BOOK REVIEWS

Adventuring in the California Desert: The Sierra Club Travel Guide to the Great Basin, Mojave, and Colorado Desert Regions of California, by Lynne Foster. $12.95 paperback, 448 pp., 10 black and white photographs, 11 line drawings,. 10 maps. Publication date: Nov. 2, 1987. ISBN: 0-87156-721-0.


A basic tenet of Sierra Club philosophy has been: to know a wild place is to love it and want to preserve it.
At last, the splendor of the California desert is revealed in a lively, easy to read guidebook. Long overdue, this fascinating desert guide responds to a deep concern of many in preserving the fragile, still pristine wildlands of our desert. This guide should inspire further advocacy of desert protection.
Guides to specific desert locations such as the national monuments, Death Valley and Joshua Tree do exist, but never has the entire 25-million-acre California desert been treated as an integral whole. Adventuring in the California Desert achieves this goal.
With crucial protective legislation (Senator Cranston's S. 7 and H.R. 371) now before Congress, Californians should be informed. It is important to learn why the deserts are unique, astounding, worth visiting, and worth protecting. Adventuring in the California Desert explains why, and thoroughly describes how to visit the desert.
The devotion which desert activist Lynne Foster attaches to the description, suggestion, and guidance of the desert is evident in every page. Lynne Foster's goal - which the book clearly achieves - is to show people how to use the fragile desert without abusing it.
The book is divided into two main sections: the first section gives general descriptions of desert features. Specific chapters devoted to the development of the desert geology and the plant and animal life reveal the essence of the desert. A practical survival chapter explains ways to avoid the hazards of desert travel, including proper gear for foot or vehicle travel.
The core of the new book is its second and longest portion, which divides the California desert into nine "recognizable geographic regions," from Inyo-Mono in the northwest to Colorado desert in the southeast. These are individually described and then subdivided into a total of 38 distinct sections, with numerous trips discussed for each. The "trips" delineated are of three kinds: vehicle tours, hikes, and destinations. The degree of difficulty for hikes and backpacks is carefully noted.
For each trip, subheadings such as "about the area," "facilities," "to get there," "getting your bearings," "about the hike," focus on pertinent information. Elevations plus topo maps and relevant county road map references are given. Appendices list desert
plants, accommodations, campgrounds, visitor centers and museums, chambers of commerce, and public land offices in the desert. There is a glossary and an extensive bibliography of recommended reading. Black and white photos and a few fine line drawings grace the text; one would have wished for more illustrations.
A clear exposition and a passionate conviction of the unique value of the California desert make this book a must for all who wish to travel in California's deserts. It may well be a must, too, for all who want a better understanding of why we need to protect the deserts now, through the California Desert Protection Act(S. 7andH.R. 371).
Adventuring in the California Desert is a new tool in the hands of conservationists who are working to preserve a vital part of the world's natural environment. As Lynne Foster says: "The primary purpose of this book is to help people get to know and enjoy the desert responsibly . . . to become intimate with wildlands in a nondisruptive way . . . What we're talking about is low-impact recreation - recreation that uses the desert without consuming it."
The San Francisco Bay Chapter Bookstore in Oakland, as well as the Sierra Club Store in San Francisco, carry this valuable new addition to Sierra Club publications.

- Vicky Hoover


 
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