A Hiker's Guide to California Native Places: Interpretive Trails, Reconstructed Villages, Rock-Art Sites and the Indigenous Cultures They Evoke

Rating:
Summary: Great introduction to California Native places
Review: It's great to see a book like this that gives people a nice way to introduce themselves physically to the native California world. Some of the best native California sites are listed in the book, and hopefully it will stimulate people to investigate these interesting cultures and their lifestyles further. While the book is not entirely thorough in examing each site, it is a nice overview of the plethora of trips available to the casual explorer throughout California. It is a must read for anyone interested in California Indian cultures.

Rating:
Summary: Great introduction to California Native places
Review: It's great to see a book like this that gives people a nice way to introduce themselves physically to the native California world. Some of the best native California sites are listed in the book, and hopefully it will stimulate people to investigate these interesting cultures and their lifestyles further. While the book is not entirely thorough in examing each site, it is a nice overview of the plethora of trips available to the casual explorer throughout California. It is a must read for anyone interested in California Indian cultures.

Rating:
Summary: An outstanding, informative guide.
Review: Nancy Salcedo's Hiker's Guide To California Native Places profiles interpretive trails, reconstructed villages, heritage sites and preserves which offer fine trails through natural areas with history. The descriptions include historic background and interpretive offerings as well as a review of surrounding environment.

Rating:
Summary: Informative and fascinating
Review: This book scores top marks in practically all fields. It is well designed, with walks catalogued by the tribal groups they represent and the geological area those groups inhabit(ed). Each section includes a fascinating, easy to read and well researched overview of the individual tribes, covering history, culture and inter-relations. There is also a section in each chapter listing Museums and other interpretive sites in the area. The walks themselves are extremely well described and the directions for reaching each trailhead are better than I have seen anywhere.
The only problems are as follows: 1) No street addresses are given for either the interpretive sites or the trail locations (however driving instructions for the trailheads are detailed); 2) No indication is given of the difficulty or otherwise of the trail. You pretty much have to guess from the description; 3) Some of the information appears to be slightly out of date (very little however) and 4) No internet addresses are given for the sites - in this day and age it would seem to me to be a pretty basic piece of information so that the reader can explore further on their own.
These are however fairly small ommissions which can be made up for with just a little work on the readers part, either web-surfing or making some phone calls. I recommend the book most highly to anyone interested in exploring the Native American history of California and seeing some amazing sites along the way!