Product Description

Introducing next-generation trail guides for the Northwest We asked hikers what they want in a trail guide today and this is what they said: more day hikes, with options for extending the trip; hike selection conveniently arranged by highway and travel corridors; more hikes close to urban centers; more year-round hikes at low elevation; clear driving directions; a portable size; and more use of color.

To meet the needs of the modern hiker, The Mountaineers Books introduces its new Day Hiking guidebook series, written by Northwest residents with impressive hiking resumes. These guides provide accurate information in attractive, high-quality packaging and are infused with the environmental ethic that distinguishes The Mountaineers Books from other outdoor publishers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #207296 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 299 pages

About the Author
DAN NELSON is an outdoor recreation feature writer and columnist for The Seattle Times and a frequent contributor to Backpacker magazine. His books include Best Loop Hikes: Washington and Best Hikes with Dogs: Western Washington. He lives in Puyallup, Washington

Customer Reviews

Good book but has issues
While the book is well written, easy to use and has elevation profiles this book does have flaws that for me are red flags.

I feel that Dan and Alan have done a good book in the new Day Hiking series. They have updated the old 100 hikes as well as they could. It is nice that they have tossed in some hikes that haven't been in the guide books for a long time as well. The book covers very easy to the hardest - so something for everyone. It covers from the Issaquah Alps to the interior of the Cascades. The book is small and carries easily in your car or pack - so you always can have ideas for a quick hike on the fly!

But those red flags?
Primarily is the frustrating trend of Mountaineer Books to give elevation gains that are not right. Why cannot they give the actual gains? For example, if a trail goes up and down and up again and gains 2500 ft at the end of the day, it gains 2500 ft! Yet, they do some weird math and subtract the down part in the middle and claim the trail gains oh, 1500 ft. In nearly all books by The Mountaineers this is the method they use. Boooh!
My other issue lies in the directions to trailheads in some of the hikes. There are a few that give wrong road numbers or are just wrong - where if a person didn't look at maps first they would end up in the wrong spot. Hopefully when edition 2 comes out down the road the mistakes will be noted and corrected.

I think in my view that this book is worth picking up for ideas but you very much need to read up trail reports on local hiking forums, the NF Service's website for Mt. Baker/Snoqualmie NF and study Topo and Green Trails maps before you take the book for a 100%. Be very aware of the elevation profiles in the books and double check them!

good in concept... unless you take a hike that doesn't exist!
Heading out for a big trip to Washington state, I picked up a couple of these "Day Hiking" books. I figured in conjunction with state and national park maps, they'd help pick good places to hike in my limited time in various regions. Unfortunately, I only wound up with one day in the Snoqualmie region... and managed to pick a hike from this book that DOES NOT EXIST!!! It was the first day of vacation, so wanted to start out easy, my husband and I like trains, so we picked a 3 mile hike on the Iron Horse Trail to an old trestle. The book calls this the "Washington Creek" hike and even includes a picture of the trestle... long story short, the trail does not cross Washington creek, at least within the first 8 miles or so, nor is the trestle in the picture anywhere to be found!!! We eventually hit the trestle at Change Creek, which was fine, but what we thought would be a 6-8 mile easy day turned into 18 miles and were more that a bit ticked off, not to even speak of the negative impact that had on the next few days of our trip! I suspect it was an anomaly, and that the other hikes are fine, but they really need to edit the book to make sure all the trails in it actually exist!

Nice and compact
I really enjoy this trail guide. It's very small, without being annoying, so it doesn't take up much space (or weight) in a pack. The variety of hikes is nice, and it's a good way to find new hikes in this region of the state. I own all the 'Day Hiking' books published thus far, and I really enjoy the consistent quality. There are just enough pictures included to wet your appetite for good weather and days off, without turning the book into fluff. I can't compare this book to any of the competing series, but it carries well the torch passed to it by Ira Spring and Harvey Manning, although I do miss their complaints about the fate of public lands.