Customer Reviews

Canyoneering 2: Technical Loop Hikes in Southern Utah

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

 

 

This is an excellent book for the more hardcore backpackers out there. The loops described are a lot of fun, and provide access to spectacular views plus a chance to explore true wilderness. As for bringing too many people... after going on several of the hikes, I must admit we were hard pressed to find footprints less than a year or two old along the tracks, if any at all. Enjoy!

This book has a lot of good information in it.

The two problems with the book are that with the exception of the hike, Escalante South, the rest of the loops cross well-used roads. What is the point of carrying a pack for a week while crossing well-used roads, especially if the author fails to explain that nearly all points on the loop can easily be reached by dayhikes?

A second dislike is that the author also takes you some less interesting sections of some canyons in expense of some of the really great sections of the same canyon or nearby ones.

If you want to use this book to it's fullest potential, make sure to get off the paint-by-numbers route and explore some on your own. Make sure to go over the maps and realize that the areas in the book don't usually get that far from the roads.

Edited 10/28/2010:

Looks like this book is back in stock at $17.95. That's good news. Previously sellers were asking over $100 for a copy...

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Original Post:


I've been enjoying the backcountry of Utah for 25+ years. It's always nice to read new guide books like those of Steve Allen & Michael Kelsey to garner new ideas for our next Utah trip. However, I wouldn't pay $100+ for any guidebook.

I currently have Canyoneering 2 checked out from the local library. It appears to have seen little use. I've read through much of it finding that I've done sections of most of the hikes described. I agree with the early poster that many of these hikes can be broken up into smaller, more manageable sections. Unfortunately, few of us have a week at a time to spend in the wilderness.

If you have enjoyed the other guidebooks from Steve or Michael you should also enjoy this one. However, it's certainly not worth more than $20-$30 even if it is out of print! There must be some greedy and/or poor hikers out there trying to save enough for one of Steve's week-long excursions!

Here are the loop hikes described in Canyoneering 2:

Muddy Creek area of the San Rafael Swell (The Chute)
The Northern Dirty Devil area (The Robbers Roost, Larry Canyon, & No Mans Canyon)
The Southern Dirty Devil area (Happy Canyon)
Dark Canyon/Bowdie Canyon
White Canyon (Long & Gravel Canyons)
Escalante Eastern area (The Gulch, Wolverine & Little Death Hollow Canyons, & Silver Falls Creek Canyon)
Escalante Southern area (Coyote Gulch & Stevens Canyons)

The guide is a good one. I have hiked the Long and Gravel Canyon area for over 20 years with friends and family. It can be amazingly fun but also amazingly dangerous country. My main feeling about guide books like the one Steve has written is negative, however. I am used to hiking in areas with only a topo map and a compass, as this provides much more of a wilderness experience. Hikes with a guide book destroy this aspect. Also, the land is very delicate in these riparian areas, and cannot tolerate large influxes of hikers without destruction of the resource. As guide books like this proliferate, the influx of hikers will more certainly destroy the wilderness experience as well as the physical viability of the resource much more surely than mining or cattle ranching could ever do. This in view of the fact that hikers seek out the best part of a limited resource and tend to overuse it. Mr. Allen makes a point of his love for the canyon country and yet ironically may be responsible for more degredation of the resource than almost anyone else because of the publication of books like this. I am not anti-hiker. In fact I am a member of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. But please, Mr. Allen, let us hikers "roam free", and leave us some unspoiled territory!!