Beginning with the western foothills, this book evokes a picture of the varied plant and animal life encountered as the elevation increases, tops the crest, and drops to the more precipitous, arid eastern Sierra slope. It takes the reader through chaparral and mountain meadows, pine and fir forests, granite expanses and snowy peaks.
"[This] book is indeed a 'naturalist's companion, ' one which will enhance anyone's time in the Sierra Nevada. . . . Johnston focuses on what we are most likely to see by carefully choosing and then highlighting important and characteristic species; her descriptive passages are a pleasure."--Ann Zwinger, author of "Yosemite: Valley of Thunder
