival Yosemite, sharp ridges
inaccessible to man, on which human foot has never trod—all combined to
produce a view of sublimity of which is rarely equaled, one which few
are privileged to behold.
Brewer's party left Kings Canyon via Kearsarge Pass where they encountered a group of prospectors led by Thomas Keough.
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. Around 1869, sheepherder Frank Dusy discovered and named the Middle Fork's Tehipite Valley,
and later grazed his sheep there. Aside from such occasional uses, most
of the high country remained little visited and mostly unexplored.
Park creation
Paintings of Kings Canyon by Albert Bierstadt, early California landscape artist. Left: Kings River Canyon, California (ca. 1870) Right: Mount Brewer from King's River Canyon, California (1872)
It was not until John Muir first visited in 1873 that Kings Canyon began receiving public attention. Muir was delighted at the canyon's similarity to Yosemite Valley, as it reinforced his theory that the valleys were carved by massive glaciers during the last Ice Age. This competed with Josiah Whitney's then-accepted theory that the mountain valleys were formed by earthquakes.
Muir's writings on the geology of the park and the magnificence of its
sequoia groves led to calls for preservation of the area, and Muir
himself continued to lobby for the cause.
In 1880 logging claims in the Grant Grove area were suspended by the
federal government, in large part due to the political efforts of
Colonel George W. Stewart.
In March 1890 a bill (H.R. 8350) was introduced to Congress by Representative William Vandever proposing the creation of Yosemite National Park. Subsequently, some "political intrigue"
led to its substitution with H.R. 12187, which also included provisions
for a General Grant National Park and the expansion of Sequoia National
Park. The origins of this bill remain largely a mystery, although local
politicians with an interest in preserving the park were likely
involved. Daniel K. Zumwalt, an agent for the Southern Pacific Railroad
– which owned many lumber interests in California – may have seen the
park as a way to force their competitors in the Sequoia-Kings Canyon
area out of business. On October 1, 1890 President Benjamin Harrison
signed the bill into law, establishing General Grant National Park –
the United States' fourth national park – which today is part of the
smaller western section of Kings Canyon National Park.
For many years the primary way for tourists to reach General
Grant National Park was the Stephens Grade, a rough wagon road over
which a stagecoach operated from Visalia beginning in the early 1900s.
Initially, the U.S. Army
had to station troops to protect the park from illegal grazing and
hunting. Although these eventually ceased to be a problem, the rising
number of visitors created its own sanitation and waste issues. In the
summer of 1907 about 1,100 people visited the park.
A new road reached the General Grant National Park by 1913; that summer, the park saw almost 2,800 tourists.
In 1914 the park was turned over from military to civilian control
(though the National Park Service was not formally established until
1916).
Park expansion and dam controversy
The
future of the park's much larger eastern section remained in doubt for
almost fifty years. The backcountry was largely inaccessible and unknown
to tourists, requiring several days' journey on horseback through some
very rugged terrain. 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. Due to its
heavy flow and long drop – 11,000 feet (3,400 m) in less than 80 miles
(130 km) – the Kings River has considerable hydroelectric potential, and
reservoirs were proposed for Cedar Grove, Tehipite Valley and Simpson
Meadow, among other sites.
Development interests blocked legislation that would have made the area
a national park, but at the same time, the environmental lobby
prevented any of these projects from being built.
Middle Fork at Kings River from South Fork of Cartridge Creek, Kings River Canyon, photographed by Ansel Adams, 1936
In 1935 the Generals Highway was completed connecting Sequoia and General Grant National Parks. 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. The road was built in part using state
prison labor. However, a proposal to extend the state highway over Kearsarge Pass to the Owens Valley was defeated.
Well-graded hiking trails were also extended into the backcountry
to replace the rough pack trails used by sheepherders – including the John Muir Trail, completed in 1933 through what is now the eastern edge of Kings Canyon National Park. For many years a tiny ranger station and a few private structures (such as Knapp Cabin) had been the only development in Cedar Grove. 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.
Ultimately, local opposition to Los Angeles' attempts to secure
the Kings River turned into significant political pressure to create a
national park, which would prevent any dam projects there. United States Secretary of the InteriorHarold Ickes
was a major proponent for the expansion of the park, and worked to
unite local interests, who had widely different views on how much
development should be allowed. Ickes also hired Ansel Adams to photograph and document the area, generating publicity for the preservation movement.
However, in order to placate the local irrigation districts – who
wanted to leave open the option of reservoirs – Cedar Grove and Tehipite
Valley were specifically excluded from the new park. On March 4, 1940,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
signed the bill to create Kings Canyon National Park, which added the
original General Grant National Park to over 400,000 acres (160,000 ha)
of the High Sierra above Cedar Grove.
