Yosemite

Great compilation of easy day hikes. We just visited Yosemite (June 2008) with our 7 year-old in tow and all the (short) hikes we took were based off this book. We did Lower Yosemite falls in the valley, and Tuolumne Grove (giant Sequoias) and Soda Springs off Tioga Road. Soda Springs was a big hit with our daughter ... we spent lots of time exploring Tuolumne Meadows while there, not crowded, beautiful scenery and wildlife. Must have spent about 45 minutes observing a family of large marmots! :) All excellent and well worth it. Agreed with other reviewers, many of these can be classified more as "walks" than "hikes" but it was just what we were looking for. We would have also done Glacier Point and Olmstead Point Nature Trail had there not been a nearby forest fire that made most fantastic views barely visible. For Mirror "Lake" ... I highly recommend the mule ride (2 hours round-trip) rather than the hike. The end-point itself, Mirror Meadow, is not as spectacular as when it was a lake, so the mule ride makes the trip itself the highlight. You can sign up at the valley stables, Curry Village Recreation Center on the shuttle route. The mule trail is quite rocky and steep in parts, making for some excitement and the trail is all shady. We went during the heat of the day 2-4 PM and were extremely comfortable the whole time (save some sore bums). But you will notice the material is outdated especially on this subject. It states the lake is "well on its way to becoming a meadow". Well, in 2008, it IS a meadow. :)

This book is indeed a good, quick overview for easy to moderate day hikes in Yosemite. If you are not familiar with the park, it is an excellent quick study on where to spend your time hiking. A few notes of caution: the distances listed can be misleading because the figures are generally for one-way in only, so you will need to double them to get the total distance of the hike in and out. Also, there are some errors in elevation gain. The Happy Isles to Vernal Falls hike (a beautiful one indeed), for example, is listed as a 400 foot elevation gain, but in fact, the hike is a 1,000 foot gain for the 1.6 miles up (and up is the word) trail. Lastly, the book could do a better job of explaining that many waterfalls and some smaller lakes (like Mirror Lake) are likely to be pretty dry by the fall. If you are a dedicated, serious hiker who wants to scamper well over a dozen miles in a day, climbing 4,800 feet up to the top of Half Dome, then no, this is not your book. For most visitors, it will be a good guide.

For all the novice hikers out there, this is your book! This is a fine guide if you have never hiked before in a National Park, or if you merely dabble occasionally in the sport. The maps are excellent, as are the trail descriptions, elevation gains and driving directions to the trail heads. Most of these hikes can easily be completed by even the most unfit hiker, children, or eldery people.However, this is *not* the guide to purchase if you are a serious hiker. I was bemused to see that this book doesn't even contain the quintessential Yosemite hike, Half Dome. Nor does it contain the second-best hike in the park, the Four-and-a-half-mile-trail. In fact, none of the hikes profiled in this Guide are lengthier than a few miles and none would be considered even semi-strenuous. Heed this advice if you're a serious hiker and consult a different guide. But if you're just a casual weekend athlete, or have children in tow, this is a well-written and adequate book for your needs.