The Evolution Basin is one of the most scenic regions in the Sierra Nevada. Located at the northern tip of Kings Canyon National Park, it is deep within roadless wilderness, and represents the harshest and gentlest elements of John Muir's 'Range of Light.'

Many of the peaks surrounding the Evolution Basin are named for the great thinkers in the field of evolution: Darwin, Mendel, Haeckel, Wallace, Fiske, Warlow, Huxley, Spencer, Lamarck. The basin and surrounding cirques have an overwhelming feeling of newness, as if the visitor has arrived just after the glaciers have receeded. Nearly the entire region is above tree line, with slab and meadow and lake and peak the primary elements of scenery.