Book: The Southern Sierras of California by Charles Francis Saunders
Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2025 8:50 am
Referenced in Robinson's San Gabriels, I have been reading the The Southern Sierras of California by Charles Francis Saunders. Published in 1923, it provides a first-hand account of meandering through many of our favorite ranges during the golden era of hiking a hundred years ago. I'm only a couple chapters in, and love that it describes so many places familiar to me, through an unfamiliar lens- taking the electric red car into Pasadena, walking a paved road of the arroyo seco all the way up to Oak Wild camp, and the staffed lodges at Switzer's and Colby Ranch.
I also find amusing the sentence construction and flowery language from 1923. I've encountered a few archaic words and idioms I wish were still in the popular vernacular.
Finally, another property of this book's vintage is that it's copyright has expired, and can legally find digital copies online. Google provides the pdf in its sidebar, and see it available free in some e-readers.
If you're like me and wander the hills fantasizing what things must have been like, this book adds a lot of color.
I also find amusing the sentence construction and flowery language from 1923. I've encountered a few archaic words and idioms I wish were still in the popular vernacular.
Finally, another property of this book's vintage is that it's copyright has expired, and can legally find digital copies online. Google provides the pdf in its sidebar, and see it available free in some e-readers.
If you're like me and wander the hills fantasizing what things must have been like, this book adds a lot of color.