"PERHAPS OUR GREATEST NATIONAL PARK" 



BY ROBERT STERLING YARD 



CHIEF, EDUCATIONAL SECTION, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 



EAST and north of the Sequoia National Park lie 

 a thousand square miles of summits, lakes and val- 

 leys that outclass most of the celebrated scenic 

 spots in other lands, and even challenge, for sheer sublimi- 

 ty, any other equal area in the United States. It is a 

 little known land 

 whose eastern bor- 

 der is the summit 

 of the Sierra Ne- 

 v a d a Mountains 

 and whose western 

 slopes include two 

 valleys which are 

 destined to a celeb- 

 rity scarcely sec- 

 ond to that of the 

 famous Yosemite. 

 The time will come 

 when the climb to 

 the summit of 

 Mount Whitney 

 and the lure of the 

 Tehipite Valley and 

 the Kings River 

 Canyon will bring 

 sightseers from 

 abroad. 



This little-known 

 mountain-top coun- 

 try of spectacular 

 charm and the "big 

 tree national park" 

 adjoining, although 

 so different, are 

 really one. It is 

 the quality of su- 

 premacy common 

 to both that makes 

 them one even 

 more than their 

 contiguity. From 

 the lowest valley of 

 the national park 

 with its unmatch- 

 able forest giants 

 up to the unmatch- 

 able mountain cli- 

 max of Whitney, 

 supremacy of one u is 

 kind or another is 

 constant. There 

 tire combined 



THE RIVER KINGS RIVER CANYON 



said to be the most beautiful stream in California, and this typical bit of 

 canyon bears strong testimony to the origin of its enviable reputa 



IS 



area, 



no break, no let down. The en- 

 sixteen hundred square miles in- 

 cluding the national park, is of one piece ; and when 

 Congress enlarges the park to include the rest, we 



will possess a national park unequalled outside of Ameri- 

 ca, even in Switzerland, and unexcelled even in America. 

 And, what is more, it will be no repetition of other na- 

 tional parks ; on the contrary, it will possess personality 

 in high degree. There will be and can be no other like it. . 



It is through 

 much of this coun- 

 try that the State 

 of California is 

 building its memor- 

 ial, the John Muir 

 Trail, to the genius 

 of the Sierra Ne- 

 vada. This was 

 John Muir's own 

 country. Over these 

 lofty passes he toil- 

 ed, in these valleys 

 he studied and 

 dreamed. The 

 spirit of his legacy 

 of literature is the 

 very spirit of the 

 land itself. 



Mount Whitney 

 is known to the 

 country at large as 

 the highest moun- 

 tain in the United 

 States. Its altitude 

 is 14,501 feet. But 

 that so little ex- 

 presses what Whit- 

 ney is, that almost 

 it might better not 

 be said. Mount 

 Whitney really is a 

 climax. Here the 

 Sierra has wonder- 

 fully massed her 

 highest mountains, 

 tumbling them wil- 

 fully, recklessly in- 

 to one shapeless, 

 sprawling, gigantic 

 heap as if it were 

 the dumping 

 ground for all that 

 was left over after 

 the making of 

 America. For miles from north and west and south, the 

 approaching traveler encounters an ever more raging 

 sea of huge white-capped peaks. Out of this mass emerges 

 one just a little higher than the rest. That is Whitney. 



MS 



a view in the 



reputation. 



