1 comments about Blue Guide Washington, D.C. (Blue Guides).

1. This is _the_ guidebook if you want to delve deeply into the City's history. It is chock full of interesting tidbits and historical information that bring the city alive. This is _not_ the guidebook for you if you are looking for the most updated information on museum hours and the like, if you are planning a quick trip the D.C. and want to hit just the main attractions, or if you need detailed maps (and metro information) for getting around the city. In other words, this book will satisfy your desire to really experience and get to know D.C. but it is not the best book to flip through when you suddenly realize that you are lost and need to figure out where to go. For better maps and more succinct descriptions of sites and restaurants, seek out Access Washington, D.C. by Richard Saul Wurman.

No comments about Day Hiking, South Cascades: Mt. St. Helens / Mt. Adams / Columbia Gorge (Done in a Day).

No comments about Hiking Olympic National Park, 2nd: A Guide to the Park's Greatest Hiking Adventures (Regional Hiking Series).

2 comments about Mountain Biking the Washington, D.C./Baltimore Area, 4th: An Atlas of Northern Virginia, Maryland, and D.C.'s Greatest Off-Road Bicycle Rides.

1. I live in DC and it's difficult to find a good ride without taking an afternoon drive. This book is really thorough and helpful, with places I wouldn't have otherwise known about and more info than I already knew about other places.



2. This book is pretty much a joke of a guidebook. Most of the "trails" are things like bike paths and not really mountain biking... It pretty much misses all of the great trails in Maryland

5 comments about 55 Hikes Around Snoqualmie Pass: Mountains to Sound Greenway (100 Hikes In...).

1. We moved to the Snoqualmie valley area last year. This book is great for showing you the local hikes along the I-90 corridor. Easy to read maps, good descriptions of what to expect and up to date. Slim, yet crammed with information, making it handy for having in your backpack or in the side pocket of the car door. A "worth it" buy for anyone who lives in the area, or those serious about exploring the area when visiting Seattle.



2. When my wife and I first moved to Seattle, we bought 2 of this author's hiking books. I vowed to stay away from his books at that time as I was totally disappointed by his books' organization. 15 years later, I disregarded my vow (a mistake) and bought this book because I thought that perhaps he had improved. The elevation gain and trail distances are certainly an improvement but the book still falls short with its driving directions and trail descriptions. If you can't find the trailhead then the book is useless obviously. Even when you find the trailhead, the author often chooses to give us historical information about the hike rather than the important trail descriptions. 55 hikes around Snoqualmie is a fantastic idea but it does not deliver. Furthermore, you have to read paragraphs to extract what is important to you. There are no separte sections as there are in many books such as "directions" or "trail descriptions". This makes for awful organization. Save your money!



3. This is a quite useful guide to the well known and not so well known hikes near the I-90 corridor. It should help people go beyond the (somewhat overused) standards. The descriptions are balanced between giving a flavor of the hike while still leaving some elements to discover.



4. Long before Interstate 90 was designated a National Scenic byway, Harvey Manning envisioned a preserved natural greenway from the Cascades to Puget Sound. A place where the over-worked city-dweller could rediscover nature, still close to home but able to experience the beauty of the Mountains-to-Sound Greenway.
   The guide has the witty, insightful interpretation of Spring's exceptional photography and Manning's great influence in the hiking community.
   **My favorites:
   Little Si-easy
   Mount Si-brutal
   Green Mountain-moderate
   Mailbox Peak-brutal
   Taylor River-very easy
   Snow Lake-easy and very pretty
   Dirty Harry's Peak-brutal
   Mason Lake-moderate
   Bandera Mountain-moderate hike, a leg lifter with view of Mason Lake at top
   Talapus and Olallie Lakes-easy, great for snow-shoeing
   Pratt Lake Saddle-long and moderate, kinda creepy way deep in the forest
   Melakwa Lake-long and a bit creepy too, but Lake is pretty
   McClellan Butte-the day after I couldn't feel my bum.....
   Annette Lake-easy, saw my first brown bear here.
   Kendall Katwalk-moderate and beautiful
   Rachel Lake-moderate and pretty lake, good for packing overnight
   Margaret Lake-little lake, but the solitude is nice.
   Gold Creek-long hike, moderate, can be used in the winter for snow-shoeing and cross-country skiing
   Mirror Lake-pretty, pretty---have done this hike 10 times. Very easy first hike. On the hike you actually see two lakes, Cottonwood and Mirror. Very short, 2 miles, full hike.
   Mount Catherine-easy to moderate hike. Three hour hike, total of 1300 ft.
   I get my huckleberries from this area (also Thorp Mountain hike has nice berries too) Good jam and pancake syrup.