Later history and additions
The
new Kings Canyon administration initially struggled to manage the huge
park, which was more than 700 times the size of the original unit at
Grant Grove. In the early years staff and expertise were often loaned
from Sequoia National Park. In 1943 the administrations of Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks were combined, as a cost-saving measure due to World War II. After the war, the arrangement was preserved; today, the two parks are still managed as one. Postwar, visitation jumped enormously, from just over 82,000 in 1945 to 450,000 in 1951.
Demand increased for tourist facilities at Cedar Grove, the terminus of
the state highway – although the valley was not officially part of the
park, having been omitted due to water-development interests. The
extension of the road through the valley was controversial, due to
potential ecological damage. By 1947 the Park Service had drafted a
general plan including tourist lodges, concessions and a pack station.
A
view of the Kings River at Zumwalt Meadow in 1940, the same year most
of Kings Canyon became a national park. This area would have been
flooded by the proposed Cedar Grove Dam.
Then in 1948, Los Angeles unexpectedly re-filed its application to
construct dams in Kings Canyon. The Kings River Conservation District
(KRCD), representing local water agencies, immediately filed claims on
the same sites. KRCD had no intention of constructing dams but hoped to
block the possible threat to its water supply. Although the Federal Power Commission
rejected Los Angeles' application, as it had prior to 1940, the city
repeatedly refiled until 1963 when it was denied by both the California
State Water Board and the federal government.
One factor in the project's final failure was that even though
the Cedar Grove dam site was outside the park, the project required two
additional dams to be built upstream if it were to be economically
feasible. However, those sites were now inside the park boundary as
designated in 1940.
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. These
annexations (with the exception of a tiny section in 1984, south of
Grant Grove) brought Kings Canyon National Park to its present size.
Starting in the 1950s, in response to growing traffic and crowding at national parks, the Park Service implemented Mission 66
which proposed large new visitor developments for Kings Canyon and
other parks. This included new visitor centers at Grant Grove and Cedar
Grove, electrification and sewage facilities at Cedar Grove, and
substantial new accommodations, trails, and parking areas.
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 (1,000 m2) store and cafeteria complex, hoping to develop the area in a way similar to Yosemite Valley. In 1974 the park saw 1,216,800 visitors, a number that has not been exceeded since.
However, by 1975 public hearings showed such an opposition to intense
development, that ultimately only a small lodge and store were added to
the canyon.
The rising number of visitors to the backcountry – from 8,000 in
1962 to over 44,000 in 1971 – created its own problems in the form of
litter, illegal campfires and contact with dangerous wildlife such as
bears. In 1966 and 1971 the Park Service proposed, controversially, to
designate most of the park as wilderness, which would place much greater restrictions on its use. In 1973 the number of backpackers was first restricted via a quota system. Finally, on September 28, 1984, Congress designated over 85 percent of Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks as wilderness. In 1987, the Middle and South Forks of the Kings River were designated Wild and Scenic.
Recreation
Annual visitation
Year
Pop.
±%
1910
1,178
—
1920
19,661
+1569.0%
1930
43,547
+121.5%
1940
201,545
+362.8%
1950
337,840
+67.6%
1960
759,800
+124.9%
1970
1,019,000
+34.1%
1974*
1,216,800
+19.4%
1980
819,065
−32.7%
1990
1,062,867
+29.8%
2000
528,987
−50.2%
2010
598,205
+13.1%
2016
607,479
+1.6%
Grant Grove, the only vehicular entrance to the park, is 60 miles (97 km) east of Fresno via Highway 180. In addition to Highway 180 from the west, Highway 198, the Generals Highway, provides access from Sequoia National Park in the south.
The roads converge in Grant Grove Village, from where Highway 180
continues another 35 miles (56 km) northeast to Cedar Grove. There is no
vehicular access from Highway 395
on the eastern side of the park. There is currently no public
transportation to Kings Canyon National Park; the Big Trees Shuttle,
which originally operated between Sequoia National Park and Grant Grove,
is no longer in service.
A forested area of Kings Canyon National Park near Grant Grove, the original park established in 1890.
The National Park Service maintains visitor centers at Grant Grove and Cedar Grove.
Grant Grove Village is the most developed part of the park and includes
the 36-room John Muir Lodge (the park's largest hotel), visitor cabins,
a restaurant and a general store. Cedar Grove also has a small market, but overall the facilities there are much more limited. Barring extreme weather, the Grant Grove section is open year-round; Cedar Grove is closed in winter. 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.
