Thousands of works have been published on various aspects of the great outdoors, and I certainly have not read them all.  I can, however, highly recommend the following publications, because I happen to own them.

In the Heart of the Sierras

edited by James Mason Hutchings, 1888   This fine collection of documents and photographs, now in the public domain, is about the early history of Yosemite National Park.  Notably and unfortunately absent, for reasons explained in the text, are any writings of John Muir, Yosemite's greatest champion and principal authority of the day.  I also dislike Hutchings's chronic misspelling of the verb "led", but such issues might not be of concern to you.   Although this material is available (sort of) elsewhere on the web, only here at Ted's World will you find a readily downloadable and printable document that is free of advertising and other clutter.  Just click on the image.   Many thanks to Dan Anderson of www.yosemite.ca.us, who originally digitized these pages in 2004 from a copy in the San Diego Public Library.

West of the Rocky Mountains

edited by John Muir Running Press, 1976   This collection features twenty-six articles by Muir and other authors of his time.  Topics range from Southern California to the Canadian Rockies.   Included are hundreds of marvelous old drawings and photographs that one would be hard-pressed to find elsewhere.  Many images take full advantage of the large (10"×13") format of this manuscript.

Prehistoric Rock Art of Nevada and Eastern California

by Robert F. Heizer & Martin A. Baumhoff University of California Press, 1962   This is the definitive study of petroglyphs in the Great Basin area of the western United States.  Included are hundreds of catalogued, accurate-to-scale drawings of glyphs and panels, as well as some (intentionally vague) information regarding site locations.   Having been out of print since the 1970s, this book has become something of a collector's item, with prices ranging as high as $900 in 2014.  I recently purchased a copy in good condition for $70 from a European bookstore.

Down the Great Unknown

by Edward Dolnick HarperCollins, 2001   This book chronicles John Wesley Powell's 1869 journey of discovery and tragedy through the Grand Canyon.  Here is the text of a letter from Powell just prior to the trip:   “We are now ready to start on our way down the Great Unknown...  We are three quarters of a mile in the depths of the earth...  We have an unknown distance yet to run; an unknown river yet to explore.  What falls there are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls rise over the river, we know not.  Ah, well!  We may conjecture many things.  The men talk as cheerfully as ever; jests are bandied about freely this morning; but to me the cheer is somber and the jests are ghastly.”

Ernest Thompson Seton — The Life and Legacy of an Artist and Conservationist

by David L. Witt Gibbs Smith, 2010   Mr. Seton is renowned as a wildlife artist, best-selling author, and co-founder of the worldwide Boy Scout movement.  This biographical accounting includes Mr. Seton's transformation from professional wolf hunter to ardent conservationist.  Also featured are dozens of samples of his paintings, many in full color.

Our Country's National Parks

by Irving R. Melbo Robbs-Merrill, 1941   This classic two-volume work details the history and features of the nation's first twenty-six scenic national parks.  Included are photographs that you won't have seen elsewhere.  Inexpensive copies of this work are readily available online.

Sierra Club Exhibit Format Series — 20 volumes, 1960-1968

Winner of the Carey-Thomas Award in 1964 for Best Achievement in Creative Publishing in the United States, this large-format collection argues the cause of conservation by way of exquisite photography by Adams, Hyde and others, plus the essences of such writers as Thoreau and Muir.  These are the most beautiful books I possess and the last ones with which I ever would part.

#3. These We Inherit: The Parklands of America
#5. The Place No One Knew: Glen Canyon
#6. The Last Redwoods: Photographs and Story of a Vanishing Scenic Resource
#8. Time and the River Flowing: Grand Canyon
#9. Gentle Wilderness: The Sierra Nevada

Earth on Fire — How Volcanoes Shape our Planet

by Bernhard Edmaier Phaidon Press, 2009   This German geology buff has dedicated more than 25 years to photographing the surface of our planet, particularly the forms and structures created without man's interference.  Bernhard's work has been an international sensation ever since he won the Kodak Photo Book Prize in 1998, and the Hasselblad Master Award in 2001.   Mr. Edmaier does most of his work from an airplane or helicopter, using a camera with 100 megapixels of resolution (your smarphone has perhaps 3mp or so).  Perhaps even more importantly, Bernhard sticks to the true image of his subjects, declining any form of digital manipulation.  What you see is what is there, although you might have some difficulty believing what you are seeing.   The book is huge (11" × 14"), making most images easy to view.  Edmaier also published an earlier 'condensed' version of his photographs, Patterns of the Earth (Phaidon Press, 2007), with all images being some multiple of 3½" × 3½".   In this book is a photo of a favorite Utah hiking venue that features perhaps the most fantastic formations in North America, and which has made its way onto some maps as "Edmaier's Secret".

Obata's Yosemite — The Art and Letters of Chiuru Obata

with essays by Janice T. Driesbach and Susan Landauer Yosemite Conservancy, 1993   Inspired largely by a trip to the High Sierra in 1927, the Japanese immigrant's watercolor and wood block reproductions of the Yosemite and eastern-Sierra landscapes are exquisite testament to the artist's uncompromised love of nature.  He proclaimed this journey to be "the greatest harvest of my whole life and future in painting".   Also detailed is Mr. Obata's personal journey, from escaping an unwanted career as a soldier, to his internment at Manzanar, to art instructor at U.C. Berkeley, to international acclaim.  Many of the book's images are previously unpublished elsewhere.  Since December, 2019, seven decades of Obata's work have been on display at the Smithsonian Museum.   In 2012, for a hiking journal I named and referenced a Yosemite backcountry attraction as Obata Lake, knowing that it was a frequent artistic subject of his.  In 2021, the California Legislature followed my cue (!) and commemorated the uppermost four miles of the Tioga Road as the Chiuru Obata Great Nature Memorial Highway.

The Way Out — A True Story of Ruin and Survival

by Craig Childs Back Bay Books, 2004   Childs, a habitual seeker of desert solitude, teams up with an ex-cop friend on a two-week foray into a particularly inhospitable region of the American Southwest.  Each of them hopes not just to survive the trek, but to conquer some inner demons and ascribe some meaning to his life as well.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place  –aka–  127 Hours

by Aron Ralston Simon & Schuster, 2004   This best-seller chronicles the author's escape from entrapment in a Utah slot canyon by means that most of us would not have been able to imagine, let alone accomplish.  The 2010 movie version, 127 Hours, garnered six Academy Award nominations; yet it pretty much focused only on the hike and accident themselves, while ignoring other aspects of Ralston's life as well as the considerable search-and-rescue efforts by Aron's parents and government agencies.  These things are detailed in the book.   Note: The original printing featured Aron Ralston himself on the cover, but the photo gracing the movie-hype reprint is of actor James Franco (click on the image).