Book Description
Features 114 hikes of all levels in four California Desert Parks; Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Joshua Tree and Death Valley national parks, and Mojave National Preserve.
Customer Reviews:
Hiking Opportunities in Southern California's Desert Wilderness.......2006-09-11
I have a real fondness for books by Bill and Polly Cunningham. Their 'Best Easy Dayhikes: Anza Borrego' introduced me to desert hiking and has left me with an abiding love of California's desert regions. The off season recreational opportunities in these areas: Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks, the Mojave National Preserve, and Anza Borrego State Parks are seemingly endless and this book provides a good introduction to these places. The 114 hikes described in this book range in length from short leg stretchers of 1/4 mile (or less) to all day rambles over difficult terrain from 10 to 16 miles. Each hike description includes a list of key points, mileage between these points, a hypsometric map (GPS compatible) and decent black and white photographs of the area.
Although I like the book, I have a few concerns. I'm not sure the authors rechecked every trail from the first edition. Had they done so, they might have noticed that Squaw Peak and Pond (in Agua Caliente County Parks) have had name changes to accomodate the politically correct crowd. Also, I have twice hiked Mountain Palm Springs Canyon in the last year and failed to note the cutoff trail sign for Indian Gorge. But aside from those minor errors, my major concern is that this book really doesn't provide a comprehensive view of all the desert has to offer. The author's narrow view of "parks" precludes them from discussing the many recreational opportunities in county and state parks in the Imperial Valley and around Palm Springs. Hikers seeking coverage of these areas as well should look at John McKinney's books or to regional hiking guides. Nonetheless, if you are planning a visit to Joshua Tree, Death Valley, the Mojave or Anza Borrego this is an excellent book to get. The authors made a desert rat out of me and they can do the same for you if you give them half a chance.
Average customer rating:
- Sonoran Desert Wildflowers
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Sonoran Desert Wildflowers: A Field Guide to the Common Wildflowers of the Sonoran Desert, Including Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Saguaro National Park, Organ Pipe National Monument, Ironwood Forest National Monument, and the Sonoran Portion of Joshua Tree National Park
Richard Spellenberg
Manufacturer: Falcon
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Mojave Desert Wildflowers: A Field Guide to Wildflowers, Trees, and Shrubs of the Mojave Desert, Including the Mojave National Preserve, Death Valley National Park, and Joshua Tree National Park
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A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert (Arizona Sonora Desert Museum)
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Cacti of the Desert Southwest
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Shrubs & Trees of the Southwest Deserts
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Plants of Arizona
ASIN: 0762711361 |
Book Description
This guide features 300 of the common plants of the Sonoran Desert. Detailed descriptions, information about bloom season and range, and interesting facts about each plant accompany the full-color photographs. 300 color photos
Customer Reviews:
Sonoran Desert Wildflowers.......2007-01-30
A must-have book for your library of Desert Wildflower books. It is arranged by color of bloom, has beautiful photographs, and the text is very informative. Each plant description also has a comment of something unusual or interesting about it, which is a novelty for a flower book.
Book Description
Anza Borrego Desert State Park is the largest desert park in the United States, drawing approximately 650,000 visitors per year. Combining detailed narrative with GPS-based trail maps, Day and Overnight Hikes: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park breaks down the best of the best hikes, both day and overnight. Whether it’s the best view over Culp Valley, a walk through Hellhole Canyon, or a flat walk through hills and dales near the Salton Sea, Day and Overnight Hikes is the definitive go-to guide to enjoy the largest desert park in the United States, just an hour’s drive from San Diego.
Catalog Copy (Final): Combining detailed narrative with GPS-based trail maps, the Day & Overnight Hikes series leads hikers and backpackers to sites of exceptional beauty and solitude. Each Day and Overnight Hike contains four key elements to help you plan and enjoy the perfect day or overnight:
GPS-Based Trail Maps
GPS-Based Elevation Profiles
Directions to the Trailhead
Trail Descriptions
Each trail description offers precise commentary on what to expect along the way and rates each hike for
Scenery
Trail Condition
Difficulty
Accessibility for Children
Solitude
Designed to fit easily in a back pocket or pack, Day & Overnight Hikes points hikers to the best and least crowded trails for each destination.
