Customer Reviews

Canadian Rockies Trail Guide

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I used this book while hiking for a week in Banff and Yoho National Parks in 2003. This book makes finding the trailheads and following the trails incredibly easy. It made my experience in 2003 so hasselfree I went back in 2004 to do some more trails. Now it is 2005 and I am thinking about flying back out there for a third time to do some more hikes. I wouldn't have any inclination to go back, except for the clear and straightforward manner this books shows all the opportunities that await me in the Rockies.

I praise this book so highly because of the frustrations I have faced while trying to find trail guides for other national parks that are as clear and concise. It thoroughly covers trails in Banff, Jasper, Yoho, Koontenay, Waterton Lakes, Mount Robson and several other areas with accurate descriptions so one knows when to take the fork in the trail and when to stay straight.

It starts with a basic introduction on things you need to be aware of when hiking in the Rockies such as bears and weather. Then comes the listing of trails for each park. How it works is that they divide each park into smaller sections, and each section is preceded by a map showing all the trails in that area. Next to each trail is a trail number. So you look at the map and see a trail you are interested in, flip a few pages to the page titled with that trail number and you get all the details you need. Or vice-versa...Read the different trail descriptions until one captures your interest and then flip over to the map and look for the trail with that trail number to get an idea of the layout of your hike.

The trail descriptions also show elevation gain and loss, maximum elevation, distance, and approximate time it will take to complete the hike. It also details on how to reach the trail-head by car and good times of the year to do certain trails. Many trail descriptions are accompanied by photos taken on that trail so get an idea of what you will see.

The other book I got was Don't Waste Your Time in The Canadian Rockies. It is less useful. That book has no trail maps and is not as thorough as the Trail Guide. It might be a good companion book since the authors of that book tells you which hikes are the most scenic, but I wouldn't use it as a primary trail guide.

I also recommend that once you are there that you drop by the local book stores in Banff or Jasper to see if you can pick up a book called "The Grand Canadian Rockies" by George Brybycin. It's a large hardcover book filled with glossy highquality photographs of the Canadian Rockies. What you will feel in person when you see those mountains, this book manages to convey in photographs. It was only $30 Canadian, but I would have happily paid double that.

I bought this book in preparation for 2 weeks of both dayhiking and backpacking in the Mountain Parks, from which I just returned. I had never been to the Candian Rockies before, but have been to other mountain ranges in Western North America.
Travelling through Banff, Jasper, and Robson I found the book accurate in the details and broad in the coverage of trails. The authors give kilometer-to-kilometer logs of the hikes, which is very useful if you are hiking part of the way on a long trail, because it gives you a good idea as to how far you want to go. Historical background and some info about wildlife are given and keep the trail descriptions from being too "dry". If you are to buy ONE book for a trip, this is it. (I also have "Opinonated Guide...etc" and borrowed other books, but this one was the one to get used almost all the time. Get the Gemtrek topos (for example from Maptown.com) that cover the areas your interested in, and you're all set for dayhiking and 98% of backpacking needs.
The one weakness of the book is its lack of off-trail descriptions. While one can debate if anyone going off-trail should need such advice, it is very nice to have an idea about what's doable for a given level of skill and effort. Give the JNP and BNP trail offices a call -very helpful.
Nevertheless, this is a very well-written, comprehensive, yet detailed book.

This book is the standard reference to hiking trails in the national parks of the Canadian Rockies. It's so indispensable that experienced hikers will often have multiple editions of this book, in order to stay current.

This edition, the seventh, is a more comprehensive revision than usual. Coverage has been expanded to include several provincial parks (including Peter Lougheed Provincial Park in the Kananaskis area, a welcome and overdue addition). There are more maps, and they've been redone: trails are numbered for easy reference. Plus updates and revisions throughout. Owners of previous editions will find it worthwhile to get this one as well.

As with previous editions, the interior photos are black and white and the package is by no means flashy, but this is a reference to be sworn by and used. It's always better to see the mountains close up, anyway. Pack this book along with your topo maps. I wouldn't be caught dead on a trail in Banff National Park without it!

This book is a great reference with 229 trails throughout the parks of the Canadian Rockies. If you've already selected a trail, it's great.

