hiking and camping

Hikers and backpacks seeking to enjoy one of California's remoter and lesser-used parks will relish Mike White's Kings Canyon National Park: it offers tips on hiking trips of all lengths, from a quarter-mile stroll to a 42-mile trek, it surveys the best vista points and campsites within the park, and includes insider's tips on swimming holes and wildflowers. The inclusion of recommended side trips and trailhead descriptions along with topographical small maps makes Kings Canyon National Park a highly recommended choice.

The title exaggerates, but only slightly; this is certainly the *most* complete hikers' guide yet published on Kings Canyon National Park. It's also a fine model for hiking guides in general: sensibly organized, with plenty of information in an easy-to-access format. After a succinct background section, the book is divided into sections by trailhead area (Giant Forest, Cedar Grove, etc.). For each trailhead area, it gives information on all the nearby campgrounds--an extremely useful feature. Each hike description gives mileage, elevation gain/loss, directions to the trailhead, a succinct route description (some of which could be a little more detailed); so far, all standard. Where routes overlap, the overlapping section is covered in each route description; this may add to the overall weight of the thing (which is substantial--better to copy trail descriptions than to carry the whole book on an extended trip), but anyone who has ever leafed back and forth through Sierra South to construct a single route description will appreciate the redundancy. Each description also has a topo map of the route (detailed enough to give context, not always adequate for hiking purposes); icons in the margin identifying features such as campsites, views, and wildflowers; and brief descriptions of alternate or supplemental routes. These features add significantly to the overall utility of the guide. The hikes are nearly all on-trail, but the supplemental descriptions do cover many of the more popular cross-country and peakbagging routes.

The guide is marred by significant omissions. The Middle Fork Trail is mentioned only in passing; Tehipite Valley (one of the most extraordinary features in the park) and Blue Canyon are not mentioned at all. This is unfortunate not just because the area omitted is uniquely spectacular, or because it offers more solitude than you'll find on most other trails, but because the Middle Fork Trail ties the westside (Sierra National Forest) trail system into the Monarch Divide area trails and the John Muir Trail. Taking these trails out of consideration limits the (apparent) possibilities for longer trips through the park. (I could also complain about the omission of key cross-country routes--Grouse Lake to Glacier Valley, for example--but recognize that the guide is trail-focused, and does not set out to render comprehensive coverage of off-trail routes. And besides, even Secor omits some obvious routes.)

My only other complaint is that the index is skimpy; it appears to track places only where they are *featured*, not every time they are mentioned. (For example, Simpson Meadow is not in the index. While it is not described, it is mentioned as an alternate destination from the Monarch Divide trail complex, and it would be useful to be able to look up that mention.)

These quibbles aside, Wilderness Press and Mike White have done a fine job with this book, and it is a must-have book for the serious Sierra explorer.