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

Jeanne Louise Pyle (Author)

Book Description

Series: Best in Tent Camping | Publication Date: June 2005

The Best in Tent Camping: Washington is a guidebook for tent campers who like quiet, scenic, and serene campsites. Whether you are a native Washingtonian in search of new territory or a vacationer on the lookout for that dream campground, this book unlocks the secrets to the best tent camping that Washington has to offer.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a great resource for families looking for scenic, secluded locations where they can easily take the kids, or for those folks who don't have the time or the inclination for a full-scale backpacking trip."--Backpacker Magazine

From the Back Cover

If you subscribe to the opinion that televisions, Japanese lanterns, and electric guitars are not essential camping equipment, The Best in Tent Camping: Washington should be your constant companion.

Each campground profile includes:
Detailed campground maps
Key information such as fees, restrictions, and dates of operation
Driving directions to the campgrounds
Ratings for beauty, privacy, spaciousness, quiet, security, and cleanliness

The Best in Tent Camping: Washington is a guidebook for tent campers who like quiet, scenic, and serene campsites.
Whether you are a native Washingtonian in search of new territory or a vacationer on the lookout for that dream campground, this book unlocks the secrets to the best tent camping that Washington has to offer.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Menasha Ridge Press; 1st edition (June 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0897325699
• ISBN-13: 978-0897325691
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,189,671 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Some info about camp sites is obsolete, September 29, 2009

By 

R. Peery (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Best in Tent Camping: Washington: A Guide for Car Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos (Best Tent Camping) (Paperback)

The concept of this book is a great one: a resource to locate high quality camp sites for TENT campers, written by a seasoned local. However, as usual, the devil is in the details.

While this book appears to have been published in 2009, it contains out of date information. For example, the author's entry for WA State Park at Deception Pass / Bowman Bay is simply false. She writes that there are 16 tent sites numbered 236-251. A brief phone call with a park ranger on site confirms that these site numbers no longer exist, and more importantly, they've all been renovated ("some years ago") to accommodate, um, RVs (they now have large parking pads, hook ups, etc). Mind you, this is a book intended for TENT campers; it's supposed to be a book for people who "....hate RVs, concrete slabs..." (as written on the cover of the book).

If I had relied on this book, I would expect one thing only to find that the reality is something quite different. This makes this book a very questionable resource.

What's mind boggling is that the author (and the editor) clearly have not taken the time to verify the accuracy of the information that they've published. I learned the true status of the Deception Pass / Bowman Bay facility using the internet and a telephone; at the very least, the author should have done the same.

On the up side, the page layout is fairly clear, the descriptions are descent (though sometimes superfluous), the maps are OK.

Bottom line: if you choose to use this book, I suggest you VERIFY everything before you travel.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What a waste of money., July 16, 2009

By 

Jay T. Thompson "Avid Hiker" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Best in Tent Camping: Washington: A Guide for Car Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos (Best Tent Camping) (Paperback)

Just got this book today. Flipping through the book I see a write up on Beacon Rock State Park. The author tells the reader that there is a hike to Hamilton Mountain that is a more doable distance for most hikers and that Hamilton is 745 feet high and is the second highest point in the park, Beacon Rock being the first. Has the author even been to this park and walked the trails? Hamilton is closer to 2500 feet. Beacon Rock is only around 850 feet. The author also mentions Table Mountain just off of the Pacific Crest Trail as being 1042 feet high when it's actually about 3400 feet. A casual car camper that tries to hike these will end up on a death march if they actually make it to the top. Sure these are minor mistakes but what other mistakes are in the book that the author has included just to fill space? I feel like I have just wasted my money on this book and will definitely not rely on it. If the author and editor had done their research, maybe they would not have lost credibility with me and I would purchase more in the Best of Tent Camping series, such as Oregon.

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Less nonsense details, More useful details please..., June 18, 2007

By 

M. Guthrie (Seattle) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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

I was looking for a book that my family (we have 2 young children)could use to find cool tent camping spots in WA. We've used the book a few times and have not been impressed.

Her ratings for "scenic", "privacy", spaciousness", etc. seem to be a bit blown out of proportion. I don't think there is a single CG listed that is less than 3 stars. We went to a State park in Eastern WA that was rated 4 stars for beauty, once we got there, I clearly did not agree with her. So I looked up a CG in her book that I have been to before that is obviously beautiful to most people, and she rated that CG a 4 star. Hmmm... it didn't make sense to me.

The organization of the book is not good for cross-referencing. If you are looking for a location of a CG from the map, it is nearly impossible to find that CG listed in the book without having to check in another spot first to find the page number.

Her descriptions are VERY lengthy, going into much detail about the history of the CG and area, but not much detail about the actual CG, it's characteristics, the amenities, bed surface for tents, views, flora/fauna, etc. Bullet points would be nice as well, especially when you are trying to just skim the book for your next adventure.

I have not found the book to be very good yet and am currently looking for a better reference book for WA.