Customer Reviews

Afoot & Afield in Los Angeles County

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

 

 

This book covers most of the important hiking areas in Los Angeles County. There isn't room in the book for every hike at each of these areas (partly due to the long descriptions of the hikes which are in the book) but the author covers a good variety at each site, including most of the best hikes.

The descriptions of the hikes are wonderful (such as the mention of the "Darth Vader house" at Solstice Canyon) but are a bit too wordy to follow while on the trail.

You will definitely need a separate map, as the maps in this book are too small and lack necessary detail. For many of the shorter hikes in the Santa Monica Mountains or Griffith Park you can find nice maps in the book Day Hikes Around Los Angeles, which makes a nice companion to this book. For longer hikes, get a good topographical map. (Watch out, some of the USGS maps of the LA area are pretty bad, including many of the maps of the Santa Monica mountains.)

My sister got me this book when I first moved to LA and I was so excited after browsing the book that I made a goal to go on one of the listed hikes every other weekend. One of the hardest parts about hiking in LA is finding the trail. Afoot and Afield provides detailed driving instructions needed to reach the trailhead as well as directions once you are on the trail itself (which is very helpful considering sometimes the hike is not really even a trail). I often take the book with me on the hike to make sure I don't get lost. The book also lets you know what the best times of the year and the day (i.e. make sure to go at sunset) are for the specific hike and it estimates the difficulty and duration of the hike..which i've found to be quite accurate. Readers will be amazed at how many diverse & interesting hikes there are in LA. And it always is amazing how going on one of these hikes makes you totally forget that the big bustling city of LA is just minutes away. Keep this book away from friends though. You'll never get it back, they'll love it so much! In fact, you really can't be a hiker in LA without it.

This book is indispensible to me. I moved down the LA area after living in a rural forested area of northern california for many years. Needless to say - I greatly missed the outdoors, and I got this book to get acquanted with my new surroundings. I try to go on a hike every other weekend, and right along with me is this rumpled, wrinkled, dogeared, inked-on book. There are hikes for everyone, some appropriate for children - some catering only to the experienced hiker, and everyone in between. So, wether I feel like going on a 2 mile hike - or a 12 mile hike....this book is straped to my daypack. The author has covered every hike in good detail - there are, of course, a few exceptions - but in general, the directions and writing are reliable. He also provides interesting histories of some trails, appropriate times of the year for maximum enjoyment, and little hints on things to pay attention to or watch out for. Buy this book - then get out and use it.

A good source. Missing many many hikes in the L.A. area. Fewer words and more hikes would have been better, but this is good and accurate. You will not get lost and if you do not know L.A. you can see some amazing things.

We've just started hiking and this book was exactly what we were looking for. It has a large variety of routes, all the relevant information, clear descriptions, good maps, and a very easy to read format. My only wish would be a summary of all 192 trips so we could quickly scan for specific criteria like difficulty and time.

This is one of the best books for hikes in LA County. It covers a wide variety of locations, including Catalina Island, the Santa Monica Mountains, and the San Gabriel Mountains. Unfortunately, information on some of the hikes is out of date. Clearly, this is always a problem with books on hiking trails since conditions do change, but it seems that the description of the hike from Vincent Gap to East Fork along the San Gabriel River is particularly out of date. According to the book, this 14 mile downhill hike will take 9 hours. Given the extreme deterioration of the trail, it will be difficult for even an experienced hiker to complete it in less than 14 hours. It seems unlikely that this deterioration has taken place in the short time since the book was published.

THIS BOOK, HAS ALLOWED ME TO EXPLORE THE BEAUTY THAT, SURPRISINGLY SURROUNDS THE LA AREA. IT'S AN EASY READ WITH LOTS AND LOTS OF GEMS TO BE SEEN, SUCH AS BEAUTIFUL VISTAS, MOUNTAIN TOPS, WATERFALLS, DAYHIKES, BACKPACKING, CAR CAMPING, AND THE LIKE. THIS BOOK HAS BECOME MY BIBLE AND I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT ADVENTURE TO BEGIN. ONCE YOU BEGIN EXPLORING, YOU WILL BE AMAZED AT ALL THE BEAUTY THAT ABOUNDS RIGHT ALONG THE OUTSKIRTS OF SMOG, CRIME, AND TRAFFIC. YOU CAN FEEL LIKE YOUR FAR AWAY, BUT YOU'LL BE RIGHT IN YOUR OWN BACK YARD. THIS AUTHOR HELPED ME SEE BEYOND THE HIGHRISES AND THE FREEWAYS. THANKS JERRY!

This book has been indispensable for my hiking here ever since I bought this book, and I'd recommend it to anyone.

However, as these trails change, the book is becoming a bit outdated. New housing developments, newly placed security fences, washed out paths, etc are starting to become apparent as I try new trails each week.

I am an avid SoCal hiker and have been attempting to use this book for the past 6 months or so. I would agree with others on its over-wordiness - especially since much of the space taken up by those words could have ben used for better directions! I really find this author to be terrible at them. Please please please don't ever leave me stranded or lost anywhere with only this book to help me find my way out. Try the Falcon Guides or Moon selections for much better maps and directions.