Customer Reviews:
Don't Judge a book by its Cover: A guide to Rugged Desert Adventure.......2007-02-05
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is one of pre-eminent outdoor recreation sites in Southern California. It is the largest state park in California and offers lots of recreational opportunities including off road vehicle travel, numerous nature walks, wildlife and (in season) spectacular flower blooms. For this reason it is a very popular winter and spring destination and many guidebooks and maps can lead visitors to some of its many charms.
What sets this book by Sheri McGregor apart from the others is that this one focuses on long overland desert trips, many of which require a four-wheel drive or high-clearance vehicle to access. Some classic shorter hikes are also included. The trip up Ghost Mountain where poet Marshall South used to live is included as is the Borrego Canyon Nature Trail. But the bulk of the book is devoted to long loops up desert canyons with little in the way of trail tread and even less in the way of fellow hikers. Readers, and those daring enough to try these hikes, will be treated to a pine forest (hardly typical desert fare) atop Whale Peak and a hidden Palm oasis in Flat Cat Canyon, a mere 5 miles but 5 - 7 hour round trip hike. You will want to be in good shape to attempt these hikes.
The book does have a number of virtues. Each hike includes a decent sketch map and an elevation profile. Directions to trailheads are adequate and are GPS compatible. There is a nice appendix listing local outdoor shops and hiking clubs. On the whole, this is a decent book, but as noted in my review title, don't judge this book by its cover. The picture on the front shows a hiker walking a flat trail through a dense deciduous forest. You will find precious little of that in Anza-Borrego. But if you want to discover remote destinations and solitude, and are willing to work for it, this is the book for you.
Customer Reviews:
The Fifth Edition is the Best Yet........2006-05-07
For someone who really enjoys mountain trails, I seem to spend a lot of time in the Anza-Borrego Region. This ever-growing state park and surrounding public lands offer some of the best off season recreation in southern California and one cannot find a more comprehensive guide to the area than this book by Lowell and Diana Lindsay. With a huge map, sharp photos, and new updated GPS coordinates (using UTM and traditional lat/lon locations) this book is simply a must have for anyone who wants to spend time in the southern deserts.
Like previous editions, and unlike most Wilderness Press books, the focus of this guide is off-road vehicle travel and auto-touring. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and the adjacent BLM lands (and Ocotilla Wells State Vehicle Recreational Area) cover such a large area that auto touring is simply the best way to explore the region. (The "Desert Driving Techniques" section of the introduction is almost mandatory reading for any would be RVers. The authors' humorous descriptions of what happens to weekend road warriers are plenty sufficient to keep me and my little chevy out of many of the areas they describe.) Still, the guide does feature many nature walks and dozens of longer hiking options, including a few backpacking trips. It also lists the many camping opportunities in the region.
Finally, like all Wilderness Press Books, this one is heavy on natural and cultural history. Readers will be treated to the story of Pegleg Smith and his legendary lost gold mine, the destruction of Oh My God hot springs, allegedly for health reasons but actually a concerted effort by citizens of Salton City to rid the area of nudists, the history of Ghost Mountain and poet Marshall South, and a description of the recent (September, 2004) flood of Borrego canyon that uprooted hundreds of Palm Tress (the bowls of which can still be seen some 20 feet above water level) and forever changed the canyon. This all makes for enjoyable reading and adds immensely to one's appreciation of the desert as you explore it. I cannot recommend this guide highly enough.
