Customer Reviews

Canyonlands National Park Favorite Jeep Roads & Hiking Trails

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

 

 

The official NPS maps and guide-books are very lame, mostly because of the fear that ancient ruins and art could be vandalized. This book is therefore indispensable to a truly fulfilling visit to Canyonlands. The maps and directions are perfect--just enough detail to be clear and to keep you from getting lost, but they don't deprive you of feeling like you're actually doing some exploring and route-finding.

Canyonlands is a wild and wonderful place to explore. I would have been lost without this book. I was able to decide ahead of time what areas of the park I wanted to spend the most time in by reading the detailed descriptions of jeep roads and trails. The beautiful color photographs helped me make decisions as well. I found the maps to be extremely helpful and the estimated travel times to be very accurate. David Day knows his stuff!

This is a Great book for hikers and outdoor enthusiasts. By including a focus on the jeep roads of the Canyonlands area David Day has provided the hiker with information necessary for access to its fantastic hiking trails. The format is similar to his other hiking books. The maps and trail descriptions and commentary are not only helpful but very interesting. The photography is great. I particularly enjoyed the section of color photos I like his trail overview which includes a rating of his enjoyment of the trail.

I've made a couple of the hikes he writes up and with the help of his book I will be doing more.

This is really the only good guide book I have found on Canyonlands National Park. It describes in great detail many trails that arn't even mentioned in the Falcon Guide. It also has a great color section, and its maps are much better than the other books. For some reason the Nat. Park Visitor Centers don't sell this book (maybe it has too much info about things they want to keep secret?), so you better get it before you start your trip!

After reading the introduction and a variety of the trails I planned to take, you'll quickly see like I did that David is very thorough and has a personal connection to the trails he wrote about. I'll point out a variety of things:

Good things:
* The lesser known Maze district is well covered. Island in the Sky and Needles are very well documented.
* His reviews of the trails are probably what 80% of us would agree on
* He covers unofficial side hikes to petroglyphs and old cowboy camps
* Thorough play-by-play coverage of every trail
* Plenty of historical and geology material
* No conflicts with what the NPS suggests: permits, environmental, safety, etc.

Missing things:
* GPS coordinates to key spots and camp spots - while very minor and not needed during the day, it would have been helpful when on our first day into the trail head we hiked the last half in the complete darkness. It's hard to see the cairns at night with a head lamp, and the the trail posts, while very visible in the day, look like stems from a small tree at night. (note: generally, there is no need for a GPS device in my opinion - the trails are well marked)
* While David talks about water spots, it would be nice to see them on the map. When you're 5 days out there, and water is uncertain, you end up packing most of it in. 10 liter bladders of water are heavy.
* Because of the terrain, there are some literal tight spots, don't bring in too much and make your pack to loaded, else you not be able to squeeze through certain places (like the crack between the rocks on your way between EC2 and SQ2). This is a general rule of thumb however for any trail any where. Pack light as you can, but it would have been nice to know about the very tight spots in advance. David did a good job roughly letting the reader know this may be a problem.
* We went in November. More tips about winter conditions would have been nice.

Summary:
Don't think twice about buying this book if you're looking for a good overview or detailed plan of the day hikes and backpacking trails. The pros *greatly* out-weigh anything missing. I would highly recommend this book.

We are planning on a weeklong Jeep trip into the Maze District of Canyonlands this springand wanted the best info to plan the trip. This book contains lots of info on the Needles and Island in the Sky Ditstcts too but seems to have more information on the Maze than any other book available. I'll probably have further comments after the trip but for our use in trip planning it seems very good.

This is the best book about Canyonlands National park. It has the more details on any trail/campsite/jeep road.

We found so much more information we couldn't find in other books, esp. on the jeep roods.

Purchased this book prior to an extended trip to Western National Parks. Got this ahead of time and read it cover to cover. Very helpful in planning our trip. Contacted the Ranger at Island In The Sky ans knew what questions to ask after reading this book. Ranger was VERY helpful in planning trip also. We stayed at Island In The Sky campground several days, then took 3 day trip on White Rim Road when someone canceled their backcountry permit. Book was Great for picking some sidetrip hikes.

Only negative, the book is written for a clockwise circumnavigation of Island In The Sky and the trip we took (due to someone else's cancellation) was counter-clockwise. Required some thought and calculation to use the book in a reverse route.
Well worth reasonable cost.