However, it's not great for planning an itinerary. I bought this book a couple of months in advance of a 10-day trip to the region, hoping to find two great 3-day hikes that we could plan the rest of our trip around. I soon discovered the Achilles' heel of this book--there are no ratings. In order to see how good a hike is, you have to read about it. In order to find the most desirable hikes in the book, I'd have to read more than 400 pages! I actually tried this, and started to read from the beginning, making notes about which hikes seemed particularly interesting--and then decided to check out the other books that are available. I immediately found "Don't Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies" by Kathy and Craig Copeland, which readily classifies trails into categories based on how scenic and pleasant they are. From that book, I rapidly found some great trails, and planned our itinerary.

Imagine a book filled with essays about hundreds of movies, but no ratings. It would be great for understanding more about a movie you had already chosen, but not very helpful for choosing a movie. So it is with this encyclopedic work--if you've already decided where you're hiking, or have narrowed it down to a few possibilities, this books is great. But there are much better choices if you're planning a wide-open itinerary and want to find the best places to go.

This has been "The Hiker's Bible" for over 30 years and is now in its eighth edition still in print. The new edition has added trails in adjacent provincial parks making it the only trail guide to cover the five national mountain parks (Banff, Jasper, Yoho, Kootenay and Waterton Lakes) and five adjoining provincial parks (Mt. Robson, Mt. Assiniboine, Peter Lougheed / Kananaskis, Elk Lakes and Akamina-Kishinena.)

The trail descriptions are complete and accurate and the maps are adequate. There are references to government topo maps and GemTrek maps for those who want more detail. This is still the best of all the Canadian Rockies Books and is readily available through Canadian stores in the area.

A detailed description and standard reference guide for the Canadian Rockies, but I did not find it very helpful as a vacationer looking for a single-reference best guide to recreational hikes. The Canadian Rockies cover a lot of territory, so you can spend a lot of time driving to a trail head, which eats into hiking time, so hike selection is critical. We needed a guide that suggested the best hikes in the area, but this guide lacks easy-to-use ratings in terms of difficulty and scenery, which makes hike selections difficult. While the trail descriptions were good in terms of elevation gains and distances, I would also prefer more detailed maps so I don;t need to bring a topo map.

I do think this is a great reference for residents of -- and frequent visitors to -- the Canadian Rockies, but less helpful for vacationing families with limited time trying to find the best area hikes.

If you buy this guide be sure to buy a detailed topographic trail map of your hiking area to keep with it at all times. It's great that the guide is quite comprehensive, and it has good detailed descriptions of routes both conventional and unconventional. But I didnt find it very useful in actually planning my trip. The maps are disjointed and the hikes didn't appear to be organized in a really logical way.

Once we knew where we wanted to hike, the book gave great descriptions of the trails, elevation gains, and distances. No complaints there. But I wouldn't recommend it as a trip planning resource by itself.

This guide is better for Banff and Jasper trail info. The section on Yoho and Kootenay National parks is not as extensively covered as the other two parks. A large portion of the book is dedicated to coverage of Banff. There is no coverage of Glacier NP and Mt. Revelstoke NP which are also a part of the Canadian Rockies.

One criticism I have is that there is no easy way to determine whether the hike you are considering is easy, moderate, or strenous at a glance. Some of the trails covered may mention it but it is not consistently available, and you cannot find this info easily as you have to read the entire write up for it.

I've been traveling to the Canadian Rockies to hike for 3 decades, and this book has always proved its worth. I used this newest edition on an extended trip last year and found that the trails I hiked were all accurately described. What I've always found most helpful in this book is the "log" of each trail, with detailed descriptions of junctions and landmarks that is seperate from the main trail information and makes it easy for me to know where along the trail I am. The book is divided into chapters by parks, with almost every trail in every park covered, from short walks to overnight trails. In closing, I highly recommend this book for anyone planning a trip to the region.

We have travelled from the midwest US to the Canadian Rockies nearly every year since 1990 (18 of the last 22 years), and these books have been our most trusted reference for hiking over 60 of the hikes described. The answer to "how many editions do YOU own?" posed by another reviewer, is six! While the "opinionated guide" is a very useful cross-reference, we find this one to be the best at the following: updates to the info; trail descriptions; area history and interest; maps; keeping you on well-marked/maintained trails. These guys published the first trail guide in 1971 and they know the area intimately. Their lifelong dedication to the area and its communities is reliable and to be respected. If you can only buy one trail guide, make it this one!