Yosemite Valley, an Intimate Guide

Publication Year: 1931.

Yosemite Valley, an Intimate Guide, by Ansel F. Hall, chief naturalist of the National Park Service. National Park Publishing House, Berkeley, California.

A similar book to the preceding, and a very comprehensive one. Any one digesting all the material offered by Mr. Hall will have a good knowledge of this most enchanting of valleys, so loved by Muir and Le Conte and all other visitors who have been so fortu-nate as to enjoy its stately rock domes, its shimmering waterfalls, its gay flowers and bird life.

Mr. Hall, as chief naturalist, is well equipped to tell the story of the geological formation of Yosemite, its history, both Indian and white, its flora and fauna. He not only gives full directions for finding all the trails and points of interest, but he stops to tell you how to distinguish the sugar pine from the yellow one, where to look for the water ouzel, and when to listen for the song of the Carolina wren. The charming little sketches by Leo Zellensky add much to the interest of the text and there is a good bibliography at the end.

As a guide-book, however, it is at times a bit too discursive, the printing leaves much to be desired, and there are only three maps and these are all of the pictograph variety. Aside from this it is a handy volume that should be of much value to a Yosemite visitor, and one that he would enjoy rereading after his visit is a thing of the past.

M. H. S.