5. We bought this book because now we live in the area and wanted to see what's out there. This book provides pretty good idea and listing and has all essential details but its also outdated and unstructured when compared to books like 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Seattle: Including Bellevue, Everett, and Tacoma (60 Hikes - Menasha Ridge).
   
   The trail maps are very basic (and sometime misleading because of lack of details) and the directions to get to trail head are sometime just not enough. The book doesn't have GPS coordinates but fortunately the authors have created waypoints in Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=104533212117189621673.00044d8c694b6da7eb931&z=10).

No comments about Outdoor Escapes Washington, D.C.: A Four-Season Guide (Outdoor Escape Series).

5 comments about Foghorn Outdoors Pacific Northwest Hiking: The Complete Guide to More Than 1,000 of the Best Hikes in Washington and Oregon, Fifth Edition.

1. Trails are misnamed, mislocated and just plain missing. Some of the best routes are left out completely and some of those that are included are no longer in existence (and haven't been for nearly 15 years). Do yourself a favor and buy the previous version of this book (the one written by Ron Judd and his partner). It maybe a little outdated, but at least they are hikers and are NW natives so they know what they are talking about! Or better yet, buy the more specific hiking guides from Falcon or Mountaineers books.



2. After reading the other reviews on this page, I had to write my own. My family and me have used this book many times (mostly in Oregon) and have found it to be accurate and helpful. I have not had any difficulty locating a trail; and the trail descriptions are spot-on. I also own the previous addition (written by Judd & Nelson) of the book. In that edition, they listed several trails that did not even exist - for example, spend a day trying to find Bobsled trail near Pendelton. You can't and you won't. Too me, it is obvious that McMorris and Scott are actual hikers, and have probably been to the trails they describe.



3. Though the directions are not always clear and the trail maps themselves are nonexistant, I honestly do find this book helpful for a couple of reasons. As some readers said about the last edition, this book is a great index for Oregon and Washington hikes. Whatever it is, there is a good chance it's in here. It's a good book to peruse through to get a few ideas for what to do on your next day off, but I always, always, always compare what other books or websites have to say about any trail before I go looking for it.
   
   One of the good things about this book is it does include contact information for all of the trails and also permit information which is helpful for people who don't think about paying for parking. It is useful for little things like that, but I would strongly recommend always having one or two other more detailed books nearby. There is a gentleman, last name Sullivan, who has written several regional books, at least for Oregon, and they have fantastic details, maps, directions and pictures. They include 100 trails for each region and so far seem to be quite accurate. I strongly advise checking them out.
   
   Happy hiking!



4. I grabbed a copy at my local outdoors store, best $$ I've spent in the past year. This guide is not meant as 'the book to be taken on the trail and guide you out and back'. It is much more useful in helping you decide which trail to attempt next - be it a day trip, a few day getaway, in the midst of out-of-state hiking tourists, or way off in the wilderness. There are plenty of trails of all types in the book.
   
   The trails are organized by region, shown on small locator maps to help you pick which place to visit. There are also a few lists in the beginning - 'best waterfall hikes', 'best hikes with kids', etc. This setup has been very helpful for my planning of day trips.
   
