Sierra North: Backcountry Trips in California's Sierra Nevada (Sierra Nevada Guides) Paperback – December 15, 2020

I am a hiker and I love this book. It gives me a lot of information.

By way of disclaimer: I was a consultant on the new edition of this book. Nevertheless, I can say without bias that Elizabeth Wenk and Mike White have done a fantastic job with this new edition. It is leaps and bounds beyond the previous version (now 15 years old). One only has to notice the fact that they have added over a hundred pages of maps, text, hikes and updates to this edition to see that it’s worth retiring the old edition and getting this update!The first thing to know is the authors have spent literally years personally VERIFYING all the hikes in this book, updating ones that have become re-routed or lost due to lack of use, adding new hikes where new routes have become more popular, and updating all descriptions including “heads up” sections warning about recent wildfires, high water risks, possible closures, and other dangers.The authors have added many new features that make this THE Sierra guidebook series to own. These include: GPS coordinates for all hikes (and a website with downloadable waypoints), revised maps, elevation profiles, better indexing, verified mileage for all trails, turn-by-turn descriptions of how to find the trailheads, more detailed descriptions of places of historic interest, more detailed descriptions of trees and wildflowers, new notes about geology and other special features along the trails, updated details on permit requirements, new photographs, and many new details about side explorations and possible links to other trips... and this is just the short list.Purchased as a set: Sierra North, Sierra South, and Yosemite are the perfect companions for anyone planning day-hikes or major expeditions in the Sierra. Bringing copies of the detailed trail descriptions along is like having a personal guide to point out the details and features of the route, points of interest just off trail, and warn you of any possible wrong turns or hazards along the way. These books will take the uncertainty out of question like: “How do I get to the trail?”, “How hard is this route?”, “Would this lake make a good side-trip?” or “Does this trail still exist?” It lets you get down to what you want to do – hiking and exploring in the Sierra Nevada. I will be pouring over the maps, side-trips, elevation profiles, and points of historical interest found in these books for years to come. Five stars!!

This is my go-to guidebook for my backpacking trips. The authors, who have several Sierra guidebooks to their name, are both accomplished backpackers who have spent many days hiking Sierra trails. This book covers hikes in the northern Sierra starting from around the southern border of Yosemite National Park and extending north to Lake Tahoe and Castle Peak. This includes the popular Desolation Wilderness and hikes branching off the Pacific Crest Trail. The hikes are broken down into clear, easy to understand sections with introductory overviews, permits, best time to hike, information about how to find the trailhead (sometimes the most confusing part of a hike for me), photographs and a thorough description of the hike that includes where campsites and water can be found. Elizabeth Wenk spends every summer hiking Sierra trails, taking photographs, tracking mileage and recording notes so her information is thorough, up to date and accurate. She is extremely knowledgeable about the flora, fauna and geology of the Sierra, which adds greatly to the trail descriptions. The guidebook is helpful in planning routes and loops in the region.I look forward to planning many trips using this resource but to write this review, I looked at a trail I was familiar with, the Pacific Crest Trail from Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows. Right away, I appreciated the Heads Up section at the beginning that warns the reader that this is one of the more strenuous trips in the book due to the distance and lack of resupply options. To complete the trip in 8 days means that some days will be 10-11 miles per day with significant elevation gain and loss, which is quite obvious when you look at the elevation profile displayed at the beginning of the trip description. The author’s descriptions of the washboard section of Northern Yosemite provides an accurate description of the challenges of this section across deep canyons with multiple stream crossings and a suggestion to spend some time at the lovely Benson Lake. This guidebook, like others by these authors, is an excellent resource and a huge aid to planning. I love guidebooks so I plan on using the print version for planning and the digital version on my phone to reference on the hike. I also use the Sierra South companion book for trips south of Yosemite.

I brought pages from this book along on a 35 mile hike and it was an amazing resource! I ripped out the chapter for the trailhead we were leaving from, and we ended up changing our route during our trip. We had a large-scale map but no topo for the area we were heading into because of our route change, but we were able to find camping sites and detailed info about creek crossings thanks to this book. For example, I knew that a creek crossing that was described as tough in early june would be fine for us in early July because the book described a similar crossing as "a tough wade" in early june but a "rock hop" later in the season. I am excited to learn about this book and will be planning more hikes based on these recommendations!