The Best in Tent Camping: Maryland: A Guide for Car Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos (Best Tent Camping) [Paperback]

Evan L. Balkan (Author)

Book Description

Series: Best Tent Camping | Publication Date: March 28, 2008

Maryland's natural beauty can be fully experienced only by visiting, and what better way to do so than to pitch a tent in one of the varied locations Maryland has to offer: the Atlantic Ocean lies nearby, as do the Allegheny Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland is a camper's dream, and this valuable guide assists outdoor enthusiasts of all stripes. Including a five-star rating system, detailed travel and contact information for each site, latitude and longitude coordinates, and regional maps, this guide is an incomparable resource for anyone roughing it in this beautiful state.

Editorial Reviews

Review

To those who enjoy solitude and stars...50 favorite tent camping sites. -- Debbie Heishman, Chambersburg Public Opinion

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Menasha Ridge Press (March 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0897329775
• ISBN-13: 978-0897329774
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #862,734 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good, specific information, September 1, 2008

By 

¤ Candi ¤ "a.k.a. 'Shoes & Chocolate'" (Annapolis, Maryland) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Best in Tent Camping: Maryland: A Guide for Car Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos (Best Tent Camping) (Paperback)

I must say I respectfully disagree with the previous reviewer's comment that the information here is all available on the Internet and isn't specific enough to be really helpful. If you actually read the couple of pages devoted to each campground, you'll find details that definitely are NOT covered on the DNR Website or in any other readily available source.

On every camping trip, I take notes and annotate my map in preparation for our next trip. But each trip, I like to try a new place, so my notes don't always help! The info in this book is exactly the kind of information I would like to have before I go: what amenities are there, best loops, advantages and disadvantages of each area, and--most useful--the exact site numbers of sites that are especially good or especially avoidable (and why). I've found a number of very precise tidbits that have, IMO, been worth the purchase price.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Helpful, June 30, 2008

By 

DK (Washington DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best in Tent Camping: Maryland: A Guide for Car Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos (Best Tent Camping) (Paperback)

Unfortunately, the author does little more than compile data that is otherwise easily available on the internet into one centralized place. While that does have some utility (hence the two stars instead of one), he does very little more than that; thus, the book offers little in the way of orginality or direction.

The book's title suggests that he's going to pare down all of Maryland's camping options into, gee, "the best" ones. But there are 50 listed in the book (ok, conveniently by region) and he doesn't go much further to opinionate (it's OK to have an opinion!) what the best choices are. For example, which would be, say, the top five for families with young children? For avid hikers? For sheer beauty, scenery, history, or isolation? While he uses a "star-rating" system that covers five sub-categories, it ends up being useless because he awards most of the camping sites either four or five stars in each category, thereby providing little meaningful distinction among them all. Also, does five stars really mean "can't miss" or is that just a level relative to Maryland?

He sometimes recommends a few campgrounds within each site, which is certainly on the right track to helping us out, but offers few concrete details and suggestions on anything else; for example, food options, maps, photos, itineraries, etc.

All in all, a wasted opportunity to cut through the chaffe to write a book that tent campers could really use.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The inside scoop for tent camping, October 16, 2009

By 

Leo F. Edmiston Cyr "verdi545" (Western, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Best in Tent Camping: Maryland: A Guide for Car Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos (Best Tent Camping) (Paperback)

This is exactly what you need when planning a tent camping trip in Maryland. The information is not tremendously deep for each campground but the fact that this one book covers such a nice selection of Maryland camp grounds makes it THE go-to guide for these trips. I've planned two trips with my family based on recommendations in this book and Evan hit the nail on the head for us.

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