23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A slightly misleading title., April 4, 2002
This review is from: Best Easy Day Hikes Phoenix (Paperback)
Falcon Press has produced a number of "Best Easy Day Hikes" guides over the past few years. They usually feature hikes under 8 miles with an emphasis on shorter walks the whole family can enjoy. This guide to Phoenix hiking, however, should perhaps be called "Best Short Hikes" as the trails Green recommends are anything but easy. Quite apart from the weather in Phoenix, which makes hiking anytime from the beginning of May until mid October a real chore, many of these trails are incredibly steep. People used to hiking well graded trails such as the Pacific Crest Trail will be stunned at the number of hikes which gain close to (and in some cases more than) 1000ft/mile. At least a third of the trails described in the book exceed the maximum grade that modern trail designers use. This is at least partly due to the Phoenix Parks department simply picking which of the "use" trails they want to designate as official trails, rather than putting in the expense to build good ones.
That said, this guide is thorough, and it does include a number of hikes which even non-athletes would enjoy. Green's trail descriptions are helpful, especially in light of all the unofficial trails which dart in and about the designated routes of the Phoenix Mountains. Finally, his guide is to be commended for the excellent descriptions of getting to the trailhead. Non-residents wishing to hike in Phoenix will find his directions very easy to follow.
On the whole, a good book for winter conditioning hikes. I visit Phoenix regularly, but would not consider most of these trails in the summer.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
AT LAST! A proper hiking book for families with little ones., May 14, 2008
This review is from: Best Easy Day Hikes Phoenix (Paperback)
This book can grow with your family. We live in the Phoenix area, and we have been so exasperated because none of the parks seem to have handicap or stroller access. We want to explore the desert with our little ones, but most of the hikes around here are too rugged for the under-3 crowd, or anyone who wants to accommodate a stroller. Imagine driving 45 minutes or more with your little ones in the car, only to get out, put sunscreen and hats on everybody, get going and... get stuck. It's too steep, too rocky, too dangerous, too sandy, or just not feasible for your kids. It's a major disappointment. We have taken some drastic measures -- hiking in the Catalina mountains north of Tuscon, we actually "portaged" the stroller up a couple of steep slopes -- with the children on board! Ridiculous. What little wheelchair or stroller access there is around here, is usually on the road with traffic passing by. Not too fun.
So, on to Easy Day Hikes by Stewart Green.
Great, great book that will grow with our family's needs. It is a proper hiking guide, with very useful information. It gives wonderful descriptions of how to reach the trailheads -- this is really helpful because sometimes they are hard to find.
Most of the hikes are doable for adventurous 5 year olds. Our cheerful three year old can manage even some steep grades with a little encouragement. Remember, going down is harder on little people than going up -- they want to run and they always fall.
A few are doable with strollers, particularly the White Tank Mountain waterfall trail. The words "barrier-free" refer to wheelchair access, but we find that they pertain nicely to strollers, too.
If you are just getting started and want an easy stroller activity with your kids with LITTLE danger and virtually NO climbing, I have two recommendations that are not in the book.
1) Try the Boyce Thompson Arboretum on the 60 east of Florence Junction. There is a stroller-friendly guided or self-guided tour, and the whole arboretum is fantastic. Closer to Pheonix is the Desert Botanical Garden (next to the zoo and Papago Park), but we like the Boyce Thompson better for the desert experience, although we have membership at DBG.
2) Go to Lost Dutchman State Park east of Apache Junction. Before you even enter the park (no fee), turn off into the parking lot on the right. There is a self-guided desert plants walk with NO grade whatsoever (no grade = no climbing). The path is smooth, small gravel (easy even for umbrella strollers) and there are virtually no people on this trail, EVER. You see some giant saguaro cacti. There are a few resting benches and lots of beautiful and interesting desert plants. The placards are very informative and this is easy, easy, easy for kids.
This is a great guide for Phoenix folks of all abilities who want to explore their area. I would recommend it for families, which is very unusual in hiking books around here.
Take water.
Wear a hat.
Bring a camera and some plastic bags (to take your trash out).
Stop to have a look around.
If I ever write a blog for the Phoenix outdoors, I will include cell phone reception -- I think Moms can do a lot with their kids if they know where their cell phones reach. Until then, this is the best book.
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