Customer Reviews

Sierra South: Backcountry Trips in Californias Sierra Nevada

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

 

 

Sierra South is another one of those irreplaceable Wilderness Press guides. For anyone hiking in the southern Sierras, this is the must have book. The eighth edition is about 12 years later than my 6th edition, and has taken advantage of the advances in printing technology. There are good maps imbedded in the book, gray shading to highlight text of special interest, and gray section tabs visible on the edge of the book.

The book starts out with good basic information for anyone hiking in the wilderness. For example, one tip that I would have applied last week was to do stream crossings angled upstream, so that the force of the water will not cause your knees to buckle. Since we didn't have this info yet, my wife and I angled downstream, and the force of the water caught her by surprise, causing the bottom of her pack to hit the water.

The organization is now by state access highway, Highway 41, 198, etc. This is useful for quickly determining practical two or three day trips. The book is now 6 by 9 instead of 4.5 by 8, so you will probably resort to cutting out the trip you choose, and carry it with you.The larger size allows more photographs and easier to read text. As in the old book, there are elevation profiles for each trip route. It looks to me as if they have extended the coverage slightly farther north, as my old book didn't have the highway 41 trips. For those GPS enabled hikers you will find gps waypoints for destinations and significant junctions.

When I read through Sierra South, it seems like there are a lot more destinations than in the old book, but the new book has 84 trips, and the old one 100 trips. In any event, the new book can keep you busy for many summers.

My one suggestion for future editions is that the overall map give some indication of where Highway 41 is. I had to check the old Sierra North map.

If you are going to hike the southern Sierra, this is a book you need to have.

Even though TW has "retired" and they've changed the name (made obligatory by the elimination of the even 100 hikes in previous editions) this information packed volume is still the best all around (with the companion Sierra North) hiking guide covering the Sierra Nevada in print today. This edition is organized a little differently and the spiffy fold out map is missing from the back cover but the same reliable and up to date information is available for both arm chair hiking and trip planning.

A great many of the same routes are included as were in the previous volumes and it appears they have been updated with current (and depressing) requlatory requirements and accurate descriptions of the state of repair or disrepair of primitive camp sites and historic markers. Additional trips are included that appear to be more "moderate". Again up to date trail and camp site information along with hazards and fishing data are included.

The only caveat I would add is to take the somewhat nostalgic pining for the "good old days" with a grain of salt. While it's true water quality degradation has made mandatory the use of filters or other types of purification and black bears (and too many friggin' hikers) have forced more and more regulations and quotas on a land that once was wide open for exploration; there's still more "wild" here than in just about any other locale in the country. And that's the same stuff that's drawn legions of backpackers, mountaineers and naturalists ever since John Muir "discovered" it over a hundred years ago. It's still there waiting for you...

This book would be a good intro for beginners but there are many books already there. For those with more knowledge of the Sierras the old book had more cross country routes and many of the trips involved some off trail. This new edition is all trail (as far as I know) and that ruined the book a lot. The 7th edition did not have maps like the new one and had they only done it would have been much better. Also, for anyone who is planning a serious backpacking trip into the Sierras you will have to get a topo map anyway so it's better to have the trailheads organized by name rather than by road (or maybe combine both).

All in all, this is nowhere as good as the old 7th edition and I'm glad I had the hardback version of it. I will look for another one unless the 9th editions brings back the many wonderful x-c trips of the 7th edition

This is the best info for any hiker or backpacker that ventures into the Bishop area..we have used these books sense they first came out in the late 60's, if you are going to do any back country or wilderness adventures you need this book. great value..

I've used this book a few times already for some hikes and I like the way it is user-friendly. Recommend this if you plan to backpack a few times throughout the Sierras.

This book has nice black and white photos and decent area maps, which lack topographic detail. Has a wide range of locations across the southern sierra.

But, this book lacked the depth and detail that I hoped for. I am returning it for a more detailed southern sierra book.

Good, but doesn't give quite as much detail as I was hoping for. That's not really a fault. Guess I was just hoping to find a bit more of a "travelogue". It is still worth having if you are wandering in the area covered.

I have been backpacking in the Sierras for years but only found this book last year. I used it to plan our trip last year and found it to be an excellent help and resource. Without a book like this it is very tough to figure out where many trailheads are, how long routes will take, where good campsites might be, etc.. This book gave us pretty much everything we needed. I only gave 4 instead of 5 stars because I'm a really tough grader and the book could have had (even) better maps and clearer info.

Sierra South is a classy looking book for someone looking for hike locastions. Unfortunately, for the hiker or backpacker using the book for trail or possible cross coutry possibilities, it is disappointingly lacking. There are no accurate descriptions of the terrain, trail suggestions, flora or fauna. This is in stark contrast to older editions of the same book. Are these still possible to get? Ray Prendergast, Sun City AZ