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: #45451 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 354 pages

Review
"Romano is one of the better guidebook writers around... there's a lot to like about this book." -- Seattle PI

"The most comprehensive guide to day hiking on the Olympic Peninsula." -- WowWeather.com

"The newest, Craig Romano's Day Hiking: Olympic Peninsula is easily the best of the lot.." -- Voice of the Wild Olympics

"The series has a new look, with clear graphics, detailed maps, elevation profiles and plenty of informative sidebars." -- Washington Trails magazine

About the Author
CRAIG ROMANO was raised in New Hampshire where he fell in love with the natural world. He has traveled extensively, from Alaska to Argentina and Sicily to South Korea, seeking wild and beautiful places. He ranks Washington State, his home since 1989, among the most beautiful places in the world and he has thoroughly hiked it from Cape Flattery to Puffer Butte, Cape Disappointment to the Salmo-Priest. But he still misses the East Coast, especially when it comes to getting a decent Italian meal. Craig holds a BA in history, a master's degree in education, and an AA in Forestry. An avid hiker, runner, kayaker, and cyclist, Craig has written about his passions for many publications, including Canoe and Kayak, Northwest Runner, AMC Outdoors, Backpacker and The North Columbia Monthly. Trails editor for Outdoors Northwest, he is also the author of Best Hikes with Dogs: Inland Northwest, Day Hiking Olympic Peninsula, and Columbia Highlands: Exploring Washington's Last Frontier, all published by The Mountaineers Books. He lives in Skagit County, Washington, close to the North Cascades and San Juan Islands.

Customer Reviews

A great start to the new series!
I picked up this book yesterday at the mountaineers bookstore after patiently waiting for it for weeks and I'm happy to say the wait was most definitely worth the wait.

This title is a great revision of the classic '100 hikes' series perfectly geared for the modern hiker. The text is much more concise and direct with much clearer maps and directions. Gone are the Harvey Manning style trail reviews that often turned into personal meditations where meaning and fact had to be gleaned with much care. As is evident by the title, the focus is also entirely on Day Hiking, with a scant minority of the hikes exceeding 10 miles round trip. This is in sharp contrast to the classic hikes series in which most volumes were heavily slanted toward multi-day backpacking treks. This probably bodes well for the old series staying in print as it will still have a definitive niche. There is also a much greater emphasis given to year round hikes with many low elevation destinations included in the whopping 125 hikes listed in the book.

My one complaint would be that the snazzy 'hike overview chart' at the beginning of the book misses out on a few helpful details that would make finding a desirable hike quickly easier, specifically these details would be elevation gain, specific months accessible and the subjective star rating of the hike's overall quality that. All these details are of course available for each hike in the meat of the book. What is included in the overview chart are things such as whether or not the hike is accessible year round, what scenic features each possesses, and subjective difficulty level on a 1-6 scale. Amusingly only one hike rates a 6 for difficulty which translates to "beyond strenuous".

Overall a great launch to a new series. I'm highly looking forward to the Snoqualmie & South Cascades editions (both written by a different author) and hopefully many more to come after that!

Exceeds Expectations!
I have been patiently waiting for this book to release ever since Father's Day of 2006. I met author Craig Romano on the trail and he featured individual pictures of me and my dad in two areas of this guide. At first, I wanted to pick up the book for its sentimental value but as I began to look through the pages I realized that there were a plethora of trails to choose from. I came across trails I have never seen written up in any guide book including the Theler Wetlands in Belfair, Twanoh State Park near Union and Penrose Point State Park. The driving directions and trail descriptions are highly accurate and there is a quick breakdown of each hike outlining the difficulty, open seasons, corresponding maps and accessibility. Each hike has been meticulously researched and it is evident that a great amount of time and effort went in to making this book as accurate and descriptive as possible. Out of all of the Olympic Peninsula trail guides I have read, this is quite possibly the best out there.

A useful guide for those on a schedule
This was a very useful guide for us with only a few days to spend in this spectacular area. Trail guides were generally accurate and descriptions wothwhile.