Book Description
Southern California's Anza-Borrego Desert State Park® is a vast, mostly arid desert, but the ancient landscapes of Anza-Borrego were richly populated riparian forests and savanna. Before that, it held a tropical inland ocean teeming with marine life. Today's eroded badlands provide North America's most continuous history of life for most of the last 7 million years—one of the richest, most varied fossil records of its time in the western hemisphere—opening windows onto the region's long-vanished past. Anza-Borrego's record contains more than 550 types of fossil plants and animals, ranging from microscopic pollen and water fleas to walrus bones and mammoth skeletons, which have been the focus of ongoing research, study, and interpretation since the mid-1850s. The results of the past several decades of study by leading researchers from across the nation can now be seen in this comprehensive work, a compilation of 23 authors each with his own specialty. Early chapters explore background themes and concepts, starting with the Imperial Sea episode. Central chapters present the real stars of the story—individual groups of animals. The bestiary reads like a Who's-Who of many of the most unique fossil vertebrates on earth—bathtub-sized tortoises, the sabertooth cat, giant ground sloths, the giant short-faced bear, the largest known mammoth, a giant camel, and the largest bird ever to fly northern hemisphere skies. Closing chapters discuss fossil footprints, intercontinental connections, and paleoclimates and environmental change in the Anza-Borrego desert region.
Exquisite illustrations and color foldout paleolandscapes bring the past to life throughout the text. The book is edited by George T. Jefferson, a California State Park district paleontologist, and Lowell Lindsay, publisher and board member of the Association of Earth Science Editors.
Customer Reviews:
Introducing the reader to studies from twenty-three leading paleontologists and experts.......2006-04-10
Knowledgeably compiled and co-edited by George T. Jefferson (District Paleontologist, Colorado Desert District, California State Parks) and Lowell Lindsay (CEO and Publisher, Sunbelt Publications, San Diego, California), Fossil Treasures Of The Anza-Borrego Desert is an impressively informative collection enhanced with over 300 photographs, maps, tables, appendices, illustrations, and diagrams with useful, helpful and informative information on California's awe-inspiring Anza-Borrego State Park. Introducing the reader to studies from twenty-three leading paleontologists and experts, Fossil Treasures Of The Anza~Borrego Desert educates and elaborates the many intricacies and interesting images of the intriguing desert terrain. An invaluable addition to academic and community library paleontology collections, Fossil Treasures Of The Anza~Borrego Desert is very strongly recommended to scholarship as well as non-specialist general readers with an interest in paleontology.
Science Made Understandable.......2006-03-16
This book has some complicated stuff in it, but it is made understandable for the non-scientist. Really fabulous illustrations help you imagine what it was like at Anza-Borrego a million years ago. If you have specific questions about the Pleistocene life in the park, you can just read a specific chapter. Or, you can get a complete overview reading the whole book. Slightly challenging for the non-scientist, but understandable and enjoyable. I'd recommend it for anyone who is interested in fossils, mammoths, or the Pleistocene scene.
Fossil Treasures of the Anza-Borrego Desert .......2006-02-22
The book is concise, direct and easy for the layman to read and understand. It has beautiful illustrations and answers most of the questions anyone who is interested in the recent (the past 7 million years) history of animal life in the U.S. could have. The book covers everything from invertebrates (small sea life with no backbone) to mammoths. It lets the reader know when and where many of these animals have been found and gives a good description. I'd rate the book five stars.
Jerry Hughes
Book Description
Hikes varying from half-hour strolls to full-day adventures, this guidebook is for everyone, including families.
Customer Reviews:
For Budding Desert Rats.......2005-04-21
I am generally somewhat partisan towards hiking in mountains and among forests but every now and again, especially during the Spring after a good rainy season, I like to go to the desert and see the (sometimes) spectacular flower bloom. Anza-Borrego State Park is a great place for this sort of activity and this edition of "Best Easy Dayhikes" is a nice guide to the hiking alternatives in the area.
