trail guide reviews

“if you were looking for a review of a trail guide you were interested in, what kind of information would you want from that review? i'm finishing up my review of the PCT guide for S. California, and trying to make sure i cover as many angles as possible. i've never reviewed a trail guide before and would like to make the review actually useful. thanks very much for your input.”

“I appreciate phone numbers and such to the ranger's offices and accurate directions to the trailheads. Noting whether there are apt to be mtn bikers on the trail and points of interest and history of the area is important too.

I'd like to know if such things are covered or if it's just a map with a fancy cover.”

“The availability of water, when/if creeks dry up. Like if there won't be any water for a long stretch, it's nice to know about it before you leave a water source.

Sometimes you see a bunch of contour lines on the map with no numbers on them and it looks like a continuous up or down, but when you're actually hiking it, you go up, then down, then up again, etc. When that occurs at the end of a long day, it's a drag to think you're at the top only to go down and start up again.”

“The first thing I look for is grade. How steep up? My wife doesn't like the steep skeery stuff. Then how steep down, my knees don't like the downhill stuff (I used to be uphillklimber). Then look for water sources. Then if all those prerequisites are met, I look for the most important thing. Is there cgoing to be a decent overlook or viewpoint!!!!”

“I always appreciate a hot centerfold.”

“With the PCT books, consider whether they are understandable, interesting, useful for both dayhikers and long distance hikers, are distances (especially between water sources) clearly stated, are the most prominent features easily described, do they make you want to hike the trail?

This comes from my experience with the previous books which I found very difficult to use. Lots of good geological information, but nothing that made me actually want to hike the thing after being told over and over how bad each section was.

The absurdity of the elevations information got to me too - where they would give the elevation at a road crossing and again at the next road crossing, but neglect to tell you that you climbed 500' to a ridge in between the two road crossings. Sometimes there would be 1000' or more of elevation change that wasn't mentioned. Since I used the data book a lot, and the elevations used there came out of the guidebooks, I would get frustrated at the uselessness of that information for hiking.”

“thanks everybody, and especially Ginny. they seem to have overhauled the books since you had them, as i'ive only found the desert sections to hint at grimness - and with good reason!”