Canyon View Overlook is a pullout near Moraine Campground on the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway (Highway 180). It frames the U-shaped, glacier-carved canyon, with a flat bottom and walls the glacier ground smooth.
Details
- Type
- Overlook
- Accessibility
- Limited accessibility
Overview
The overlook sits along Highway 180 near Moraine Campground in Kings Canyon. The view looks east into a U-shaped canyon carved by a glacier. The flat bottom supports meadows and forests that the V-shaped, water-carved canyon farther west cannot.
What to See
On the canyon walls you can pick out scars where boulders trapped in the ice were dragged across the granite. In places, the rock has been polished by years of waterflow until it shines even when no water is present. John Muir used these glacial scars to support his argument that glaciers, not rivers alone, cut canyons like this one.