Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park - King of Canyons

Immense as they are, the sequoias are dwarfed by the snowcapped sweep of the Sierra Nevada, the most recent of three mountain ranges that have occupied this part of California. The present Sierra Nevada, the longest single continuous mountain range in the lower 48 states, began to form some 25 million years ago, when a slow uplift forced the land upward in a long, domed block of solid granite. Then, about 3 million years ago, when the highest peaks towered nearly three miles above sea level, the Sierra's eastern face cracked along fault lines and began to rise upward -- a continuous process that accounts for the Sierra's wedgelike appearance. The raw granite of the eastern escarpment drops off dramatically, while the heavily forested western slope climbs gently upward.

Rushing rivers eventually added a sculptured touch, scoring the Sierra with narrow V-shaped canyons. During the ice ages, glaciers advanced down the slopes -- scooping out lake basins, crushing hills into rubble, polishing the granite, and gouging steep river gorges into broader U-shaped canyons. Some canyons bear the mark of both rivers and glaciers. King Canyon, for example, is V-shaped for most of its course but broadens into a U in places like the long, peaceful Zumwalt Meadow.

Kings Canyon, deeper than the Grand Canyon -- in fact, the deepest in North America -- plunges at one place more than 8,000 feet from ridge to river. Other canyons in the park are almost as compelling; Kern Canyon is nearly 6,000 feet deep, and several others exceed 3,000 feet.

Wildcats, Weasels, and Wolverines
Although much of the Sierra's foothill area is dry, it is well wooded with blue oak, Manzanita, yucca, and other hard-leafed plants that flourish despite droughts and occasional scorching temperatures. Mild winters drift into spring, producing a long growing season filled with a succession of wildflowers that splash colorful patches across the landscape.

Stealthily padding about in the brush and jumbled boulders is the bobcat, the nation's most common wildcat. Named for its tail's short, chopped-off look, this tawny feline has a spotted belly, tufted ears, and legs that seem too long for its body. A nocturnal stalker of hares and rabbits, the bobcat also hunts rodents, reptiles, birds, and deer, pursuing its prey, if necessary, all the way up to the dizzying heights of the alpine meadows.

For most of the year the bobcat is a loner; it seeks companionship only during the winter mating season. Then its throaty growls -- punctuated by bloodcurdling screams -- tear through the nighttime silence. Despite the chilling nature of the sounds, this is a song of romance, a courting duet sung as the male circles slowly around the female, with both shrieking and snarling through the night.

As the foothills blend into the mountains, the terrain becomes a patchwork of forests and meadows, white-water rivers, lakes, and canyons. The western slopes are so thickly forested that sun-loving species cannot take root; instead, shade-tolerant ferns wave their lacy fronds over moss-covered rocks and mushrooms cluster around tree trunks.

Prominent among the denizens of these forests are several members of the weasel family: long-tailed weasels, badgers, striped and spotted skunks, pine martens, fishers, and wolverines. All have scent glands that can release an obnoxious odor -- the skunks' are the most powerful -- and all except the wolverines have lithe, serpentine bodies. Most are nighttime hunters, although when hungry enough, some will venture forth in daylight.

A master Houdini, the long-tailed weasel slithers with lightning speed in and out of the smallest spaces, especially the tunnels of mice, its favorite food. It is a determined hunter and will rarely give up a chase, even if that means climbing a tree.

The pine marten, a brown, almost three-foot-long creature with a foxlike face and a bushy tail, also takes to the trees. Although it usually tracks its prey along the ground, the pine marten frequently chases chickarees, chipmunks, and birds up trees and down. Unfortunately for its prey, the pine marten is very quick and can move with amazing agility from one tree to the next.

Even quicker than the pine marten -- in fact, the fastest tree climber in North America -- is the fisher, a larger version of the marten. Despite its name, the fisher's favorite foods are not fish but fleet-footed snowshoe hares and slow-moving porcupines. Undaunted by the porcupine's quills, the fisher bites the animal on the nose, flips it onto its back, and chews into its soft, unprotected belly.

The weasel with the meanest reputation by far is the wolverine, a shaggy creature that looks like a bear and smells like a skunk. It is difficult to imagine why this powerful animal would need a repulsive spray as a defense. Although at its largest a wolverine weighs only about 35 pounds, it is capable of conquering animals as big as elk and of chasing coyotes, mountain lions, and even bears away from their kills. A voracious eater, the wolverine's legendary appetite has earned it a nickname -- glutton.