Customer Rating: 
Summary: Very useful book
Comment: This book is very easy to navigate through & the author gives great topgraphical maps for each hike section. I've been using this book to plan my trip this year & it will let you know what to expect on the terrain mile by mile. Each trail has a difficulty rating, appx. travel time, seasons best to hike, GPS compatible, and some VERY basic info on contacting the park.
I would recommend buying a complete map to Yosemite which will help to plan your entire trip. I've recently purchased National Geographic Destination Map & it will give you all the additional info you need. It gives much more info on campgrounds, how/where to purchase permits for the backcountry, driving distances within the park & other accomodations.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Perfect!
Comment: This book is just what you need when visiting Yosemite National Park if you do any hiking at all. It is thorough, well written, acurate, and easy to use.
Customer Rating:
Summary: great book for casual hiker
Comment: I bought several yosemite books before my visit, but this is by far the best book I found for the many hikes now that I am here. Perhaps there are better ones, but this one is quite good. One great feature is that for most hikes it gives a 2D elevation change cutaway map for the entire route so that you can judge for youself the level of difficulty of the hike. Many books seem to disagree on this point. (You can see the big spike at half dome for instance as a comparison.) The maps even have GPS coordinates. The maps do have rough topographical shading as well (though color would be better for this).
Customer Rating:
Summary: hiking book collector
Comment: I spend all winter planning my hikes for the summer. I own and have used most of the titles for Yosemite. Hiking Yosemite National Park has most of the most popular trails but two other books do a better job: 100 Hikes in Yosemite National Park and Lonely Planet Hiking in the Sierra Nevada.My main complaint is the incomplete descriptions, too short and too vague. If you get off the trail you'll run the risk of getting lost because there are no "big picture" maps. A topo is absolutely essential if you want to understand your location.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent and concise guide
Comment: This is an indispensible guidebook for any hiker who loves Yosemite. I use it almost daily during hiking season and it helps in selecting hikes, planning them, reaching the trailhead and gauging whether a hike will be worthwhile. Each hike contains an accurate, though brief, description of the rigors of each trek. Occasionally I quibble with the authors ranking of a given hike, but usually they are on the mark.A few cautionary notes: there are no detailed maps in the book, except general maps which introduce the hiker to each specific place. Te map for the John Muir trail, for example, is very basic. Don't expect detailed maps for each hike because there are none. The descriptions of how to reach each trailhead are excellent, unless you have little experience with Yosemite.
My favorite part of the book is that the Touloume Meadows High Country area is not neglected. Swedo has various categories and list the hikes they think are best suited to be placed in every league and the valley floor is not the only area of the park that is stressed .If you spend any time hiking in Yosemite, this book is essential!