Due to its limited road access, Kings Canyon receives much fewer
visitors than its neighboring national parks, Sequoia and Yosemite. The
overall decline in national park visitation in the late 1990s hit Kings
Canyon considerably harder than the other parks; from 1970 to 1990 it
averaged almost a million visitors per year, but in the 21st century, it
has averaged just 560,000. In 2016, it saw an increase to 607,479 visitors, which (with the exception of 2009) was the highest count since 1995. Since records began in 1904, an approximate total of 53 million people have visited Kings Canyon.
Campgrounds and hiking
In
Grant Grove, the three major campgrounds are Azalea, Crystal Springs
and Sunset, with 319 sites in total. With the exception of Sunset, they
operate on a first-come, first-served basis.
Cedar Grove has 314 sites in the Sentinel, Sheep Creek and Moraine
Campgrounds, which are also first-come, first-served; sites at the
Canyon View group camp must be reserved.
During high demand periods, additional campsites may be placed on a
reservation system. All campgrounds have flush toilets and showers,
although water use may be restricted depending on the season.
Roaring River Falls, 40 feet (12 m) high, is easily accessed via a short hike in Cedar Grove.
There are a number of day hikes in the parts of Kings Canyon National
Park accessible by road. In the Grant Grove area a one-mile (1.6 km)
trail leads to the General Grant Tree, and several longer trails reach
nearby points of interest such as Redwood Mountain, the largest sequoia
grove.
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 (13 km) round trip to Mist Falls, and the 13-mile (21 km) round
trip climb to Lookout Peak above Kings Canyon.
A number of historical sites in the park are easily accessible
via short walks, including Gamlin Cabin, built circa 1872 by the Gamlin
brothers who had a timber claim at Grant Grove before it became a
national park. it is believed to be the first permanent structure built
in the park area. Knapp Cabin, listed on the National Register of Historic Places,
is the oldest surviving structure in Cedar Grove, dating back to 1925.
Another point of interest is the extensive Boyden Cavern system whose
entrance is located just outside the park's western boundary, in the Monarch Wilderness. As of 2016, the cave was closed due to damage from the Rough Fire.
Backcountry travel
Since
most of Kings Canyon is wilderness and roads extend only a small
distance into the park, backpacking (and less commonly, horsepacking)
are the only way to see the majority of the park. Unlike day hikers,
overnight backpackers must obtain a wilderness permit from a ranger
station or visitor center. During the peak tourist season (typically
between May and September), a quota applies for wilderness permits, of
which 75 percent are set aside for prior reservations, with the
remainder for walk-ins. Outside the quota period permits are still required, although the limit no longer applies.
Although backpackers account for a relatively small percentage of the
total visitors, some of the backcountry trails are still quite heavily
used. Due to the popularity of some backcountry camps, stays can be limited to one or two nights.
During the summer, the Park Service staffs backcountry ranger stations
at McClure Meadow, Le Conte Meadow, Rae Lakes, Charlotte Lake and
Roaring River.
Rae Lakes (Middle Rae Lake shown) is one of several backpacking destinations in the park.
Road's End at Cedar Grove is a major jumping-off point for trips into
the backcountry. The Rae Lakes Loop, 41.4 miles (66.6 km), is one of
the most popular backpacking trips and passes through the deep canyons
of Paradise Valley, the high Woods Creek suspension bridge and exposed
alpine country before reaching Rae Lakes, a chain of glacial tarns set
below 13,000-foot (4,000 m) peaks. Rae Lakes Loop hikers also climb over Glen Pass
reaching a peak elevation of just under 12,000 feet. From the top of
the pass, hikers can see views of Rae Lakes and the surrounding basin. The combined Pacific Crest Trail/John Muir Trail forms the backbone of the trail system, winding about 77 miles (124 km) from Piute Canyon at the park's northern tip to Forester Pass,
13,153 ft (4,009 m), in the south. Many hikes in Kings Canyon,
including Rae Lakes, include parts of the PCT/JMT. There are also
trailheads at Grant Grove which lead to more moderate hikes in the lower
western Sierra Nevada, many in the Jennie Lakes Wilderness (just outside the national park).
Many parts of the park, such as the Middle Fork of the Kings
River, are more difficult to access, requiring multi-day hikes over
difficult terrain. Simpson Meadow on the Middle Fork is a 23-mile
(37 km), one-way hike from Cedar Grove, with well over 12,000 feet
(3,700 m) of elevation change.
