Customer Reviews

Afoot & Afield Portland/Vancouver

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

 

 

Reading the book it is evident that the author has extensive hiking experience hiking in and around Portland.

What I Like about this book:
1. Lists hikes that are not so popular, but are a delight to be on them
2. Every hike has a pretty accurate scale of difficulty
3. Has a good list of 'rainy days hike'
4. Every hike has the times when the hikes are open (or best time to visit)
5. The author explains in detail what he likes about the hikes

One of the only things I can say negative is that the author goes into excruciating details about how to get to a hike (which is needed sometimes because some of the trailheads are not well marked) and sometimes important details are left out. For example one of the most beautiful hike I found was a wildflower hike in Washugal ... however the road to get to the hike was just atrocious - most of it were forest roads with crater like potholes. We hadn't accounted for driving at 5mph. To the authors defense - can't expect him to really keep track of the potholes. The hike was truly rewarding though.

I've found several gems because of this book and we have our copy in our car at all times.

I highly recommend this book, but be prepared to be taken off the beaten path!

Douglas Lorain presents himself as a man whose life passion is hiking. The back of the book claims he has hiked over 25,000 miles in Oregon and Washington. With so many hikes under his belt, perhaps he's starting to mix the trails up.

I was excited to recieve a book with such attention to detail and variety of hiking experiences. Indeed, there are many trails listed that are off the beaten path. However, on two of my first treks, the instructions on how to find the trailhead were misleading or flat out wrong. In the case of Munra Pt, Lorain instructs one to look for a gravel parking lot on the right hand side of I-84W. The only thing on the right is the shoulder. After a half hour of driving around looking for the non-existent gravel lot, I gave up and ended up parking on the shoulder of the east bound lanes and finding the trailhead by myself. Another misrepresentation: Ruckel Ridge. While the directions to the parking lot were fine, from there Lorain literally and figuratively takes a wrong turn.

Makes me wonder if he's ever been to those places, and defintely calls into question his reliability as well as that of the publisher, Wilderness Press. For me this book has been a waste of time and money.

My advice: if you want to find some out of the way spots, look for this book at the library for ideas of hikes, and then find out how to get there through a trusted website online. Or just get another book.