50 Best Short Hikes: Yosemite National Park and Vicinity by Elizabeth Wenk

50 Best Short Hikes: Yosemite National Park and Vicinity by Elizabeth Wenk

50 Best Short Hikes: Yosemite National Park and Vicinity leads hikers of all skill levels to some of the most stunning landscapes Yosemite has to offer including: bubbling alpine creeks, smooth glaciated slabs, giant sequoias, deep dark blue lakes, and rock as far as the eye can see. In addition to in-depth hike descriptions, the author has also included information about the parks natural history, complex landscape, and its human history. Additional information includes tips on keeping yourself and your family safe, the park's natural predators, and helpful weather information.

Elizabeth Lizzy Wenk has been hiking and climbing in the Sierra Nevada with her family since she was a toddler. She found excuses to spend every summer in the Sierra, with its captivating terrain, plentiful flowers, and near-perfect weather, after she started college. She worked as a research assistant for others and finished her Ph.D. throughout those summers. The impacts of rock type on alpine plant distribution and physiology are the subject of my master's thesis. Yet, she hikes for pleasure most of the time.

She has trekked thousands of on- and off-trail kilometers and climbed more than 600 peaks in the Sierra because she is obsessed with exploring every inch of the mountain range. Her wanderings are now mostly focused on gathering information for many Wilderness Press books and introducing her two young girls to the marvels of the mountains. Yosemite is quickly becoming a favored destination for them as well. Wenk, who lived in Bishop, California until recently, now lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband, Douglas, and daughters, Eleanor and Sophia.

Except during the Northern Hemisphere summer, when she continues to explore the Sierra, she is working as a research fellow at Macquarie University and enjoying Australia's gorgeous eucalyptus forests, vegetated slot canyons, and wonderful birds.