Useful Books

BACKPACKING AND MOUNTAINEERING

Aksamit, Inga. The Hungry Spork: A Long Distance Hiker’s Guide to Meal Planning. Pacific Adventures Press, 2017.

Aksamit, Inga, Kenny Meyer, and Leslie Rozier. An Unofficial Acclimatization Guideline: Your High-Altitude Guideline for the John Muir Trail, 2020.

Beck, Steve. Yosemite Trout Fishing Guide. Portland, OR: Frank Amato Publications, 1996.

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. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2011.

Forgey, M. D. William W. Wilderness Medicine: Beyond First Aid. 7th ed. Guilford, CT: Falcon Guides, 2017.

Ghiglieri, Michael Patrick, and Charles R. Farabee. 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. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.

Wilkerson, James A. Medicine for Mountaineering & Other Wilderness Activities. 6th ed. Seattle, WA: The Mountaineers Books, 2010.

GUIDEBOOKS

Medley, Steven P. The Complete Guidebook to Yosemite National Park. El Portal, CA: Yosemite Association, 2002.

Schaffer, Jeffrey P. Yosemite National Park: A Complete Hikers Guide. Berkeley, CA: Wilderness Press, 2006. [to be updated in 2020]

Wenk, Elizabeth. 50 Best Short Hikes: Yosemite National Park and Vicinity. Birmingham, AL: Wilderness Press, 2012.

Wenk, Elizabeth, and Jeffrey P. Schaffer.Top Trails: Yosemite: 45 Must-Do Hikes for Everyone. 2nd ed. Birmingham, AL: Wilderness Press, 2018.

Roper, Steve. The Sierra High Route: Traversing Timberline Country. Seattle, WA: The Mountaineers Books, 1997.

Secor, R. J. The High Sierra: Peaks, Passes, Trails. Seattle, WA: The Mountaineers Books, 2009.

Wenk, Elizabeth. John Muir Trail: The Essential Guide to Hiking America’s Most Famous Trail. 5th ed. Birmingham, AL: Wilderness Press, 2014

White, Mike. Top Trails: Lake Tahoe: 50 Must-Do Hikes for Everyone. 3rd ed. Birmingham, AL: Wilderness Press, 2015.

HISTORY AND LITERATURE

Aksamit, Inga. Highs and Lows on the John Muir Trail. San Bernardino, CA: Pacific Adventures Press, 2015.

Alsup, William. Missing in the Minarets: The Search for Walter A. Starr, Jr. Illustrated Edition. El Portal, CA: Yosemite Conservancy, 2005.

Arnold, Daniel. Early Days in the Range of Light: Encounters with Legendary Mountaineers. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint Press, 2011.

Blehm, Eric. The Last Season. New York: HarperCollins, 2009.

Brewer, William H. Up and Down California in 1860–1864: The Journal of William H. Brewer. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2003.

Brewer, William Henry, William H. Alsup, and Yosemite Association. 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. Sierra Nevada Place Names. 3rd ed. Lafayette, CA: Great West Books, 2011.

———. Splendid Mountains. Lafayette, CA: Great West Books, 2007.

———. Yosemite Place Names: The Historic Background of Geographic Names in Yosemite National Park. Lafayette, CA: Great West Books, 2005.

Bunnell, Lafayette H. Discovery of the Yosemite in 1851. El Portal, CA: Yosemite Association, 1880 (1990).

Farquhar, Francis Peloubet. History of the Sierra Nevada. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2007.

Jackson, Louise A. The Sierra Nevada Before History: Ancient Landscapes, Early Peoples. Mountain Press Publishing Company, Incorporated, 2010.

Johnson, Shelton. Gloryland: A Novel. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint Press, 2010.

Johnston, Hank. The Yosemite Grant, 1864–1906: A Pictorial History. El Portal, CA: Yosemite Association, 1995.

King, Clarence. Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1997.

Le Conte, Joseph N. “The High Mountain Route Between Yosemite and the King’s River Canon.” Sierra Club Bulletin 7, no. 1 (1909): 1–22.

Muir, John. The Mountains of California. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press, 1894 (1977).

———. My First Summer in the Sierra. San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club, 1911 (1990).

Rose, Gene. Yosemite’s Tioga Country: A History and Appreciation. El Portal, CA: Yosemite Association, 2006.

Russell, Carl Parcher. One Hundred Years in Yosemite: The Story of a Great Park and Its Friends. El Portal, CA: Yosemite Association, 1968 (1992).

Sanborn, Margaret. Yosemite: Its Discovery, Its Wonders and Its People. El Portal, CA: Yosemite Association, 1989.

Sargent, Shirley. Solomons of the Sierra: The Pioneer of the John Muir Trail. Flying Spur Press, 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, Origin of Yosemite Valley, and a Glacier Tour in the Sierra Nevada. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2001.

Huber, N. King, and Wymond W. Eckhardt. Devils Postpile Story. Three Rivers, CA: Sequoia Natural History Association, 2001.

Huber, N. King. The Geologic Story of Yosemite National Park. US Geological Survey Bulletin 1595, 1987.

Huber, Norman King. Geological Ramblings in Yosemite. Berkeley, CA: Heyday, 2007.

Matthes, François E. Geologic History of the Yosemite Valley. US Geological Survey Professional Paper 160, 1930.

———. The Incomparable Valley: A Geologic Interpretation of the Yosemite. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1950.

BIOLOGY

Anderson, M. Kat. Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California’s Natural Resources. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2013.

Beedy, Edward C., and Edward R. Pandolfino. Birds of the Sierra Nevada: Their Natural History, Status, and Distribution. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2013.

Gaines, David. Birds of Yosemite and the East Slope. Lee Vining, CA: Artemisia Press, 1992.

Laws, John Muir. The Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada. Berkeley, CA: Heyday, 2007.

Johnston, V. R. Sierra Nevada: The Naturalist’s Companion. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2000.

Sibley, David. The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America. New York: Knopf, 2003.

Storer, Tracy I., Robert L. Usinger, and David Lukas. Sierra Nevada Natural History. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2004.

Weeden, Norman F. A Sierra Nevada Flora. Berkeley, CA: Wilderness Press, 1996.

Wiese, Karen. Sierra Nevada Wildflowers. 2nd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 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 Association, 2000.