Customer Reviews

AMC's Best Day Hikes Near New York City: Four-season Guide to 50 of the Best Trails in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey

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

 

 

As the review by the author's brother alludes to, this book is most appropriate for parents who want to get their kids out of the city and in to nature. I cannot recommend this book to serious hikers looking for true day hikes. The vast majority of the hikes covered in this book are low mileage over easy or moderate terrain. Those looking for a challenge and/or full DAY hike will want to look elsewhere - I recommend Skip Card's Take a Hike New York City: Hikes Within Two Hours of Manhattan. That being said, I do think this book is laid out nicely and well-written. There are numerous guides in the front of the book to help you pick out the kind of hike you're looking for. The descriptions of each hike are thorough and offer some interesting tidbits. There are also some fantastic one-page essays scattered throughout - the book is almost worth buying just for these, and they're the reason I gave the book 4 stars instead of 3. But again, most of these are walks, not hikes, so just be aware of that before purchasing.

Full disclosure -- I am the author's brother. That said, I genuinely enjoyed this book, and more importantly, have used it in planning local hikes for my two boys (ages six and three). The write-ups go beyond "follow the path for three miles and turn left at the bridge by the stream," as many guide books do. Readers get wonderful context to help enjoy an excellent selection of local hikes -- a great antidote for those of us in the NYC metro area who feel like there is no outdoors left. There is -- you just have to know where to go to find it. An easy exercise with this book.