1992 Map of Slide Bluffs

About this map

Middle Fork Kings River carves through the center of this high Sierra landscape, creating a dramatic vertical relief defined by the massive Slide Bluffs and the Gorge of Despair. Published in the early 1990s from 1984 photography, this survey details the intersection of Kings Canyon National Park and the Monarch Wilderness. High-altitude basins like those containing the Volcanic Lakes and Swamp Lakes are separated by the formidable White Divide and Monarch Divide. The map illustrates a wilderness economy of trail-based travel, marking remote points of interest such as Simpson Meadow and Bunchgrass Flat. Notable peaks including Tunemah Peak and Kennedy Mountain provide orientation for those studying the drainage patterns of Goddard Creek and Alpine Creek as they descend toward the river valley.