Yosemite & The Southern Sierra Nevada: A Complete Guide, Including Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Death Valley & Mammoth Lakes (Great Destinations) [Paperback]

David T. Page (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 17, 2008

Awarded the 2009 Bronze Medal in the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation's annual Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition: "Whether you want to stand on a glacier or have a beer with local bikers, this is the definitive (as well as wonderfully eccentric) guide to the immensity of the southern Sierra and Owens Valley. John Muir would be pleased."—Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz and Ecology of Fear

This Explorer's Great Destinations guidebook covers Yosemite to the Kern River Plateau and includes Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, Giant Sequoia National Monument, the Mammoth Lakes region, Owens Valley and Eastern Sierra, as well as Death Valley National Park. Black-and-white photographs throughout

Editorial Reviews

Review

“David T. Page presents a thorough, entertaining guide to the region. It contains an unusually detailed section on the natural history of the area, sure to appeal to Page’s outdoor-minded readers. It’s a joy to read.” (Society of American Travel Writers Foundation )

From the Back Cover

This is the only complete traveler's guide to California's Southern Sierra Nevada, covering the region from Yosemite National Park to the Kern River Plateau. Includes chapters on Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks (and the newly-created Giant Sequoia National Monument), the Mammoth Mountain/Mammoth Lakes region (including Mono Lake), the Owens Valley & Eastern Sierra, and Death Valley National Park.

Author David Page chronicles the roads, towns and scenic wonders within the national parks and along the edges of some of the most spectacular wilderness in North America, with detailed reviews of accommodations, dining, recreational activities, guides, outfitters, provisions, campsites, trailheads, and the many points of historic and cultural interest along the way. With stunning photos and detailed maps throughout, this guide is a must-have for your trip.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Countryman Press; 1st edition (April 17, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581570775
• ISBN-13: 978-1581570779
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #863,019 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

DAVID PAGE has run sled dogs into the Maroon Bells, seined for salmon off the Kenai, hunted for T-Rex eggs in Patagonia, and traveled from the Algerian Sahara to Paris in the back of a Belgian floral delivery van. He has written for the Discovery Channel, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Eastside, Backcountry, Men's Journal, Skiing, and The New York Times. He is a contributing editor at-large for MatadorNetwork.com, editor-in-chief of BETA magazine, and author of the critically-acclaimed Yosemite & the Southern Sierra Nevada: An Explorer's Guide (Countryman Press/W.W. Norton), now in its second printing. He lives on the side of a volcano in Mammoth Lakes, California, with his wife, his two young sons, and their illegal migrant canine.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A guidebook worth reading, March 9, 2008

By 

William Becher "outdoor writer and photographer" (Westlake Village, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Yosemite & The Southern Sierra Nevada: A Complete Guide, Including Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Death Valley & Mammoth Lakes (Great Destinations) (Paperback)

David Page may have invented a new genre - the literary travel guide. His book starts with natural and cultural history - "Contexts" - the back-stories to the remarkable places he describes in graceful language.

Page has skied, climbed, walked or driven to all of these places and this shows in the how-to-get-there chapter called "Into the Hills".

Each area chapter, Death Valley, Owens Valley and the Eastern Sierra, Mammoth Lakes, Sequoia Kings Canyon and Yosemite, has more context stories and exhaustive listing of places to eat and stay, and things to see and do. The book is crammed with details: you can get rattlesnake empanasas at the Furnace Creek Inn, the location of the only Indian restaurant between LA and Carson City in Nevada, where to check the white-water flows on the Kaweah River, the temperature of Keogh Hot Springs and much more.

Describing the highest, lowest, snowiest, driest, sunniest, and arguably some of the most beautiful places in the US, this book is a splendid resource for exploring a remarkable land. This is a book worth reading, even if you never get to visit these places. But I hope you do.
- Bill Becher

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yosemite & The Southern Sierrra Nevada, March 11, 2008

By 

Jean Keely (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Yosemite & The Southern Sierra Nevada: A Complete Guide, Including Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Death Valley & Mammoth Lakes (Great Destinations) (Paperback)

I just finished David Page's book. After spending over forty years of my life enjoying the wonder of the Sierras, it is time we had a book so full of information and so well written. It should be a "must" for anyone who appreciates this area and all that it has to offer. The photographs, both old and new, bring another wonderful dimension to the book. Bravo, David Page!

