For the record, please don't say, "Let's go out to the Sierras, guys." It's "Sierra," not "Sierras." Translating from Spanish, sierra is plural in itself.
Good. Now that you're clear on that, get ready to enjoy forests, monolithic rock formations, hot springs and massive waterfalls, all of which are acclaimed throughout the world. The Sierra Nevada spans about 450 miles north to south and 80 miles east to west. About 9.6 million acres of public land, national parks and forests, comprise the region.
It's wild. Great sequoia trees, some as old as 3,600 years, shoot nearly 300 feet into the sky. The tallest mountain in the lower 48 states, Mount Whitney, makes its home in Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park -- a vast wilderness consisting of about 800 miles of trails. Within a piece of the park, more than 100 lakes patch the small, yet popular, Desolation Wilderness. This rugged piece of California is home to a variety of wildlife including muledeer, bighorn sheep, coyotes, foxes and wolverines.
Sitting on top of an active geological fault zone, the Sierra have sprouted into amazing formations in different areas. Menacing crags and rivets give shape to the natural 100-foot-high towering columns in one of Inyo National Forest's lesser known spots: Devils Postpile National Monument.
Yosemite National Park: it would take years to explore it all. North America's tallest waterfall crashes here. El Capitan, the world's largest stone monolith, soars 3,593-feet-high. And the famous, unmistakably round Half Dome sits like a huge chipped-sphere, scooped from the planet and placed on a mountain. Much of Yosemite's beauty is easily accessible from where most visitors stay: in Yosemite Valley.
For the record, please don't say, "Let's go out to the Sierras, guys." It's "Sierra," not "Sierras." Translating from Spanish, sierra is plural in itself.