Customer Reviews

103 Hikes in Southwestern British Columbia

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have had this book for many years and done may of the hikes. It is a great source for the start of the trail but beyond that, you're pretty much on your own.

There are no maps, just had drawn scribbles that seldomly represent the terrain. Be careful to look for the indication of North as it is never to the top of the page as it should.

I just did one of the hikes yesterday, Deaks Bluffs Trail. The book is right on until after the third "Y" in the beggining of the trail but after that, you are totally on your own.

Instead of factual directions or prominate features, the author(s) get way too wordy verging on poetic. Sweet but it doesn't help you in the back country.

Anyone considering this book must realize that the trails contained in this book are serious back country and we pull many people off these mountains banged up, hypothermic and on occassion, dead. I feel that is by and large due to books like this put you in the high country but don't prepare you for whats in store. It doesn't suggest kit or proper clothing. A lovely mountian trail that gets clouded in often means you can't see fifteen feet ahead of you. Visual references are quite important to the less experienced.

It is my opinion that the author(s) should stick to writing "walks" books where the conseqences are less severe.

Excellent hiking guide. Exact, blow-by-blow details for hikes within a weekend of Vancouver. These hikes all have trails. For off-trail hikes, where one navigates through the forest and alpine with a topographic map, compass, and altimeter, and for descriptions of climbing routes, use the book by Bruce Fairley (which is essentially an update of Dick Culbert's "Hiking Guide to Southwest BC"). Culbert's guide is out of print and badly out of date, but IMO a better, more concise guidebook. For instructions on HOW to hike and climb, try "The Complete Walker III" by Colin Fletcher, and on how to climb try "Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills".

I have worn out 3 copies of this book over the year. Very good selection of hikes within a days drive of Vancouver. Good directions to trail heads and acurate time estimates for hike completion.

Worst recommendation of a hike in any hiking book I've ever read. The book recommended a hike to Mt. Strachan in the Cypress ski area, on a trail that was terrible. Completely overgrown in places, unsigned in crucial places, blowdown to the point that you might as well have been bushwhacking, etc. We finally gave up and went up the ski area road, a much better option not mentioned in the book.

Directions to the Garibaldi Lake trailhead were poor.

I'm tossing this book.