Adventuring in the California Desert, Completely Revised and Updated [Paperback]

Lynne Foster (Author)

Book Description

Series: Adventuring in the California Desert | Publication Date: October 28, 1997

Providing detailed information and advice on outdoor activities ranging from backpacking and rock climbing to exploring pioneer and Native American sites, this popular guidebook shows readers how to enjoy the vast California desert to the fullest without harming its fragile ecology. Author Lynne Foster also covers the natural, geologic, and human history of the region, and offers tips on desert safety and survival, weather conditions, clothing, and equipment.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It's big (100 miles wide by 240 miles long), it's diverse (granite peaks, extinct volcanoes, sand dunes, and more than 2,000 species of plants and 500 animals), and it makes for a wonderful, inexpensive vacation. The California desert offers bird watching and backpacking, high alpine snow fields and dry salt plains, and when the rains are adequate, miles of wildflowers that take your breath away. Lynne Foster's guide makes it accessible, with desert safety tips, maps, information about public campgrounds, historical sites, and desert museums, as well as useful information such as where to get food, water, and gas. From the White-Inyo Mountains, through Death Valley, Palm Springs, and Joshua Tree National Park, down to the Mexican border, the desert awaits, sere and stark, but not at all barren.

From the Inside Flap

South, the California desert offers a rich diversity of natural attraction, including 600-foot-high sand dunes, spectacular granite peaks, extinct volcanoes, countless miles of wildflower displays, and over 2,000 species of plants and 500 species of animals.

Revised and updated, Adventuring in the California Desert is the most comprehensive guide to nine specific regions, which range from high alpine snow fields to dry barren salt plavas, and include such popular areas as Death Valley National Park, Antelope Valley, Joshua Tree National Park, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and much more.

Special features include:
-- Outdoor recreational opportunities, from car touring, birdwatching, and exploring Native American and pioneer historical sites and desert museums,to day hikes, backpacking and peak climbs, classified by degree of difficulty
-- Detailed descriptions of each region's natural, geologic and human history, plus plant and animal identification
-- Tips on desert safety and survival, weather conditions, clothing and equipment, and special requirements for travel by car
-- Area maps and access information, suggested tours, lists of public campgrounds and conservation organizations, and facilities for food, water, and gas.

Adventuring in the California Desert is the practical tool for perfect trips, ideal for travelers who want to experience the unique sights and sounds of their desert destination without harming its fragile environment.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 518 pages
• Publisher: Sierra Club Books; 2nd edition (October 28, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871563940
• ISBN-13: 978-0871563941
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,897,478 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars maps are terrible, information on hiking/wilderness is poor, November 18, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Adventuring in the California Desert, Completely Revised and Updated (Paperback)

Don't buy this if you just want a hiking/camping guide. Here's why:
* The author himself mentions that 50% of the book isn't really related to hiking ("adventuring" as in the book's title)
* The hikes are not described well. There are no total trail distances given.
* There are no maps of trails/trailheads/wilderness areas, and that's what REALLY bugs me. There are virtually no maps in this book. The maps that are there are VERY pitiful. Without maps, this book is virtually useless to me.

I would recommend that you look around at other books available if you're after a good hiking guide.

Since the average rating is currently at 4.5 I'm gonna give this a 1 to try to add some balance to things...

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Good for armchair reader, useless for actual visit, January 14, 2005

By 

A. Torng "Photohiker" (Mission Viejo, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Adventuring in the California Desert, Completely Revised and Updated (Paperback)

I wonder if Lynne has ever actually been there. The author spends half a paragraph asking numerous questions you'd like to ask, give you a short answer you can find with park brochure, then refer you to the visitor center to get more information and get map (apparently the author has been to and is familiar with the visitor center). No detail info on any of the trails and tours. I've been to the desert once or twice and I know more about the subject than the author describes in the book.

I am also extremely disappointed with Sierra Club Travel Guide. Next time I won't buy their books blindly.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very useful guide that's fun to read., May 21, 1998

By 

K. M. Puffer (Calif.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Adventuring in the California Desert, Completely Revised and Updated (Paperback)

Lynne Foster has done a great job here, describing many trips and day visits into nearly every corner of California's beautiful deserts. Nearly every region I am familiar with, she has covered quite well. Most people don't know the lonely horizons and vast silences awaiting those who get off the superhighways; the land is incredibly beautiful and not a little dangerous. Heed her words of caution, then take the book and your camera and see for yourself. Makes great armchair reading, too!