   Each trail has a description of the sights you will see, specific map numbers for detailed topographic maps from other sources (no trail maps are within this book), typical months for hiking access, parking costs to expect (a bit outdated now that WA state parks do NOT charge a fee!), and fairly accurate directions to the trailhead. I wish the book included more information regarding road conditions - I drive a Honda Civic and some of the trailheads are accessible only by way of an off-road vehicle because the roads are so bad.
   
   I have bought a number of topographic maps from other sources and this book lists maybe half of the trails on the maps.



5. This was a gift for a hiker I know. When I got the book I looked through it and all the information you need to know if the your going on a hike to fit your personal needs is there. It includes distance of hike, legth of time it takes an average hiker to complete the hike and even scenery types and sights to look for. Very informative and helpful guide!!!!

5 comments about Foghorn Outdoors Pacific Northwest Camping: The Complete Guide to Campsites in Washington and Oregon.

1. Great book, however, it should have been titled-Fire lookouts in the Oregon/Washington region.



2. This book just came out (April, 2003) and is a lot better than anything we've seen. The key is the details, way good, both information, directions and maps. We've lived in Springfield for quite a while and have always kept our secret spots to ourselves. This book has all of them, which threw me, but it's got a zillion others. We checked the places we knew to see if everything was correct. The answer: Five Stars!



3. I met Tom Stienstra at one of his seminars and he suggested we throw away the old editions of this book. I didn't really get it until we got into this book. He signed it! If you like to find new really great places, and like he says, "Never worry about getting stuck for the night again," this new one is The One. A ton better than before, it's true.



4. This book is great because it covers just about every campsite in the NW. The author is a real camper, I on the otherhand need a tent and an air mattress but the sight recommendations are dead-on.



5. This is one of the better camping books as far as usefulness of the information, though it is not quite the best I've seen. The lengthy introductory section was well-written and entertaining. I have been camping and backpacking for decades and I even learned some new things from it.
   
   My only beefs with the book:
   
   1) The introductory section doesn't, in my opinion, distinguish adequately between equipment suited for backbacking vs. for car camping. He appears to use his backpacking equipment even when car camping and doesn't seem to realize that for a lot of people, a $79 sleeping bag from K-Mart will work just fine for car camping in the summer even if you'd be a damned idiot to take it backpacking.
   
   2) The campgrounds listed do not include RV parks, so you'd need a separate book if you're looking for places where you can get full water/electric/sewer/cable hookups.
   
   3) Each campground listed includes a score, ostensibly from 1 to 10, on the scenic beauty of the site, a feature which I really appreciate. However, I did not see a single site rated less than a 3, which means the book really uses a "3 to 10" scale - and a site seems to rate at least a 4 if there are any trees. The book would be more valuable if he expanded his scale to rate the ugliest spots a 1 and be a bit stingier with his 8's and 9's.
   
   4) Finally, the best campground book I've ever seen also included a rating on how crowded the campground was on average, and gave a special symbol for "undiscovered gems", i.e. campgrounds of particular scenic beauty that were little used. I missed that feature in this book.

1 comments about Making Mountains: New York City and the Catskills (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books).

1. I am enjoying this book very much. I was born in the Catskills and I am learning so much that my parents never told me. It is very well written.Making Mountains: New York City and the Catskills (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books)

3 comments about Duel in the Wilderness.

1. A very well written book!! If you love history or even if you don't, read this book! It tells about young George Washington and his first assignment for this country which was still under Englands watchful eye. It tells of the amazing hardship and luck that George experienced at the age of 21,in the Ohio wilderness. This would make a great film!!! Lots of action and true life experience. Just READ this and you will be hooked on history forever.



2. My boys (ages 10, 9, 7, 5) and I found this book to be dull. We love history, but this one was lacking. It also had several instances of profanity which was surprising to me for a book that I thought was aimed at kids.



3. The book is readable, fast-moving, interesting, and tells a part of George Washington's life not normally told. It is historically pertinent because it relates the French-Indian wars to the American Revolution. It is interesting history while being also social commentary.