Other trailheads outside the park provide access to some of its more
isolated locations, such as Tehipite Valley, a 14-mile (23 km) one-way
hike from the Wishon Dam trailhead in the Sierra National Forest. The 3,000-foot (910 m) exposed and unmaintained descent into the valley is "notorious" as one of the park's most difficult hikes.
Several trails also access the park from the Owens Valley to the east;
all surmount passes more than 11,000 feet (3,400 m) high. The closest
and most heavily used eastern approach is via Onion Valley Road, which
terminates about a mile (1.6 km) east of the park boundary in the Inyo
National Forest. The Kearsarge Pass Trail begins at Onion Valley
Campground and links to the PCT/JMT via the eponymous pass.
During the spring and early summer, river crossings can be
hazardous; in response the Park Service has installed bridges along some
of the major trails. By late August or September of most years, rivers
will have dropped to relatively safe levels. The high country is
typically snow free between May and November, although in particularly
wet years, large areas of snow may persist into July. In winter,
cross-country skiing and snowshoeing are common activities. The Park
Service provides ranger-led snowshoe walks and maintains some groomed
trails in the Grant Grove area. Longer trips into the backcountry are
also possible, although due to the rough terrain, typically deep snows
and lack of ranger patrols during the winter, this is recommended only
for skilled winter travelers. As with backpacking, wilderness permits
are required for any overnight trips in winter.
Climbing and canyoneering
Tehipite Dome, in the Kings Canyon backcountry, has various climbing routes ranging from grade II–VI.
The large, exposed granite cliffs and domes in Kings Canyon provide
opportunities for rock climbing. However, many such features require
long or circuitous hikes to reach their bases, which deters many
climbers. These include The Obelisk, overlooking Kings Canyon at the
park's western boundary,
multipitch climbs at Charlito Dome and Charlotte Dome well up the Bubbs
Creek Trail, and Tehipite Dome, which requires a nearly 30-mile (48 km)
roundtrip hike just to access. 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. In The High Sierra: Peaks, Passes, Trails (2009) North Palisade is described as "the
classic peak of the High Sierra ... It is striking from a distance and
has routes that will challenge climbers of all abilities and
preferences."
Canyoneering, bouldering, bushwhacking and rappelling
are often necessary to explore parts of the backcountry without
developed trails. A notably challenging route is down Enchanted Gorge in
the Middle Fork backcountry, where Disappearing Creek vanishes under
huge talus piles only to re-emerge several miles downstream, hence the
name. Nearby Goddard Canyon is an easier – albeit still rugged – route,
and is known for its scenic meadows and many waterfalls.
The Gorge of Despair above Tehipite Valley is known for its combination
of cliffs, waterfalls and deep pools, whose 3,000-foot (910 m) descent
requires rappelling gear and wetsuits to achieve.
Because of the park's size, lack of cell reception and limited
personnel for search and rescue operations, only experienced
cross-country travelers should attempt to hike off trail.
Water sports
In Cedar Grove, about 10 miles (16 km) of the South Fork are considered good waters for fly fishing.
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.
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 river is generally low and warm enough for wading by early autumn. In order to preserve the natural fishery, only catch and release is allowed for rainbows. A California state fishing license is required for visitors 16 years or older. The rainbow trout in the Kings river are small, usually no more than 8 to 9 inches (20 to 23 cm).
This section of the South Fork in Cedar Grove is closed to boating; however, swimming and fishing are permitted.
In order to protect riparian habitat, the gently flowing South Fork
is closed to boating in Cedar Grove between Bubbs Creek and the western
boundary of the park. However, swimming is allowed in certain sections
of the river, with Muir Rock and the Red Bridge being popular swimming
holes.
Although there are many alpine lakes in the park at high elevations,
most are impractical to access for boating or swimming. Nearby Hume Lake,
formed by a historic mill-pond dam, is located in the Sequoia National
Forest between the two sections of the park and is used for boating,
swimming and fishing.
Most of the park's other rivers are extremely steep and fast-flowing, and are suitable only for advanced kayaking.
The Kings River above Pine Flat Reservoir is a commercial whitewater
run with its put-in near the western boundary of the park, but most of
the run itself is on national forest. Most rivers in the park itself are
inaccessible by road.
The Middle Fork is one of the most difficult-to-access whitewater runs
in the entire state, since boats and equipment must be carried through
miles of backcountry to reach it. Canoe Kayak magazine describes
the Middle Fork run, which passes through some of the most isolated
parts of the Sierra, as "the very definition of epic with paddlers traveling around the world just to make a once-in-a-lifetime descent".
Kayakers take about five days to descend the Class V Middle Fork from
its 12,000-foot (3,700 m) headwaters to 900 feet (270 m) at Pine Flat
Reservoir.
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