Hiking California's Desert Parks

A very good general-purpose trail guide to California's desert parks. Fairly detailed, for all it has to cover. If you were hiking one specific park most of the time you might want something a little more in-depth, but with a good topo map and plenty of water, this book will suffice for a lot of trails. One word of warning: desert hiking and camping is not the same as hiking more well-traveled forest parks. If you aren't experienced with a map, a compass or GPS, run out of water, or otherwise get into trouble, you can run into survival problems very quickly. I strongly advise hiking with a partner, leaving an itinerary, and getting some additional information on desert navigation, equipment, and trip planning. One excellent resource for that extra information is The Ultimate Desert Handbook by Mark Johnson.

Living in southern CA, these 4 desert parks are my sandboxes. I go there hiking, camping and photographing frequently. This is the book I carry with me to the next interesting point. Although I still go on other places for more detail and other info (like desertUSA.com). I study the distance, elevation gain/loss, attractions, direction, and key points. I highly recommend to anyone who's interested in going there. This is for serious hikers, not armchair readers.