Customer Reviews

100 Hikes in Yosemite National Park

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The most enjoyable hours of my life have been spent hiking in Yosemite and Mammoth and this guide is absolutely indispensible for the novice or experienced hiker.

The photographs themselves are breathtaking; all in color and printed on hih quality, glossy paper. The photos give you an excellent idea of what each hike is going to look like. I use it almost daily during hiking season and it helps in selecting hikes, planning them, reaching the trailhead and gauging whether a hike will be worthwhile. Each hike contains an accurate and fairly detailed description of the rigors of each trek. Occasionally I quibble with the author's ranking of a given hike, but usually he is on the mark.

A few cautionary notes: there are no detailed maps in the book, except general maps which introduce the hiker to each specific place. The map for the John Muir trail, for example, is very basic. Don't expect detailed maps for each hike because there are none. The descriptions of how to reach each trailhead are excellent, unless you have little experience with Yosemite.

My favorite part of the book is that the Touloume Meadows High Country area is not neglected, nor the great hikes around Hetch Hetchy. Equally detailed are the fantastic hikes in Mammoth, including Ediza and Shadow lakes, Duck pass and Valentine Lake. All in all, a fabulous and beautiful hiking guide.

Beautiful guide and thorough examination of the myriad of hikes one can take in and around Yosemite National Park. Excellent graphics and map layouts. Detailed description of the hikes, trailheads and parking. Good descriptions of what you can expect to encounter along the way as far as hiking time, high points in elevation you will encounter (along with the hikes averaged elevation gain) and the hike's relative difficulty ranked from easy to strenuous (with some hikes running the gamut of just that in the very hike itself). Also, the best seasons for each hike are included.
A good job of was also done of including the various contact numbers that might be of interest to those planning to visit the Park plus required permits and tips on what wildlife/insect life you can expect to encounter along the way.
The author has thoughtfully included various safety tips concerning what to bring and a nice section on wilderness ethics. For those hikers looking to do a quick scan of what each various hike has to offer, there's a helpful trail index in the back of the book.
Personally, my favorite sections were the hikes surrounding Mono Lake, especially hike No. 50 with it's detailed information on the lake itself, it's strange composition and insect inhabitants. A description of Mono and its tufa castles as "a sci-fi dream city" seems entirely appropriate.
Special distinction must be made of the book's photographs, most credited to the author, which are gorgeous! Some are simply jaw dropping. Helpfully included in the book's introduction is a section on taking photographs in Yosemite -- although one would be hard-pressed to match some of the photographs he has included. One would hope for a future publication devoted entirely to the author's photographs.
Pretty easy to see why "100 Hikes in Yosemite National Park" has recently garnered the prestigious distinction of winning the 2003 National Outdoor Book Award (NOBA) for best guidebook.
If you're planning to hike Yosemite, don't leave home without it. Good job!

I like the basic organization of this book.
Many useful photos and easy to understand trail maps.
(But do not reply on them while hiking.)
I use this book to get an idea for my next hiking destination.
However the 2nd edition is needed to correct some easy
to spot errors. Fo example, ten photos are described with wrong mountain names.

I purchased this book for a trip that my wife and I were to take to Yosemite. As a reference I backpack for 5 to 15 day trips every year. My wife looked at the book and some of the hikes I had talked about and couldn't figure out the maps.

Looking over the book I could see why. The only friendly way to say it is that the maps are pretty and pretty useless. They are the type of maps you would find on a treasure hunt breakfast cereal box and SHOULD NOT BE USED FOR ANY PLANNING PURPOSES. Purchase a topo map from the USGS or a backpacking supply house and then use this book to find out where in Yosemite a described hike really is and what the countryside is like around it.

One mile walks look the same as a 16 mile several day hike. Every map takes great license with the topology and direction of orientation. Follow one map to the next on a trail and you will get lost since the first puts north at the top of a page, the next shrinks it and flips north to the bottom of the page and the next slants north off to the left while changing the size of landmarks again.

The natural guides are nice. The verbal descriptions are nice. The rating of the hikes are fine. The maps are cute but border on being dangerously so. Sorry but I feel that a hiking guide that has bad maps is not appropriate. It would have been better to have none in the book.

The only thing not to like about this book is its weight, which discourages you from taking it along on a hike. That aside, it is blessed with great color photos, good trail maps, elevation gains, how to get to the trailhead, and generally everything you need in a hiking guide. If you only buy one Yosemite hiking guide, this should be it.

I use this book every time I go to Yose. I think this book is easy for me to use because I have been to Yose. so many times that I can visualize the maps and can anticipate what the trails will be like. I beleive that if you have never been to Yosemite it might be difficult to plan out a few hikes with accurate expectations and I do agree that a topo map would help to determine how strenuous a trail might be! Regardless I love the book... I even look at when Im not going to Yose. just for the memories and excitement it creates!

Almost didn't get this book because of the reviews I seen saying that the maps were hard to understand. After looking at the preview pages I decided to risk it anyway and I am glad I did. It would really take an idiot to not understand what the maps are doing. They are set up so that you are looking at the trail in 3D from the trailhead, not in a North, South top down orientation. They make great sense when you are standing there with the trail live and in front of you and it does not take much of a stretch of the imagination to figure it out without being there. My one bit of advice, if you can't figure out the maps in this book, you should reconsider going into the wilderness, because you are not ready for it. And in my opinion, you don't take the book with you, you take a map. The book is just for helping you figure out were it is that you want to go.

Overall a very good hiking book; right size, nice descriptions of the hikes, with good maps and good organization. Glad I bought this before going to Yosemite.