Customer Reviews

Hiking California's Golden Trout Wilderness: A Guide to Backpacking and Day Hiking in the Golden Trout and South Sierra Wildernesses

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With about 300,000 acres, California's Golden Trout Wilderness is one of the largest wilderness areas in the lower 48 states. But the total wilderness is much larger than even the above figure implies: Much of its southern and eastern border lies along the South Sierra Wilderness, while its northern boundaries lead into Sequoia National Park. Managed jointly by Sequoia and Inyo National Forest, the Golden Trout is a true national treasure and one of the few places in the Sierra Nevada Mountains where you can hike all day and hardly meet a person. Over the last 20 years I have traipsed through large portions of this area and each time I want to come back for more. Someday, I hope to spend an entire month just backpacking this region. Kern River tributaries, mountain streams, meadows ablaze with wildflowers, and fabulous fly fishing all await travelers to this roadless region. Only this book by Suzanne Swedo covers it all.

The Kern River cuts through the middle of the Golden Trout wilderness, dividing it as neatly as it divides the Sierra itself. To the west lies the Great Western Divide and, in the wilderness itself, the northern tip of Giant Sequoia National Monument. To the east lies the high peaks that overlook the Owens Valley. Just as the Kern divides the region, so too it divides this book. Chapters cover hikes from various trail heads in the west, along the Kern in the middle of the book, while routes through the high plateau to the east make up the final third of this volume. The bulk of the hikes described here are for backpackers; this region is simply too rugged and too large to be adequately explored by day hikes. Still, Swedo does provide a nice sampling of hikes from various trail heads if you want to get a glimpse of this spectacular region. I particularly recommend Casa Vieja Meadow (Hike 21), Trail Pass (Hike 25) and the rarely explored Mountain Home State Demonstration Forest (Hikes 1-3 in this book--be sure to take the Moses Gulch trail as well if you visit there). But these hikes provide only the smallest sampling of the wilderness. On the other extreme is the "Central Wilderness Grand Tour," an almost 80 mile route Swedo recommends to really appreciate all the Golden Trout has to offer. A handful of other route descriptions cover nearly 50 miles, one way! In all, this is a book for those who have a lot of time on their hands, or hope to in the near future.

In all, I enjoyed Swedo's writing style. Her descriptions are detailed and, insofar as I have hiked her routes, quite accurate. Occasionally, she is also simply fun to read, as when she describes the "newlywed" campsite, named after a packer and his bride who spent their honeymoon here. Noting all the mosquitos, she concludes it was obviously not a June wedding. The only area part of this book that is outdated is the note on bear cannisters. At the time this volume was written, they were only "recommended." On Inyo wilderness lands, they are now required.

Due to the difficulty in visiting and the sometimes poor roads to access trails, I doubt this book will give Ms. Swedo or Falcon Publishing the kind of best seller that her hiking guide to Yosemite generates. But this is a very valuable book to a very special place and those who love backpacking, hiking, and fishing in California's finest outdoor scenery should add this book to their library. I strongly recommend it.

This book does what it says it will do. It covers the basics including geology, history, a focus on zero impact trips, and other similar subjects. There are over 40 trips covered in the book. Each trip write up includes:

- Start location,
- Total distance in miles,
- Total climbing in feet,
- Estimated trail traffic,
- Best months to visit,
- Maps needed,
- Permits,
- Trailhead facilities,
- How to find the trail head,
- A one to two page write up description of the hike,
- A scaled map,
- A graphical presentation of the elevation gain and loss, and
- Key points and correlating mile markers for each trip.

The photos are in black and white (I would have preferred color). Of course, I did not buy a picture book. I guess that I will have to go see it in full color.

The hikes are well described and the information needed before the hike is very helpful including the directions, wilderness permits, and local ranger station contact information. The maps give sufficient details and the graphics of the elevations are helpful. There is one thing that would have made this book more helpful. Having never hiked in this section of the Sierras I would have liked seeing a map of the complete area including trails. It took some head scratching and additional resources to completely plan several hikes I intend to make.Hiking California's Golden Trout Wilderness: A Guide to Backpacking and Day Hiking in the Golden Trout and South Sierra Wildernesses

I've used this book to plan a trip in Sierra and I've found useful description of trails