Hiking Yosemite National Park: A Guide to Yosemite National Park's Greatest Hiking Adventures

This is an indispensible guidebook for any hiker who loves Yosemite. I use it almost daily during hiking season and it helps in selecting hikes, planning them, reaching the trailhead and gauging whether a hike will be worthwhile. Each hike contains an accurate, though brief, description of the rigors of each trek. Occasionally I quibble with the authors ranking of a given hike, but usually they are on the mark.A few cautionary notes: there are no detailed maps in the book, except general maps which introduce the hiker to each specific place. Te map for the John Muir trail, for example, is very basic. Don't expect detailed maps for each hike because there are none. The descriptions of how to reach each trailhead are excellent, unless you have little experience with Yosemite.My favorite part of the book is that the Touloume Meadows High Country area is not neglected. Swedo has various categories and list the hikes they think are best suited to be placed in every league and the valley floor is not the only area of the park that is stressed .If you spend any time hiking in Yosemite, this book is essential!

I purchased this book for a trip to Yosemite that I took earlier this year. The descriptions of the hikes were wonderful and included such key details as where to park and what the water & facility opportunities are on the trails. Another key detail in the book was a breakdown of elevation gain per foot. I used it to help plan my Half Dome hike and it was essential. Unfortunately there was an incident in my pack with the bug spray so I'm online today to purchase this book again to help plan my new conquest - El Capitan.

Great book. Has maps and descriptions for a ton of hikes in Yosemite. Contains a chart of hikes by difficulty, scenery, etc. I'll definitely go with FalconGuide for future hiking books.

This is a straightforward guide to the trails in Yosemite that does the job clearly and informatively, and at a good price. The guide is well laid out, organized by trailhead area. Each hike has all the necessary information (length, altitude gain, best time of year etc) and an elevation profile, followed by a brief description that gives a feel for the area and a list of way-points. Each trail gets about two pages of information, and the book is small enough to carry along without minding the weight. Overall this is a very good guide - nothing flashy but its very well put together, well thought out and a good price.

This is a great book for both hikers wanting the more popular, "touristy" hikes and those wanting a physical challenge. There are detailed descriptions for all the hikes, and she even breaks down the hikes by her favorite hikes for "high altitude", "photo opps", "waterfalls", "solitude", etc. I found the descriptions pretty accurate. A good book for someone who's not so familiar with all the different types of hikes in Yosemite.