Customer Reviews

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

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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

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!

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.

Positives:
Well written
Good background information
Much more detailed in terms of the natural history
Negatives:
Not really very useful for walks, or for mundane matters

I think this book has been caught between two stools. It cannot decide whether to be a popular guidebook with useful information such as where to walk or where to eat, or whether it wants to satisfy the intellectual curiosity of the visitor. As a consequence it doesn't really do either particularly well: it leans towards the latter but comes up short.

Not sure why others gave this good reviews. When I purchase a travel book I want to know where is a good place to stay or what's a good hike, other helpful tips, etc...I don't need a bunch of history on the locations. Just tell me if the beds are comfy, rooms clean, food good/bad, etc. I can get my history lesson of who walked here before me on my actual trip...

If you're going to Yosemite and the Southern Sierras, this erudite, lively and practical book is indispensable. The author blends history, geology, ecology, arcane local lore and insider recommendations with the skill of an expert mixologist creating a new cocktail. It won't get you high (not that way, anyway) - it'll just enhance your experience of the trip immeasurably.
If you're not planning to visit the area but have any interest in California and/or the outdoors, this book will fire your imagination. I read it in my city apartment and it really did make me want to head for the hills. I normally think of travel guides as functional things that I'd no more read for pleasure than I would a phone book -- not any more. Not this one, anyway.

I truely enjoy all the helpful "where to camp in such and such season" and the points of intrest. Most annoying, however, are the maps. Though campsites are marked with the traditional tent icon, they are not labeled. This makes the following list of campistes practicly worthless, as one does not know where they actually are. Had to find other maps and guides to supplement.

Living in Los Angeles, we occasionally escape to Yosemite and the Southern Sierra Nevada. We have enjoyed reading more about this breathtakingly beautiful region in this excellent guide which is by far the best on the region with its historical details, up-to-date comments, and witty literary style that makes us want to read it before, during, and after our trips. Don't travel there without buying this book, you would miss the "soul" of the region, and you would just be another average tourist.

Don't even bother trying to download the Kindle version, unless of course, you don't mind reading the same paragraph over and over (160 times!). Half the images don't show up, and the book is completely unreadable. Had to call in for a refund after they "pushed" the book to the Kindle again, and it still was unreadable.