This book is actually an exerpt from a much larger Falcon Press book, 'Hiking California's Desert Parks' by the same authors. As with other books in the 'Best Easy Dayhikes' series, the focus here is on short walks with relatively minimal elevation gains. In this the authors do an excellent job. Only three of the twenty hikes exceed 3 miles in length. Many are less than a mile. And all of the trails I took from this guide were delightful. It's almost enough to tempt me into spending more time in the desert.
Average customer rating:
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Recreation map of the San Diego backcountry: Waterproof, synthetic paper
Tom Harrison
Manufacturer: T. Harrison
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ASIN: 1877689548 |
Product Description
All maps have color-coded symbols and trails, mileages between trail junctions, latitude/longitude, UTM grids, contour lines, vegetation, and elevations at trail junctions.Tom Harrison Maps is famous for the beauty and accuracy of its maps. All maps printed on waterproof and tear resistent material
Customer Reviews:
What was the Kumeyaay Indian rock trying to say?.......2007-08-19
Manfred Knaak's "The Forgotten Artist" is a beautifully rendered book about pictographs in the Anza-Borrego Desert of southern California where such Indian rock can be found. He shows comparatively how such rock art depictions may stand for ritual magic, or fertility rites, and perhaps shamanistic dreams. This books is visually beautiful with photographs illustrating this ancient art form of the Americas, which is not too different from their counterparts worldwide. These ancient rock images, predominantly by the Kumeyaay clans living east of San Diego and south of the Salton Sea, can be either painted in red and black, sometimes yellow and white, or chipped as petroglyphs and hollowed out cupules. Visitors to the park might find these delightfully inspiring as to what the Indians of long ago might have been trying to say, to themselves then as well as to us today.
On one such visit I stopped at Pictograph Rock in Little Blair valley and was enchanted by the painted rock art on this large boulder. It looked more to be a 'tableau' of information to passersby, since the rock is located on a saddleback between valleys, which may have been a crossroads of ancient hunting trails. This area was also called Smuggler's Trail, and if standing above the valley, one can still see faint trails winding through the sparse brush dotting the desert floor. On this occasion, I saw the stone more as a 'marker' than visual art, one that meant to convey information about seasonal water present there. This would have been very useful to travelers on their way to either distant villages or hunting grounds. When I returned two weeks later to follow my instincts, before I had a chance to acquire Knaak's book, I suspect I may have found some of the markers shown on Pictograph Rock. Climbing up that mountain rewarded me with a better understanding of what the artist meant to convey with his art. I posted a field report here: [...] (surprisingly, the book arrived in the mail the day I was out in the field) I hope to return there during the winter rainy season to see if in fact the water springs are active as depicted.
In addition to ritualistic magic in ancient times, the Kumeyaay and other Indian tribes living in the desert also had a real need for information on a most precious resource, that of water, which they may have depicted with ideogram-like symbolism. I suspect some of the art work described in "The Forgotten Artist" may in fact also represent pictographic markers for where that water may be found. As a caveat to anyone visiting these sites, do bring water because the desert can be hot and dry, and be very careful to not disturb these beautiful ancient legacies of rock art, for they are also sacred, for all future visitors to enjoy. Manfred Knaak gives grace and understanding to what those ancient artists were trying to do in their craft, to communicate both with the spirit world as well as us, the future humans to pass this way. Very enjoyable book rich in Indian folklore, to stimulate our imagination when viewing this precious art form of the desert Southwest.
Book Description
If, as Matt Ridley suggests, science is simply the search for new forms of ignorance, then perhaps it follows that with science's advances come new questions. Will human genetic engineering become commonplace? Will human cloning ever be safe? Are there many universes? How much will the climate change during the coming century?
