Expert-Recommended Yosemite Reads

In Traveler magazine’s November/December issue, our expert panel offers the best hikes and sights in Yosemite National Park. Here, they recommend the best books to read before traveling to the park. (Click on the name of the book to link to ordering information.)  Meet our experts.

Camp 4, by Steve Roper (The Mountaineers 1994)
A pioneer climber reflects upon his experiences during the 1960s “golden age” of big-wall climbing in Yosemite and his interactions with other mountaineers who revolutionized the sport

Fur and Loafing in Yosemite: A Collection of Farley Cartoons Set in Yosemite National Park, by Phil Frank (Yosemite Association 1999)
A humorous take on Yosemite and its visitors by a San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist

History of the Sierra Nevada, by Francis Farquhar (University of California Press 1989)
An authoritative overview on the history of the Sierra Nevada, with chapters on such subjects as early mountaineering

National Parks of the United States (National Geographic Society 1997)
A complete guide to every national park in the U.S., with details on lodging, must-see sights, activities, and more

Obata’s Yosemite: The Art and Letters of Chiura Obata from His Trip to the High Sierra in 1997, by Chiura Obata (Yosemite Association 1993)
A collection of Yosemite-related works by Japanese painter Chiura Obata

Practice of the Wild: Essays, by Gary Snyder (North Point Press 1990)
A Pulitzer Prize-winning poet offers a collection of essays in which he explores the connection between nature and the human spirit

The Incomparable Valley: A Geologic Interpretation of the Yosemite, by Francois E. Matthes (University of California Press 1950)
A geologic history of Yosemite, with a focus on such subjects as the glacial morphology of the Yosemite region

The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite, by Michael Frye (Yosemite Association 2000)
An informative step-by-step guide to consult before photographing the park, with details on scenic spots, film types, prime times to shoot, and more

The Vertical World of Yosemite, edited by Galen A. Rowell (Wilderness Press 1998)
Well-known climbers offer insiders’ takes on the danger and ecstasy of scaling the park’s formidable granite walls

Yosemite: An American Treasure, by Kenneth Brower (National Geographic Society 1997)
A captivating account of the flora and wildlife in Yosemite, with more than 120 color photographs

Yosemite and the High Sierra, by Ansel Adams (Little Brown and Company 1994)
A compilation of the best photographs from renowned photographer Ansel Adams’s book Yosemite and the Range of Light

Yosemite and the Range of Light, by Ansel Adams (Little Borwn and Company 1979)
More than 100 stunning images of Yosemite taken by renowned photographer Ansel Adams

For Children
Two Bear Cubs: A Miwok Legend from California’s Yosemite Valley, by Robert D. San Souci and Daniel San Souci (illustrator) (Yosemite Association 1997)
A retelling of a Miwok Indian legend about the granite rock formation at Yosemite known as El Capitan, written for children ages five to nine

—Compiled by Heather Morgan

Heather Morgan is a Traveler associate researcher and the online editor.