California Trails High Sierra Region Paperback – October 20, 2006

This guide has become a companion that is brought along and referenced when exploring each new trail in the Sierra's. The detail about the area along the trail; the history on who made the trail and when; adds to the adventure. Without this guide I can easily find myself passing by a point of interest, just beyond the next ridge or turn in the road.There are a lot of guides you can buy. This one is definitely worth the price.Enjoy the back country - Drive Safe.

Great resource for off road adventurers. I like having printed material when going where no mobile phone will get a signal. I have most of the California series of these books. All excellent

Good book,maps

Fast delivery exactly what was described

Great book for a great place.

Great book awesome trails listed inside

I own several guides to 4x4 roads from various publishers and I find each of them useful in their own way, but the California Trails series is probably my all around favorite due to their balance of detail, presentation and ease of use/navigation. By breaking the state up into several distinct regions, the authors are able to present a larger number of trails for each area than found in broader guides - approximately 50 in each volume. The High Sierra Region covers a dramatic range of mountain, canyon, and high desert scenery, as well as ghost town sites, alpine lakes and meadows. Although the High Sierra guide doesn’t cover the entire Sierra Nevada range (the south end is covered in Central Mountains, the north in Northern Sierra), this is justified due to the sheer number of trails in the range. High Sierra focuses on the most dramatic central and eastern portions of the range, and also includes trails in neighboring high desert mountains of the Inyo National Forest.The layout is in full color and pretty easy to navigate, beginning with an explanation of the difficulty ratings (using a fairly nuanced 10 point system), remoteness ratings (something I haven’t encountered in other guides), basic backcountry/4x4 knowledge for the beginner, packing checklists and a map of each trail’s general location in relation to one another so that you can plan interconnected trips easily. Then come the trails.Most trails are rated 5 or below, with a few up to 7 in difficulty, as anything higher is beyond the scope of any but the most experienced driver with a heavily modified vehicle. Each trail has a generous number of pages devoted to it, with info on the trail’s stats and special attractions, its history (if any), and a general description of the drive which includes what kind of conditions/obstacles to expect (of course, always check local road conditions at the time you travel), viewpoints, campsites, access to other recreation opportunities and more. Road condition contact information and map references are provided before detailed route directions. This is where I find the Trails series really shines. Essentially every landmark you pass, nearly every track and trail which crosses the route is noted in the mileage log (in many cases the authors even note what kind of trail it is and the difficulty if known, even if the trail isn’t covered in the book, in case you want to expand your adventures). And if you plan to drive the trail in reverse, the authors provide reverse directions in blue printed below the main ones, taking out the guesswork.Interspersed throughout the text are large color photos which show both scenery and areas of the trail. There are also text boxes which explain aspects of local history, flora, fauna and geology you may encounter in more detail, making this one of the more educational guide series as well. The maps are a weak point. Although they show roads and major trails which cross or connect to the route, and the locations of streams, park boundaries, campsites and ghost towns, there is very little detail, no indications of topography or road difficulty changes, and no waypoints marked. And as other reviewers have mentioned, the maps aren’t oriented northward. It looks to me like they tried to place them in whatever direction made best use of the allotted space on the page. This is easy to deal with if you’re aware of it however, and anyone who is serious about going into the backcountry should have a good area map anyway. The mileage log is so detailed, you will probably rely on it as your main way of guiding yourself.The only other major flaw in the series is that they aren’t very durable. The binding is poor - one even had a chunk of pages fall out within the first 12 hours of ownership (barely having leafed through it). Without a spiral binding like some trail guides have, it makes it more difficult to use the book while navigating. And, they are made like any other paperback, so they are easily damaged. (Although I read a review stating spiral bound copies could be bought off the publisher’s website, the site does not appear to be working anymore.) But, for number of trails combined with detailed navigation and a great balance of photos and educational information, the Trails series is my favorite.

The authors are very thorough and this I have always appreciated. The background and history they provide is also interesting and provides good reading in advance of the trip.Unlike many of the other reviewers, however, I'll say that providing all the detail about the drive is unnecessary. I have never used it and, now that we have navigation apps like Gaia, there is no need to waste space or pages on all the detail. Providing GPS waypoints with a physical description of each waypoint is all that is necessary.I gave it 4 stars rather than 5 because there is one of author who outdoes Peter Massey and his collaborators, Roger Mitchell. Mitchell, it is clear, really lived and loved the trails he recounts and has done far more homework about the history and fauna of each route. It's hard to believe he had time for it!Most of the drives in this book, and all of the California Trails books, are the easier drives. Someday someone will produce a book series called "Challenging and Unknown California 4x4 Trails" and there ought to be a big market for that one! Also, the High Sierras are vast enough that there ought to be multiple volumes. I've resorted to calling the local jeep clubs to find out the trails that aren't included in Massey's book.My final comment is about the binding. Whenever I purchase these books, I routinely take them to the local Fedex/Kinko's to get rebound using a spiral binding that allows them to lay flat. I'd recommend this to everyone. Don't wait for the pages to fray and the binding to break. Just get the new book rebound immediately.