Customer Reviews

Best Hikes Near Seattle (Best Hikes Near Series)

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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.

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