Leigh Bernacchi

I was raised in the Sierra Nevada foothills outside of Yosemite National Park but truly fell in love with the remote wildness and primordial giant forests of Sequoia National Park when I was a ranger in Lodgepole. To engage visitors, I poked scat, hugged sequoias, and sang about geology. On my days off, I explored backcountry peaks, waterfalls, forests and snowmelt streams. I wrote this guide to share the rainbow of experiences these parks offer to everyone. Over the past two decades, Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks have shaped me into a hiker, backpacker, and birder. I crawl on my belly to smell wildflowers, examine chewed up sequoia cones, and try every flavor of pie to bring you the best information. Today, with my daughter in a backpack, when I snowshoe under a giant sequoia, I can’t help but marvel at this awesome being—born from a tiny seed over a thousand years ago. I hold a doctorate in wildlife and fisheries sciences and work for the University of California, Merced.