Useful Books and Maps
Backpacking and Mountaineering
Beck, Steve. Yosemite Trout Fishing Guide. Portland, OR: Frank Amato Publications, 1995.
Beffort, Brian. Joy of Backpacking: Your Complete Guide to Attaining Pure Happiness in the Outdoors. Berkeley, CA: Wilderness Press, 2007.
Berger, Karen. Hiking Light Handbook: Carry Less, Enjoy More. Seattle, WA: Mountaineers Books, 2004.
Clelland, Mike. Ultralight Backpackin’ Tips: 153 Amazing & Inexpensive Tips for Extremely Lightweight Camping. Guilford, CT: Falcon Guides, 2011.
Forgey, William W., M.D. Wilderness Medicine: Beyond First Aid, 7th ed. Guilford, CT: Falcon Guides, 2017.
Ghiglieri, Michael Patrick, and Charles R. Farabee Jr. Off the Wall: Death in Yosemite: Gripping Accounts of All Known Fatal Mishaps in America’s First Protected Land of Scenic Wonders. Flagstaff, AZ: Puma Press, 2007.
Ladigin, Don. Lighten Up!: A Complete Handbook for Light and Ultralight Backpacking. Guilford, CT: Falcon Guides, 2005.
Wilkerson, James A., M.D. Medicine for Mountaineering & Other Wilderness Activities, 6th ed. Seattle, WA: Mountaineers Books, 2010.
Guidebooks
Medley, Steven P. The Complete Guidebook to Yosemite National Park. El Portal, CA: Yosemite Conservancy, 2018.
Wenk, Elizabeth and Jeffrey P. Schaffer. Yosemite National Park: A Complete Hiker’s Guide, 6th ed. Birmingham, AL: Wilderness Press, 2020.
Wenk, Elizabeth. 50 Best Short Hikes: Yosemite National Park and Vicinity, 2nd ed. Birmingham, AL: Wilderness Press, 2012.
———. John Muir Trail: The Essential Guide to Hiking America’s Most Famous Trail, 5th ed. Birmingham, AL: Wilderness Press, 2014.
History and Literature
Arnold, Daniel. Early Days in the Range of Light: Encounters with Legendary Mountaineers. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint Press, 2011.
Brewer, William H. Up and Down California in 1860–1864, 4th ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, (1930) 2003.
Brewer, William Henry. Such a Landscape!: A Narrative of the 1864 California Geological Survey Exploration of Yosemite, Sequoia & Kings Canyon from the Diary, Field Notes, Letters & Reports of William Henry Brewer. El Portal, CA: Yosemite Association, 1999.
Browning, Peter. Yosemite Place Names: The Historic Background of Geographic Names in Yosemite National Park. Lafayette, CA: Great West Books, 2005.
Bunnell, Lafayette Houghton. Discovery of the Yosemite. El Portal, CA: Yosemite Association, 1991 (1880).
Farquhar, Francis P. History of the Sierra Nevada. Berkeley: University of California Press, (1946) 2007.
Johnson, Shelton. Gloryland: A Novel. San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books, 2009.
Johnston, Hank. The Yosemite Grant, 1864–1906: A Pictorial History. El Portal, CA: Yosemite Association, 1995.
King, Clarence. Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997 (1872).
Muir, John. The Mountains of California. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press, 1977 (1894).
———. My First Summer in the Sierra. San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club, 1988 (1911).
Righter, Robert W. The Battle Over Hetch Hetchy: America’s Most Controversial Dam and the Birth of Modern Environmentalism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Rose, Gene. Yosemite’s Tioga Country: A History and Appreciation. Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books, 2006.
Russell, Carl Parcher. One Hundred Years in Yosemite: The Story of a Great Park and Its Friends. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1947.
Sanborn, Margaret. Yosemite: Its Discovery, Its Wonders, and Its People. El Portal, CA: Yosemite Association, 1989.
Geology
Glazner, Allen F., and Greg M. Stock. Geology Underfoot in Yosemite National Park. Missoula, MT: Mountain Press, 2010.
Guyton, Bill. Glaciers of California: Modern Glaciers, Ice Age Glaciers, the Origin of Yosemite Valley, and a Glacier Tour in the Sierra Nevada. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.
Huber, N. King. The Geologic Story of Yosemite National Park. El Portal, CA: Yosemite Conservancy, 2014.
———. Geological Ramblings in Yosemite. Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books, 2007.
Matthes, François E. Geologic History of the Yosemite Valley: Geological Survey Professional Paper 160. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1930.
———. The Incomparable Valley: A Geologic Interpretation of the Yosemite. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1950.
Schaffer, Jeffrey P. The Geomorphic Evolution of the Yosemite Valley and Sierra Nevada Landscapes: Solving the Riddles in the Rocks. Berkeley, CA: Wilderness Press, 1997.
———. Seeing the Elephant: How Perceived Evidence in the Sierra Nevada Biased Global Geomorphology (unpublished manuscript, 2006). [Volume 2 of the previous entry.]
Biology
Beedy, Edward C., and Edward R. Pandolfino. Birds of the Sierra Nevada: Their Natural History, Status, and Distribution. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013.
Botti, Stephen J., and Walter Sydoriak. An Illustrated Flora of Yosemite National Park. Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books, 2001.
Gaines, David. Birds of Yosemite and the East Slope. Lee Vining, CA: Artemisia Press, 1992.
Horn, Elizabeth L. Sierra Nevada Wildflowers. Missoula, MT: Mountain Press, 1998.
Johnston, Verna R. Sierra Nevada: The Naturalist’s Companion. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.
Laws, John Muir. The Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada. Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books, 2007.
Sibley, David. Sibley Birds West: Field Guide to Birds of Western North America, 2nd ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013.
Storer, Tracy I., Robert L. Usinger, and David Lukas. Sierra Nevada Natural History, revised ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.
Weeden, Norman F. A Sierra Nevada Flora, 4th ed. Berkeley, CA: Wilderness Press, 1996.
Wiese, Karen. Sierra Nevada Wildflowers, 2nd ed. Guilford, CT: Falcon Guides, 2013.
Wenk, Elizabeth. Wildflowers of the High Sierra and John Muir Trail. Birmingham, AL: Wilderness Press, 2015.
Willard, Dwight. A Guide to the Sequoia Groves of California. El Portal, CA: Yosemite Conservancy, 2000.