Customer Reviews

Colorado Trails Southwest Region

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is positively the most comprehensive guidebook for exploring numerous backroads around Silverton, Telluride, Ouray, Durango, Lake City - and generally the Southwestern portion of Colorado! There is so much detail in this colorful little book. The authors identify the old mines and ruins you see along the trails. There are history sidebars and TONS of photos. Mainly written for people driving SUVs, all the trails are rated for difficulty, although none of them are radically hard. Still, there is Black Bear trail that runs from Red Mountain Pass to Telluride, which is pretty challenging and they have included that with photos of the spectacular waterfalls along the route. Plenty of easy and moderate scenic drives make you feel like you are really exploring Colorado's fabulous backcountry. You won't get lost! It is really fun using this book to navigate the trails. GREAT quality, handy size, and highly recommended! It is by far the best book of it's kind I have found to-date. Backcountry Adventures Colorado (Backcountry Adventures)Colorado Trails North Central RegionColorado Trails South Central Region

I have several Jeep trails books that cover southwest Colorado. This is by far the very best. It has more trails (not hiking, so if you don't Jeep, don't buy it, then give it a "1" rating); the maps are large scale, easy to read, and have color legends. They aren't marked-up, scanned Forest Service maps that don't reproduce well, as some of my books contain. The book has many photos, some in color, and many from historical archives that add to the understanding of where you are and where you are going. There are several sidebars that provide history of the locale and of the people who lived in or pioneered the area. The route descriptions are set up to go from either end of the trail, GPS coordinates are provided and you will not get lost. The trails that I am familiar with are described accurately, so I can assume that those I haven't yet explored are also accurately described. The book even references which maps are most useful for each trail, and the intro to the book provides excellent advice on 4-wheeling. If you're going to 'wheel the San Juans and the Escalante/Dominguez area south of Grand Junction, this is the book to get. And, the Amazon price is $6 less than the cover price!

Book is well written, has beautiful pictures and is extremely complete as far as areas and descriptions. Delivery was prompt.

We "JEEP" and "ATV" in the Colorado San Juan Mtns about every 3rd day during the summer.
I have several of this type of BackRoads trail guides.

This "COLORADO trails" series is absolutely AWESOME. It has more color photographs than any of the other books. Also, the pictures are recent, as opposed to just black & white historical ones (which is also has).

The one thing that really puts it in a separate class is the maps, which are:

-- topographical and very clear
-- show intersecting trails
-- landmarks and historical features
-- have more info than all my other trail books combined

I am a big fan of Adler Publishing's Trail series. I own their guides for Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. Thus, when it came time to purchase a guidebook for an upcoming trip to Colorado, I immediately ordered up a copy of the SW Region Colorado Trails.

In terms of the trail descriptions the SW Colorado Trails guide is every bit as good as all of the other editions in this series. However, I am very disappointed that the SW Colorado guide does not have an overview map showing all trails. With other guides in the trails series I have often used the overview map to determine how the different trails intersect with one another. This allows me to string several trails together into a week long or so trip. With the SW Colorado guidebook one has to spend an enormous bit of time with a much larger map to figure out how all the trails relate to one another. Wen it comes to planning a trip, this is a series flaw.

A second note on maps. The 3rd printing of this guidebook advertises that the book contains topo maps. The maps found within the book are not actual topo maps. Instead they are shaded relief maps. They do a good job of conveying the terrain along the trail. However, don't be mislead into thinking that they are in any way suitable for navigation. Get your self a proper map. The Colorado Atlas and Gazetteer for the state of Colorado at a minimum; or, USGS topo maps for the most detail.

If you want to jeep or motorcycle out in Colorado this is the book to get. It gives you the mileage of each trail and the history of the area, excellent book.

This the best book you can buy for the Jeep trails around Silverton/Lake City/Ouray/Teluride. I have them all, most of the others are good, this one is the best. Remember, these are Jeep trails, all you Yota people can stay home and work on your birdfileds. :)

Good maps, gives ideas about where to go, but get a true topo map before heading out.

I loved this book. It has great detail and is very accurate with his rating of difficulty of each back road. The direction from both routes was even easy for my wife to read and understand. Great book!!

As a backpacker I purchased this book hoping to find some new hiking trails. I was of course disappointed since the book is about 4-wheel drive roads, not hiking trails. A glance at the cover did not provide any information that would have helped me avoid this mistake so this review is here to help others.