Best Hikes Near Seattle (Best Hikes Near Series) [Paperback]

Peter Stekel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2009 | Series: Best Hikes Near Series

Featuring more than 40 of the best hikes in the greater Seattle metro area, this exciting new guidebook points locals and visitors alike to trailheads within an hour's drive of Seattle.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Essential gear for every adventure:
 Outfit Your Mind™

 

 

Take a Hike!
Who says you have to travel far from home
to go on a great hike?

 

 

This guide describes forty-two of the best hikes within an hour’s drive of Seattle:

 

• Urban walks
• Skykomish River Valley
• South Fork Stillaguamish River Valley
• Issaquah Alps—Snoqualmie Valley Foothills
• Snoqualmie Valley Highlands
• White River Valley

 

From easy nature walks to strenuous day hikes, this guide offers something for every hiker—and all within easy reach of Greater Seattle.  Each featured hike includes a route description; at-a-glance data such as distance and difficulty level; thorough directions to the trailhead; directional cues; and a detailed, accurate trail map.

Inside you’ll find full-color photos and maps; information on approximate hiking times, canine compatibility, and fees and permits required; and sidebars on local lore, points of interest, and area wildlife.

About the Author

Peter Stekel has hiked throughout the intermountain West, the West Coast, the Pacific Northwest, and regions well beyond. He is the author of hundreds of articles in such publications as Sierra Heritage, American Forests, High Country News, and Canoe & Kayak.

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: FalconGuides; 1st edition (April 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762747250
• ISBN-13: 978-0762747252
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #432,611 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #55 in Books > Travel > United States > States > Washington

More About the Author

Peter Stekel - author of Final Flight, The Mystery of a WW II Plane Crash and the Frozen Airmen in the High Sierra.

In October 2005, two mountaineers climbing above Mendel Glacier in the High Sierra found the mummified remains of a man in a WW II uniform, entombed in the ice.

The "Frozen Airman" discovery created a media storm and a mystery that drew author Peter Stekel to investigate. What did happen to the four-man crew who perished on a routine navigation training flight in 1942, 150 miles off-course from its reported destination?

Stekel found bad weather, bad luck, and bad timing. Empty graves, botched records, and misguided recovery efforts. Then, in 2007, the unimaginable happened again. Stekel himself discovered a second body in the glacier. Another young man would finally be coming home.

Through meticulous research, interviews, and mountaineering trips to the site, Stekel uncovered the story of these four young men. Final Flight explores their ill-fated trip and the misinformation surrounding it for more than 60 years.

The book is a gripping account that's part mystery, part history, and part personal journey to uncover the truth of what happened on November 18, 1942.

In the process Stekel narrates the young aviators' last days and takes us on their final flight.


See www.FinalFlightTheBook.com for photos, video, and links to print media stories and author interviews on television and radio.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book, September 13, 2009

By 

M. Livadariu (Redmond, Wa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Best Hikes Near Seattle (Best Hikes Near Series) (Paperback)

Bought this in spring (2009) and we've been hiking using it as a starting point ever since.
what I like most about the book is that each hike is well documented. You can get a rough idea about the difficultly, the amount of time needed and the distance involved quickly from the summary of each hike.
You also have good instructions on how to reach the trail heads.
Also, each hike has associated an accurate enough map and GPS coordinates for each key point along the trail.

A very good book for the starting "wanna be" hiker.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding guide to hikes near Seattle, July 29, 2010

By 

Robert C. Ross (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Best Hikes Near Seattle (Best Hikes Near Series) (Paperback)

One of my travel pleasures is to read guide books written by local authorities. Of course, I always pick up one of the most recent and best recommended by local sources -- calling a local bookstore a month before the visit turns up some real winners that even an exhaustive search of Amazon or the Internet generally may not uncover.

Before our trip last fall, I also followed past practices and called about a local hiking guide. I've found that hikers always have unusual insights into what unique, beautiful and interesting about their cities, and often I can work in a hike or two during a few days visit. In this case, both stores I spoke with highly recommended Best Hikes Near Seattle (Falconguide), telling me that Stekel was an experienced writer and hiker, and had actually hiked each of these trails.

In the event, reading the book was a pleasure; I would recommend the book over the Kindle version because the price isn't that much more and the color illustrations of views, flora and fauna, and even Stekel himself are so much more interesting in color than in black and white.

The substance of the guidebook is excellent: it covers easy nature walks and strenuous day hikes and hikes in between. Full-color photos and maps; information on approximate hiking times, canine compatibility, and fees and permits; and sidebars on local lore, points of interest, and area wildlife. Stekel's enthusiasm comes alive in these pages.

One weakness of a one author hiking guide -- no matter how good the hiking companions are and Stekel seems to have picked excellent partners -- is how the guide can be kept up to date. Stekel has a very interesting website filled with his own writing, but he isn't attempting to do a comprehensive job of updating his guide. However, he does provide an excellent set of additional resources, so that you can check out any hike that strikes your fancy to see what changes may have occurred.

Whether in your reading chair or on the trail, this is a superb guide to some great walking in the Seattle area.

Robert C. Ross 2010