The Best American Science Writing 2002 gathers top writers and scientists covering the latest developments in the fastest-changing, farthest-reaching scientific fields, such as medicine, genetics, computer technology, evolutionary psychology, cutting-edge physics, and the environment. Among this year's selections: In "The Made-to-Order Savior," Lisa Belkin spotlights two desperate families seeking an unprecedented cure by a medically and ethically unprecedented means -- creating a genetically matched child. Margaret Talbot's "A Desire to Duplicate" reveals that the first human clone may very likely come from an entirely unexpected source, and sooner than we think. Michael Specter reports on the shock waves rippling through the field of neuroscience following the revolutionary discovery that adult brain cells might in fact regenerate ("Rethinking the Brain"). Christopher Dickey's "I Love My Glow Bunny" recounts with sly humor a peculiar episode in which genetic engineering and artistic culture collide. Natalie Angier draws an insightful contrast between suicide terrorists and rescue workers who risk their lives, and finds that sympathy and altruism have a definite place in the evolution of human nature, David Berlinski's "What Brings a World into Being?" ponders the idea of biology and physics as essentially digital technologies, exploring the mysteries encoded in the universe's smallest units, be they cells or quanta. Nicholas Wade shows how one of the most controversial books of the year, The Skeptical Environmentalist, by former Greenpeace member and self-described leftist Bjorn Lomborg, debunks some of the most cherished tenets of the environmental movement, suggesting that things are perhaps not as bad as we've been led to believe. And as a counterpoint, Darcy Frey's profile of George Divoky reveals a dedicated researcher whose love of birds and mystery leads to some sobering discoveries about global warming and forcefully reminds us of the unsung heroes of science: those who put in long hours, fill in small details, and take great trouble.
In the end, the unanswered questions are what sustain scientific inquiry, open new frontiers of knowledge, and lead to new technologies and medical treatments. The Best American Science Writing 2002 is a series of exciting reports from science's front lines, where what we don't know is every bit as important as what we know.
Customer Reviews:
Compelling collection of fascinating reading.......2003-01-08
These are exactly the type of articles I love to read on airplanes trips or in doctors' offices. Real science written for non-scientists.
More! More!.......2002-10-28
These essays are phenomenal- all intriguing and all lingering in our minds well after reading. Science writing is an art I particularly relish. The math is gone- and that's good- indeed all of the qualifiers for a scientific career or training are reduced to one- fascination- and there's plenty of that in this collection. My favorite author, in this category is Jerome Groopman, M.D. a feature writer for the New Yorker and a practicing oncologist. His topic is cell-speak, the astounding discovery that cells communicate between distances. The scientific term is `signal transduction.' Groopman's prose evokes molecular music receiving and answering and generating movement. Skeleton like structures are woven by these messages and the whole stunning revelation becomes political, economic and religious in its challenges and possibilities. The least of which is nothing less than universal design and grand scale unity of all matter. Microscopic matters, as equally valuable to the private sector laboratories as to the religious nature of being and infinity.
Athol Gwande, another New Yorker writer, writes about the painful ramifications of excessive blushing. The embarrassment is so defeating that people undergo surgery- and not minor surgery- just to control it. Post surgery, people report a quality of life surge that makes the risks and costs well worth it. Perhaps the most allegorical piece is a study of the plastic surgeon who dreams of giving people wings and other improvements as implanting rods and cones to make our vision more spectacular. These dreams are oddly absent when the same physician attends to remodeling a face eaten away by cancer. At odds most dramatically by the callow bedside manner and the narcisistic ego of this Leonardo of the dream. Condemned by colleagues and despised by the residents we try to ascertain if he is a visionary, Icarus or would he create another Frankenstein.
The strange and the miraculous are in turn celebrated and given to dark reservations and caution. All of the entries are nothing less than Magnificent!
Books:
- Historical Moments: Changing Interpretations of America's Past, Volume 1
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- Hogarth to Cruikshank: Social Change in Graphic Satire
- In the Days of the Vaqueros: America's First True Cowboys
Books Index
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California's Desert Parks: A Day Hiker's Guide
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Joshua Tree: The Complete Guide: Joshua Tree National Park
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Best Easy Day Hikes Joshua Tree
