Sierra Crossing: The epic trek you can do in a week

Book excerpt: FIXED-LAYOUT VERSION Sierra Crossing is the story and photographs that describe and capture the epic 70-mile crossing of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range from east to west, as the first pioneers and trailblazers would have seen it. As a week-long trek, it is an adventure anybody from across America could aspire to. Author Tom Stienstra and photographer Michael Furniss provide a seat at their nightly campfires, and with it, a rare glimpse of a little-known land and what it takes to see it. The trek starts from the flank of Mount Whitney, at 14,497 feet the highest point in the Lower 48, and then ranges over the Sierra Crest, down a 5,000-foot deep canyon, then up and over the Great Western Divide to Sequoia National Park at the foot of the western Sierra. In the process, the stories describe how three outdoorsmen walked in the footsteps of trailblazers and explorers. They detail an experience similar to that required by pioneers 200 years ago, across a pristine landscape that looks much as it did 5,000 years ago. It thus is a journey into the past, yet one that is still up to date. This trek reveals the towering canyon rims, ancient virgin forests, pristine lakes and creeks, waterfalls and hot springs, and wildlife for which each visitor is a curiosity, not a threat. The trout fishing in the remote Kern is among the best of any in the American wilderness. The streams are the purest in America. People are scarce and litter nonexistent. The narrative and photography captures both the outdoor experience and the timeless sense of the epic landscape.