The Sierra Nevada is a mountain range large enough to make several different Californias. Yosemite's granite walls, giant sequoia groves, deep Kings Canyon, high passes, eastern escarpment, alpine lakes, snow country, desert-edge towns, and long north-south corridors belong to one mountain system without belonging to one easy trip. William Stanek's Sierra Nevada connects those landscapes through elevation, water, granite, forest, road, weather, and season. The guide helps readers understand why crossing the range is different from traveling along it; why a high-country road can change the entire trip; why giant sequoias deserve more than a comparison of size; and why the eastern and western Sierra create radically different approaches to the same mountains. For hikers, road travelers, photographers, families, couples, solo explorers, and Yosemite return visitors, this is the Sierra as a great travel world in its own right.