The Great Western Divide

Imagine a night long campfire somewhere on the Kaweah River surrounded by, among others, Lao Tsu, Joseph Campbell, Clarence King (the first man to map the Great Western Divide) and Chappo, the last chief of the Potwisha. Hanging around the fringes, between the light and the dark, are Coyote and Crow. These are the spirits that inform the book as it continually poses the question, ?Who are we really?? throughout the long dark night that moves toward dawn. In a panoramic vision that extends from the depths of the Pacific Ocean to the lake-encrusted, high granite peaks above the timberline of the Southern Sierra Nevada, John Spivey takes the reader on a tour of the California landscape. The tour also includes the topography of our minds as it explores the valleys and peaks, the crags and meanders of the way we are. Spivey draws on his heritage as a descendent of one of the pioneer families of the Kaweah watershed of the Sierra Nevada. The book intertwines family tales of loss, Christian myth, Zen/Taoist stories and the history of the Yokuts Indians into a potent Pacific Rim brew of what it means to walk the dusty human road.yokuts

This new edition of the only guide to detail all the known routes on 570 peaks in the Sierra is completely reorganized to be even more user friendly and includes more than 100 new routes, route variations and winter ascents.The most popular guidebook to the magnificent Sierra mountains has been expanded and improved. There is 30 percent new content in this edition, including new route descriptions, additional peaks described, more historical information, and GPS-enabled driving directions. The content has also been completely rearranged to keep roads and trails, and passes and peaks together, making the book easier to use. Four of the 30 maps have been revised."The Sierra climbing bible" (The Los Angeles Times)"The best field guide to the region." (Men's Journal)"The guide to the Sierra nevada high country." (Climbing magazine)

Amid the policy gridlock that characterizes most environmental debates, a new conservation movement has emerged. Known as “collaborative conservation,” it emphasizes local participation, sustainability, and inclusion of the disempowered, and focuses on voluntary compliance and consent rather than legal and regulatory enforcement. Encompassing a wide range of local partnerships and initiatives, it is changing the face of resource management throughout the western United States. Across the Great Divide presents a thoughtful exploration of this new movement, bringing together writing, reporting, and analysis of collaborative conservation from those directly involved in developing and implementing the approach. Contributors examine: the failure of traditional policy approaches recent economic and demographic changes that serve as a backdrop for the emergence of the movement the merits of, and drawbacks to, collaborative decision-making the challenges involved with integrating diverse voices and bringing all sectors of society into the movement In addition, the book offers in-depth stories of eight noteworthy collaborative initiatives -- including the Quincy Library Group, Montana's Clark Fork River, the Applegate Partnership, and the Malpai Borderlands -- that explore how different groups have organized and acted to implement their goals. Among the contributors are Ed Marston, George Cameron Coggins, David Getches, Andy Stahl, Maria Varela, Luther Propst, Shirley Solomon, William Riebsame, Cassandra Moseley, Lynn Jungwirth, and others. Across the Great Divide is an important work for anyone involved with collaborative conservation or the larger environmental movement, and for all those who care about the future of resource management in the West.

In Across the Great Divide, some of our leading historians look to both the history of masculinity in the West and to the ways that this experience has been represented in movies, popular music, dimestore novels, and folklore.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, situated in California's rugged Sierra Nevada, boast some of the most spectacular landscapes on the continent: towering groves of giant sequoia trees, crystalline trout rivers, jagged peaks and alpine meadows, and Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the lower 48. Discover over 80 of the best hikes in the parks, from easy day hikes to challenging backpacking trips, accompanied by colorful photos and trail maps. Fully updated and revised, this book is a personal guide to the wonders of the California Sierra.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, situated in California's rugged Sierra Nevada, boast some of the most spectacular landscapes on the continent: towering groves of giant sequoia trees, crystalline trout rivers, jagged peaks and alpine meadows, and Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the lower 48. Discover over 80 of the best hikes in the parks, from easy day hikes to challenging backpacking trips, accompanied by colorful photos and trail maps. This book is a personal guide to the wonders of the California Sierra.