Editorial Review:
Written for the general reader with an interest in geology, natural history, and the early explorations of the highest part of California s Sierra Nevada range, this book is also an indispensable guide for visitors to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and adjacent areas. Maps, photographs, and geologic guides help visitors understand the formation of the awesome natural features before them. The region was one of the last parts of the United States to be explored, and it was only during the Civil War that the first scientific party attempted a reconnaissance map of the region. They discovered, in the process, that it included the highest mountain then in the United States, Mount Whitney. The book describes the arduous travels of the early explorers, including John C. Fremont and John Muir, and weaves the history of exploration together with modern geologic concepts to show the early naturalists contributions to geologic thought. Throughout, all terms that may be unfamiliar to non-geologists are simply and succinctly defined, and the book is richly punctuated with anecdotes, tales, myths, and biographical sketches of colorful characters associated with the region.
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
A somewhat narrow defintion of exploring  2007-01-06
The author of Exploring the Highest Sierra first backpacked across Sequoia National Park, via Mt. Whitney, in 1947. He went on to earn a PhD in geology with his research based on the geologic structure of the highest Sierra - the crest from Mt. Langley on the south through the Palisades region to the north that includes all of the Sierra's 14,000' peaks and a sea of other high mountains, lakes and meadows - and then had a long, successful career as a research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. He clearly loves and is highly expert about this mountain range, the highest in the 48 coterminous United States, and the surrounding Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park.
My personal experience in this region consists of three backpacking trips - including peak bagging and off trail travel - that totaled perhaps three weeks within the so-called Highest Sierra. I looked forward to reading this 427-page book, which has very wide margins and lots of blank space, in hopes of not just learning more about it but to get ideas and inspirations for additional "explorations" of the area on my own. Unfortunately the book turned out to be less than I hoped for.
Nearly a third of the pages are devoted to chapters about the original Euro-American exploration and mapping of the region, especially the 1860s-90s work of the California Geological Survey and the U.S. Geological Survey and its predecessors. Apart from the detailed coverage of progressively more accurate mapping efforts over the years, most of the characters - Whitney, King, Hoffman, Muir, etc. - are well know to anyone who is generally familiar with the 19th Century exploration of the Sierra (all of them explored and mapped the Yosemite region and elsewhere in the Sierra). These chapters have a lot of interesting photographs of the explorers, their equipment and so forth that I haven't seen elsewhere.
The remaining chapters are mostly hard core geology. And much of it is very technical to the lay reader. There are a lot of aerial photographs originally taken to document the region for mapping or geologic research, detailed photographs of rock strata and structures and numerous textbook-type graphs and charts of geologic phenomenon. A typical exhibit (6.21 in the 54-page chapter titled Granitic Rocks) consists of a set of eight graphs - admittedly incomprehensible to me - that plot the occurrence of silica (SiO2) against eight different chemicals found in hundreds of rock samples throughout the region's mountains. There are dozens of similar charts, graphs and scattergrams. I have to rate a lot of this information as either inaccessible or simply technical overkill for the non-geologist. It's far more detailed than most non-geologist visitors to the region will ever want to know.
This author's idea of an "exploration" of the highest Sierra is almost exclusively geologists and geology. There is virtually nothing about plants, animals, lakes, weather, wildfire, etc., etc. And nary a description of a mountaintop sunrise, a flowery meadow or any of the other charms that still make "exploring" this region so attractive to hikers, riders, climbers and skiers today.
Recommended to anyone seeking an overview of 19th Century geologic study and mapping along with a textbook on the geologic phenomenon - especially rock structure and chemistry - of the highest portion of the south-central Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Not recommended for those who want a generalized natural history overview of the region or want ideas and inspiration for planning their own trips into the high country of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. I note that most of the other reviewers of this book who rate it higher than I do seem to be professional geologists. And although Amazon does not seem to be stocking this, it can be found at the Yosemite Association's online bookstore.
One to Keep and Refer to For the Rest of Your Life  2001-08-28
James Moore has compiled a fantastic account of the earliest history, exploration, mapping, mining, politics and geology of the Seqouia - Kings Canyon National Parks area. This book, more so than any other that I have read on the Sierra, provides insights into the people, the origin of geographic names and the forces and interests that drove the people into the high Sierra region. A fascinating look at the barometric and surveying tools that were lugged to the top of the highest peaks is given and a historical account of the ever increasing accuracy of the maps and just how close the original estimates were. True to his profession, Moore then goes into an in-depth discussion of the current understanding of the geologic history of the region. This discussion will be a great interest to those with a casual to serious interest in geology and will provide a greater awareness for your next trip into the area. It held me, a retired geologist, captive and will remain on my shelf as one of my most treasured references.
A successor to Francois Matthes 2000-11-28
Moore's book is the result of a lifetime spent studying and mapping the geologic structures of the Sierra. It is an incredible achievement and an important contribution to a detailed understanding of the geology of the Sierra for the amateur naturalist. As literature and science, it's a worthy successor to Matthes's Geologic History of the Yosemite Valley (USGS Prof. Paper #160). He includes terrific chapters on the work of the first scientists to study the range and then describes current knowledge about the creation of the Sierra: from the collision of tectonic plates to the retreat of the last glaciers.As an added bonus, Moore includes an appendix with detailed geologic comments for stopping points along several roads and trails in the Sequoia-Kings area: Highway 180 from Clovis to Cedar Grove; Highway 198 from Visalia and over the Generals Highway; the Mineral King road; the High Sierra Trail from Lodgepole to it's intersection with the John Muir Trail near Mt. Whitney; and, the John Muir Trail from Mt. Whitney to where it leaves Kings Canyon in the Evolution Valley region, 100 miles north. Although Moore concentrates his narrative mostly to the area of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (where, as luck would have it, I work as a ranger), anyone interested in the geology of the Sierra would find this book useful for its explanation of the major granitic and metamorphic structures we see throughout the range. It's large format makes it unlikely you'd want to slip it into your backpack as a field guide. It's also probably of interest only to the serious amateur, though I think it's photos and organization make it accessible to a beginner who might just want to skim some of the detailed sections.
If you're interested in the Sierra Nevadas, this is for you! 2000-11-09
This is an excellent book! The geology portion is easily understandable for the layman, yet still interesting enough for the professional geologist. The great historical and geological infromation make this a wonderful resource for anyone spending any time in the Sierra Nevadas. If you have any interest in geology and history, and you intend to spend any time in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, then you really Need this book!
Disorganized, non-visual, but good anecdotes  2000-10-19
I'm a graduate student in geophysics. Some may argue that a geophysicist has no license to criticise a geologist or vice versa, but here goes nothing. :) Moore begins with an interesting anecdotal account of the early mapping and exploration of the high Sierra. I found this interesting, but then again, I had not read much of this history previously. There are certainly other historical texts out there, so the question to ask yourself is: are there better ones? I don't know the answer. Before I knew it, the book had morphed into what I took for a geology textbook. A bit too esoteric to be considered general-interest, but certainly not written for a Ph.D. geologist. It smelled an awful lot like an introductory undergraduate geology text, and I've read others that are much more lucid than this one. Perhaps my biggest disappointment was the photography. Lacking, to say the least. Since Moore's historical coverage ceases before the advent of modern photography, I suppose this is understandable. In closing: I wasn't quite sure what this text aspired to. As a historical text, I'd say that it was worth the paperback price. As a geology text, I don't think it was worth much. As a photography book, it was worth even less.
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