Editing Sierra Nevada (section)

===Initial European-American exploration===
{{See also|History of the Yosemite area|California Trail}}
[[File:Albert_Bierstadt_-_Among_the_Sierra_Nevada,_California_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg|alt=Painting of a lake with deer at the water's edge and the Sierra Nevada in the background. Light is shining between the clouds onto the mountains.|thumb|[[Albert Bierstadt]], ''[[Among the Sierra Nevada, California]]'', 1868]]
American exploration of the mountain range started in 1827. Although prior to the 1820s there were [[Spanish missions in California|Spanish missions]], ''[[pueblo]]s'' (towns), ''[[presidio]]s'' (forts), and ''[[Ranchos of California|ranchos]]'' along the coast of California, no Spanish explorers visited the Sierra Nevada.<ref name="Wuerthner">{{cite book |title=Yosemite: A Visitors Companion |first=George |last=Wuerthner |publisher=Stackpole Books |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-8117-2598-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/yosemitevisitors00wuer/page/13 13–14] |url=https://archive.org/details/yosemitevisitors00wuer/page/13}}</ref> The first Americans to visit the mountains were amongst a group led by fur trapper [[Jedediah Smith]], crossing north of the Yosemite area in May 1827, at [[Ebbetts Pass]].<ref name="Wuerthner" />

In 1833, a subgroup of the [[Bonneville Expedition of 1832|Bonneville Expedition]] led by [[Joseph Reddeford Walker]] was sent westward to find an overland route to [[California]]. Eventually the party discovered a route along the [[Humboldt River]] across present-day [[Nevada]], ascending the Sierra Nevada, starting near present-day Bridgeport and descending between the Tuolumne and Merced River drainage. The group may have been the first non-indigenous people to see [[Yosemite Valley]].<ref name="Schaffer">{{cite book |title=Yosemite National Park: A Natural History Guide to Yosemite and Its Trails |first=Jeffrey P. |last=Schaffer |publisher=Wilderness Press |location=Berkeley |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-89997-244-2}}</ref> The [[Walker Party]] probably visited either the [[Tuolumne Grove|Tuolumne]] or [[Merced Grove]]s of [[Sequoiadendron giganteum|giant sequoia]], becoming the first non-indigenous people to see the giant trees,<ref name="Wuerthner" /> but journals relating to the Walker party were destroyed in 1839, in a print shop fire in Philadelphia.<ref name="Kiver">{{cite book |title=Geology of U.S. Parklands |edition=5th |first=Eugene P. |last=Kiver |author2=Harris, David V. |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |location=New York |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-471-33218-3}}</ref>

Starting in 1841, emigrants from the [[United States]] started to move to California via [[Sonora Pass|Sonora]] and [[Walker Pass]]es.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Exploration of the Sierra Nevada |journal=California Historical Society Quarterly |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=3–58 |date=March 1925 |first=Francis P. |last=Farquhar |doi=10.2307/25177743 |jstor=25177743 |hdl=2027/mdp.39015049981668 |url=https://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/exploration_of_the_sierra_nevada/ |hdl-access=free |access-date=December 27, 2022 |archive-date=October 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221019035212/http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/exploration_of_the_sierra_nevada/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the winter of 1844, Lt. [[John C. Frémont]], accompanied by [[Kit Carson]], was the first European American to see [[Lake Tahoe]]. The Frémont party camped at {{cvt|8050|ft|m}}.<ref>{{cite book |year=2007 |orig-year=1999 |title=Frémont's "Long Camp" |url=http://www.longcamp.com/longcamp.html |access-date=May 29, 2010 |archive-date=August 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170819115823/http://www.longcamp.com/longcamp.html |url-status=dead}}</ref>