Product Description

This great California guide by the Trailmaster John McKinney is now published by Wilderness Press. California's Coastal Parks features lively descriptions for 150 of the state's best coastal hikes from Mexico to Oregon, ranging from 1-mile strolls for the whole family to challenging daylong treks.

Each hike includes directions to the trailhead, a detailed description, history and fun facts about the area, and a map.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #179388 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 310 pages

About the Author
John McKinney is the author of a dozen books about walking, hiking and nature, including a series of day hiking guides to California. For 18 years he wrote a popular hiking column for the Los Angeles Times, and he now writes articles and commentaries about hiking for national publications, and promotes hiking and conservation on radio and television.

Customer Reviews

Over a hundred walks cover a range of regions and activity levels
California's coastline is long and holds many historic towns and beaches of all kinds: here to describe the best spots between Oregon and Mexico is the comprehensive CALIFORNIA'S COASTAL PARKS: A DAY HIKER'S GUIDE. From family walks and hikes to beaches and off-beat day treks, over a hundred walks cover a range of regions and activity levels and come with maps, trailhead directions, and descriptions of the hike.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

California's Scenic Coast-McKinney at his Best
Aside from many years as the hiking columnist for the LA Times, John McKinney's main claim to fame is scouting out the route for the California Coastal Trail, a Mexico to Oregon Trail, which will hopefully be completed within the next 20 years or so. California does have some dramatic coast, and state beaches and parks preserve over a third of it. Still, with all the development along the coast any final route for the Coastal Trail will include some less than stellar urban settings. The great benefit of this book is that McKinney provides a comprehensive list and description of the best California Coastal areas and trails.

Most of the hikes described in this book are 5 miles or less, and longer routes usually include shorter alternative destinations. The maps are for the most part adequate and McKinney also devotes considerable space to the local history of each area. Using this guide, one could literally day hike the best of the Coastal Trail over the course of one or two summers skipping only the less scenic and difficult to access points. For this reason alone the book is worth the purchase price. But McKinney also includes walks in inland wildlands including Henry Cowell and Big Basin Redwoods, Limekiln State Park, the Ventana Wilderness, and Redwood National Park. In all it is a stellar introduction to California's wonderful coast. This is by far McKinney's best guidebook.