Famous Sierra Nevada conservationist John Muir once wrote of the Kings Canyon that it was “a rival of the Yosemite.” Today, this canyon carved by glaciers and cut by the Kings River can claim to be the deepest in the USA. It reaches a maximum depth of 8200 feet, when measured from Spanish Peak down to the confluence of the Middle and South Forks of the Kings River. That’s even deeper than Arizona’s Grand Canyon!
So why doesn’t the Kings Canyon always seem that deep? At the Grand Canyon, the Colorado River has cut the rocks more steeply, to an average depth of a mile. But here in the Sierra Nevada, the Kings Canyon’s walls were flattened and widened by the moving weight of massive glaciers during the planet’s last ice age. Today, in many places these walls rise only 4000 feet or less. On average, the Grand Canyon measures a mile (over 5200 feet deep).
That said, as you drive along narrow, twisting Kings Canyon Scenic Byway (Hwy. 180) in Kings Canyon National Park today, the views are still mighty impressive, especially around sunrise and sunset. En route from Grant Grove to Cedar Grove, which sits at the end of the scenic byway next to the powerful Kings River, be sure to pull over at Junction View lookout for a photo.
In the 20th century, plans to dam the Kings River were proposed, first by logging companies and then by politicians and developers looking for ways to divert more of the Sierra Nevada’s precious watershed to coastal urban areas such as around San Francisco and Los Angeles. Unlike what happened at Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy Valley, though, a dam was never built here on the Kings River inside the national park. We think John Muir would have been proud of that.
To see the canyon close up, check out these day hikes around Kings Canyon National Park.
