Dec 5, 2009 – Kings Canyon in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California – Bele Olmez / Photolibrary

Kings Canyon National Park is a U.S. National Park in the southern Sierra Nevada, east of Fresno, California. The park was established in 1940 and covers 462,901 acres (187,329 ha). It incorporated General Grant National Park, established in 1890 to protect the General Grant Grove.

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

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

Kings Canyon’s future was in doubt for nearly fifty years. Some wanted to build a dam at the western end of the valley, while others wanted to preserve it as a park. The debate was settled in 1965, when the valley, along with Tehipite Valley, was added to General Grant National Park, established in 1890, and named for the canyon of the Kings River within its boundaries.

• Go deeper into this canyon and its walls rise over 8,000 feet from riverbed to rim.
  It really earns its name
• One picture just isn’t enough to capture the beauty of some places.
  Want to see more?
• What madness first gripped this land back in 1848?
  “There’s gold in them thar hills!”
• Who’d guess that this harsh landscape is home to some of the world’s largest trees?
  Where are they?