Lonely Planet Yosemite, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks [Paperback]

Danny Palmerlee (Author), Beth Kohn (Author)

Book Description

Series: National Parks | Publication Date: April 1, 2008

Yosemite's granite domes, sweeping vistas and graceful waterfalls amaze visitors, while giant trees tower over Sequoia & Kings Canyon. Whether you want to sit among flowers in Tuolumne Meadows or scale the heights of Half Dome, gear up with this top-selling guide to these well-loved national parks.

Detailed Itineraries - explore Yosemite, Sequoia & Kings Canyon with over 20 great itineraries, plus trips to Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest and the rustic Gold Country

Best Hiking Routes - includes 53 of the most enjoyable hikes through valleys, around lakes, up peaks and into the backcountry with easy-to-use charts and topographic hiking maps

Family Friendly Options - information on education programs, campfire talks, ranger walks and the best kid-friendly hikes in our special Kids & Pets chapter

Adventure Ideas - covers rock climbing, mountain biking, swimming, horseback riding, rafting, kayaking, skiing, sledding, volunteering and much more

With 2000 hours of in-park research and over 400 miles of trails hiked, our authors offer sound advice for visitors
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Editorial Reviews

Review

...it would be hard to better this series of Lonely Planet National Park guides.' -- Suite101.com, March 2008

From the Publisher

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At Lonely Planet, we see our job as inspiring and enabling travelers to connect with the world for their own benefit and for the benefit of the world at large.

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What We Believe
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Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet; 2 edition (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1741045592
• ISBN-13: 978-1741045598
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #453,274 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > Travel > United States > States > Nevada

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Handy guide to Yosemite for first or second time visitor, December 30, 2005

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410 - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Lonely Planet Yosemite National Park (Paperback)

A very well assembled collection of recommendations and facts for planning a trip to Yosemite. If you want to get the most of your trip to the region, planning is essential. Just showing up will severely compromise the options you have available. If you are planning to also visit Sequoia/Kings Canyon, you might want to opt for the Frommer's Guide or Lonely Planet's "Hiking In The Sierra Nevada." Personally, I think this guide has a little more detail and better organization than the Moon guide, with the maps being far better.

Planning: The book does a very nice job giving you phone numbers, camp locations, amenities, and tips on which sites will fill up first. This really is the most important, especially if you want to camp at a popular location or want to do overnight hikes in one of the more popular destinations. If you want to stay in one of the valley hotels think a year in adavance (at least), camping in the valley needs reservations 6-8 months in advance.

Trip descriptions: For the places I visited the descriptions were thorough but not overwhelming in detail. The book has both short trips (1-3 days) as well as longer excursions, but many of these can be abbreviated to suit your needs.

Maps: You will certainly need your own big topo map when on the hike, but the maps here (and in other Lonely Planet guides) are among the best you will find in this sort of guide. First they are topographic, which helps you with overall planning, even if you will eventually make use of a big map later on. Second, the maps are in two colors, which facilitates reading immensely. Finally, the printing is fine and crisp. Some other guides have blurry reproductions of USGS maps that look like they were printed onto a paper towel.

Other: The book is compact and lightweight. If you are an obsessive type you could carry it along on your hike without adding too much weight.

Overall, this is a great guide to aid in planning a trip to the region, especially those on their first couple of excursions to the region. For those who want more details on other trips check out Sierra North and Sierra South, as well as books by Mike White, R. J. Secor, and Steve Roper.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great to have along, November 7, 2006

By 

beesknees (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet Yosemite National Park (Paperback)

I've lived in California for 3 years and have been to Yosemite at least 5 times. We have gone for backpacking trips, car camping trips, and stayed at Curry Village. We always bring this book with us. You need to have a book like this with you when you are there so you can both plan ahead and do things on the fly. It's a great book that highlights all the must-see spots. Yosemite rarely disappoints.. even if some spots are crowded, once you get there, you can understand why! Lonely Planet books in general area always well organized and have great maps. I like how this book had both short hikes as well as some longer overnight backpacking trips. It also does a good job of detailing all the campgrounds. If you want more detail (or a little different perspective) on hikes and backpacking trips, get "Hiking in the Sierra Nevada" by Lonely Planet.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars helpful and clear., September 23, 2005

By 

G. Griffin (San Diego Ca) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lonely Planet Yosemite National Park (Paperback)

I enjoyed this guide for the easy to find information and easy to read maps. It gave good hike descriptions and the list of spotlighted activites was right on target. I do use this regularly to create my plans for the park. This did lack the personal touch that I found in some other references and found myself picking up other guides to go with the maps in this book. The Moon guide was by far my favorite. But do check it out if your going to Yosemite. More information is always better.