No comments about Northern Forest Canoe Trail Rangeley Lakes Region, Maine: Umbagog Lake To Rangeley Lake (Northern Forest Canoe Trail Maps).

No comments about Maine Lighthouses 2009: Wall Calendar.

2 comments about Mountain Bike! Maine.

1. Usually these types of books are about as fun to read as the phonebook; a maze of cookbook directions and boring narrative. Mountain Bike! Maine is an effective guide to riding which will please anyone who loves to ride and wants to explore the diverse trails of Maine. The authors have thoroughly researched each ride and done a great job of cutting away the fat and leaving in the spice. Each trail description includes helpful information and history on the area in addition to accurate directions. I've lived in Maine for 20 years and practically every ride was new to me. From gearhead to mudbuster and nature lover to history buff, I recommend this guide as a great way to put some fun into your riding!



2. I thought I knew all the trails!
   Buy this book if you have any intention of ever riding a bike in Maine.
   This is coming from a guy who thought he would be able to write such a book.
   Seriously worth it, they offer great detail about specific times of year and how it can effect trail conditions, clear directions, great maps, and local policies.
   See you at Katahdin!

No comments about Maine Curiosities, 2nd: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities, and Other Offbeat Stuff (Curiosities Series).

3 comments about Alone in the Appalachians: A City Girl's Trek from Maine to the Gaspe (Raincoast Journeys).

1. oh i want to do it too!!
   with Ms Dykstra (canadian!) i hiked from Maine to Gaspe on the IAT.
   as an armchair traveller i found this short book (137 pages) thoroughly enjoyable. easy to read, wonderfull glossy pages and photos, heartfelt humour and pain; i wanted more. the end of the book has extensive guide lines for those who want to do the hike.



2. Reading this book is like having your best friend sit down across the table from you and tell you about her vacation, while showing you the beautiful pictures she took along the way. Dykstra is a natural storyteller who has a knack for meeting people and then describing her encounters in quick, deft word portraits. Her fascinating, often hilarious account of her journey kept me in awe, and in stitches, from beginning to end. She doesn't appear to hold back her emotions in her writing and her description of both the joys and occasional disappointments of solitary backpacking give her account a rawness and honesty that I haven't read in other travel books. As well, Raincoast has done an excellent job in reproducing her photos in this book. It's like reading a National Geographic article extended to book-length.
   If I have any criticism of this book it is that it had to end. Dykstra's seven-week journey on the Appalachian Trail flashes by in just a few hours of reading time, when I wanted it to keep on going and going and going... Perhaps the publisher can talk her into walking the remainder of the Trail, from Maine to Georgia, and we can have another enchanting book that is three times as long and filled with even more breathtaking photos. My highest possible recommendation for purchase.



3. The author took many photographs, which appear in the book and which are worth the price of the book by themselves. One quibble I have is that the author admits to skipping parts of the trail by hitchhiking, canoeing and taking a bus. For example, I looked for a description of the last part of the trail along the southern shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, but the book does not describe this part perhaps because the author skipped it by taking a bus. Most of this trail is road walking, so I do not blame the author. But in the interest of truth in advertising.... As other reviewers have noted, the author adeptly describes the people she met along the way.

3 comments about In The Footsteps of Thoreau: 25 Historic & Nature Walks on Cape Cod.

1. By reading and using this book, not only you'll know each footsteps that Thoreau took in Cape Cod, but you'll discover his personal experience and the growth that took in Cape Cod. If you are living in Cape Cod, this book is a MUST HAVE book. You will be able to discover the beauty and richness of your land. And with this book, you can take a profound journey with Henry David Thoreau that will refresh and recreate your life. Buy this book and take a trip with Thoreau!



2. I live on Cape Cod and have been working my way through Thoreau's footsteps chapter by chapter - what a fun time and an absolutely fascinating read. Thank you Adam, you have captured the Cape in a way most visitors and locals only dream of experiencing.



3. Many people come to Cape Cod every summer, but so few know much about the cape. I'd recommend that if you're one of the many people who rent a Cape house in the summer... bring this book along with you. You'll love it and you'll see the Cape differently and perhaps... find yourself walking in the footsteps of Thoreau.

1 comments about Bygone Coastal Maine.

1. What a gem of a little postcard guide to the Maine that most of us only remember as children, or as recollections in stories told by our parents and grandparents! I've purchased two as gifts and am ordering my third copy. It's fun to leaf through this south-to-north coastal travelogue and discover that not all of these scenes have disappeared, and that some Maine coastal landmarks from the Victorian era have been preserved for us to enjoy, as our grandparents did. This is the kind of a "rainy day book" that belongs on the nightstand of every Maine summer house and deep woods cabin. A delightful guide to old Maine that leaves you wishing for volume after volume of postcards from the good old days!

3 comments about Islands in Time: A Natural and Cultural History of the Islands of the Gulf of Maine.

1. This is a beautiful book--I'm sorry to see that no one has commented on it yet. It gives a wealth of information about the geology, ecology, and ecosystem of coastal Maine, but even better, it's written in a style that often verges on the poetic. Can't recommend it highly enough.



2. When Phil Conkling came out with the first edition of Islands in Time he more or less created a genre of Human Ecological writing that was actually of use to a wide audience. Mixing history, geology, ecology and geography with a healthy dose of the story-tellers whimsy the book has become something of a cult classic for many of us in the Archipelago. Unfortunately the second edition is a bit of a step backward. It's big. too big. The first edition fitted comfortably in a daypack -this seems aimed more at coffee tables. It's chatty, and I think that a rather savage editor would have worked wonders. We get a bit too much of the "and-then-Raven-gave-a-thump-as-she-ran-over-the-puffin" style of writing & it tends to distract us from some really good stories & the solid history/natural history that shone so clearly from the first edition. That being said, if you are only going to take one book with you Downeast & are going the whole way Downeast, and can't find the first edition, get this.



3. I'm just finishing my first read of this book, and all I want to do is go back to the beginning and read it all again. This book is filled with people, history, nature, fascinating anecdote, gorgeous prose, introspective rumination, and too much rich information to even begin to digest in one reading. Conkling is a scientist comfortable with an amazing array of subjects and he is also a humanist and pretty-nearly a poet. I have a tendency to fall into the bleeding-heart environmentalist category, and while not offending my sensibilities in the least (he loves nature with a passion), he opened my eyes to many valid coastal points of view among the lobstermen, fishermen, and others. I changed my mind about a number of things while reading his book and I love Maine even more as a result of reading it. Lovely, informative, fascinating book! I'm one of those English-major types and a writer, and Conkling has not only increased my respect for science but has shown me how beautifully the arts and sciences can blend in a thoughtful, productive, earth-changing way.

1 comments about National Geographic, Trails Illustrated, Acadia National Park: Maine, USA (Trails Illustrated - Topo Maps USA).

1. Durabke plastic - you can keep it in your pocket all day. Shows the entire park and all of Mt Desert. For hiking you may wish to also buy the one from Map Adventures (ISBN 1-890060-16t-X). It is slightly more acurate and gives milages for each leg - but only covers the park areas on Mt. Desert.

No comments about The Maine Woods.