Customer Reviews

National Geographic Yosemite National Park Road Guide (National Geographic Road Guides)

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One of the great (probably apocryphal) stories about Yosemite concerned some tourists who asked a park ranger what to do if they had only one day in the parks. The ranger responded, "If I had only one day in Yosemite, I might sit down and cry." Unfortunately, schedules being what they are, many people only have a day or two to spend in Yosemite. As a result, they need to simply drive through and catch the highlights. If you fall into that category, don't cry, but do get this book. It lists some of the main features you will see on all the park roads and describes them in about a paragraph.

This book is organized with road maps on the left and route descriptions on the right. This leads to some unusual reading. For example, if driving from Yosemite Valley to Tioga Pass, you will read from the bottom of the right page up. The location notes literally follow the map up the page. The book also contains some nice "Nature Notes" which describe some of the more interesting plant and animal life along the roads. Careful readers will learn, for example, about the Pygmy Owl that routinely attacks rodents larger than itself and is occasionally carried along for quite a distance before it (sometimes) gets its meal. Finally, the book also contains wonderful panorama shots in black and white of various overlooks within Yosemite and identifies the main features of the view.

Although this book does what it sets out to do reasonably well, it has some problems. The maps for Yosemite Valley number the stops on the proposed auto tour, but the facing descriptions do not include the numbers. Other routes through the park (Tioga Pass, Glacier Point, Big Oak Flats Road, etc) either do not have the numbers or use them inconsistently. But the main concern is that this book is insufficient to plan a vacation around, even a short one. I would recommend supplementing this book with Ann Marie Brown's Moon Handbooks Yosemite, probably the best survey of lodging, dining and outdoor activities in and around the park. If you want to get out of your car and explore further, you should look to Suzanne Swedo's Best Easy Day Hikes Yosemite National Park (2cd edition) for short walks. If you have time for longer hikes, check out any of the Yosemite hiking guides by Jeffrey Schaffer. Still, if auto touring is your first or only choice, this is a nice book to enhance your vacation. Get it and have a good time in the best of America's national parks.

For any first time visitor or returning visitor to Yosemite Park, this is an invalualbe tool! It is so easy to use, so handy, and so logically laid out. It is always sold out at Borders in the SF Bay area; so be sure to order yours a month ahead of time beucase this will be the tool that will reward you with a great time in a great national park!