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Losing our National Heritage, June 28, 2008

By 

Fritz R. Ward "dayhiker" (Crestline, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Yosemite & The Southern Sierra Nevada: A Complete Guide, Including Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Death Valley & Mammoth Lakes (Great Destinations) (Paperback)

David Page openly admits that no writer will ever compete with John Muir when it comes to describing the Sierras. So Page wisely decides against even attempting to do so. However, he notes that Muir had little, if anything, to say about accomodations, meals and travel routes, so Page modestly addresses his book to these topics. For the most part, he does a very fine job. He divides the southern Sierra region into chapters covering Death Valley, the Owens Valley, Mammoth Lakes, Yosemite, and the Sequoia/King's Canyon National Parks. In each chapter he describes lodging and dining options, popular and less well known tourist destinations. (I was pleased to find Buck Rock Lookout and Saline Valley Hot Springs listed along with more popular locations like Moro Rock and Badwater.) I would have included a little more information on Giant Sequoia National Monument, but that is my only criticism.

Page's writing style is also enjoyable. His prose, even when discussing the most mundane of topics is often blunt and never boring. For example, he claims the breakfast buffet at Stovepipe Wells "evokes something recently reconstituted from ancient stores on the planet Tatooine." Having sat for a meal there many years ago, I see my own impressions of the place are still valid. But the best part of the book are the many sidebars and discussions of local history. Page actually went to the trouble of researching his subjects, rather than simply accepting today's politically correct judgements. As a result, people like James Savage emerge from today's fairy tales into the complex characters they really were. I doubt even a fraction of historians, much less the general populace, is aware of the degree to which Native Americans held Savage in high regard. Similarly, the story of how Mulholland stripped the Owen's Valley of its water supply receives a much fuller treatment here than elsewhere. And Page's many sidebars on natural and cultural history show a similar sensitivity to detail that is often lacking in travel guides, and even modern history texts. In all, this book has a lot to recommend it.

It also is appearing in print at a very bad time. As Page notes, visitation at our National Parks, particularly Yosemite, is declining. Although many are happy with that, this trend is troubling because these places were set aside precisely so people could visit them and enjoy nature. For Muir and others, places like Yosemite are necessary for the human condition. But with the economy the way it is, one can expect that even fewer visitors will make the effort to travel this year, and that is problematic. It certainly suggests this book might not get as many readers as it deserves. The main problem is high gas prices and these are due to several causes. Certainly the decision of the Bush administration to fund their war the old fashioned way (by inflation) is a major part of the problem. But it is not the only reason gas prices are making "staycations" more popular than vacations.

A reason that gets less press is the change in the nature of the conservation movement itself. Whereas for Muir and other early conservationists (especially the ever pragmatic Gifford Pinchot) these parks were preserved to allow people to escape civilization, today's environmentalists attack civilization itself, and in particular the energy sources that make it feasible. Since the first Earth Day in 1971 the environmentalist lobby has systematically shut down exploration and new oil production within the US. Meanwhile, our reliance on foreign oil has jumped from 30% then to 70% today. Indeed, over 60% of available land and sea shelf for such exploration is shut off from development and this is hailed as an environmental victory, despite the clear evidence that drilling can be done in environmentally friendly ways. (The 60 year experience at Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota is a case in point.) Even "conservation," so often cited as an alternative to exploration, has failed miserably despite massive government subsidies and 30 years of effort. As a result, we find average citizens simply can no longer afford extended vacations. To put a simple number on it, each penny rise in gas prices relieves consumers of 1.3 billion dollars a year. I know at least one "environmentalist" who would assert this is mere "bean counting" which is convenient for him because he is considerably more affluent than those who now are struggling for their next meal. For ordinary citizens, this massive rise in gas prices is devastating. We can put a number on their economic losses. But thousands of people will miss out on seeing some of the great natural wonders the world has to offer, and no price can be placed on that.

Bottom line: this is an excellent read. For the price of just 4 gallons of gas you can learn about the history and travel options in this magnificent area. But if prices continue the way they are, books like this and related internet sites may soon be the only ways to access these places. And that would be a great loss. So get this book now, and found out what is being taken away. In perhaps one of the greatest ironies of history, today's environmentalists have won so much they are in danger of losing their greatest accomplishments.