Day Hike! Olympic Peninsula: The Best Trails You Can Hike in a Day (Paperback)

by Seabury Blair Jr. (Author) "Though not part of the Olympic Peninsula, the hills and forests of the Kitsap Peninsula share some of the best qualities of their wild neighbor..." (more)
Key Phrases: faint way trail, fee entrance station, trail switches, Elwha River, Olympic National Park Visitor Center, Hurricane Ridge (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Most hiking guides are written by backpackers who occasionally day hike. But most people are day hikers who occasionally backpack! So Sasquatch Books has created a series from the ground up just for them. Written for people who want to get out and sample the vaunted Northwest lifestyle with as little hassle and unpredictability as possible, the fresh style, content, and design will also win sales and loyalty from more experienced hikers. Since the book is organized in the way that people travel -- by major roads and highways -- it's easy to find trails without having to cross-reference three or four different guides. Also included are complete trail descriptions; easy-to-read USGS topo maps with elevation profiles; clear and up-to-date driving directions; overall trail ratings; mileage and estimated hiking time; elevation gain; trail conditions; difficulty level; best season; map references; exploring options; access; permits required; special notes on dogs, bikes, and kids; and where to find more information. A quick-reference chart to season and difficulty level as well as sharp, contemporary black-and-white photographs round out the guide.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Sasquatch Books (May 16, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570612870
• ISBN-13: 978-1570612879
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #189,431 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The only way to day hike the Mount Olympic Peninsula!, September 26, 2004

By	Charles D. Brannaka "Chuck Brannaka" (Florida) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I purchased another book about hiking Mount Olympic, which was good but not really what we needed since we were doing all of our hiking as day hikes. If you don't buy this book and you plan to day hike Mount Olympic you will surely be wasting your time. You will spend most of your time on trails that were designed for backpackers. I know that you may not understand this comment but, if like us you backpack and day hike most of the time, you will understand the comment. Most of the trails in Mount Olympic are very long trails. The are not loop trails and some are 40-50 mile long through hiking trails. A day hiker cannot possibly cover 80% of these trails on a day hike. This book gives you just what you will need to make a decision on which trails to hike. It gives you a difficulty rating along with a beauty rating of 1-5 backpackers, meaning 5 is the best. I found these ratings to be very accurate discriptions of the beauty. Also it tells you each trails elevation gains. Which is very essential to this Floridian. You may have mountain goat legs but I don't. The ratings of easy to extremely difficult make for easy decisions. My son's who are late teenagers always choose the more difficult trails where my wife and I tend to choose the easier trails. This park is very diverse and without this book we could have wasted lots of times driving. Instead we spent our time just where we wanted to go. Happy hiking!!! The trip was worth it.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trustworthy, January 26, 2004

By A Customer

Not sure what problem one of the previous reviewers had with getting herself lost on the way to a trailhead, but her criticisms are completely off base. A LOT of longtime Olympics trail veterans know the author personally, because he's spent the better part of his life on these trails, and is undoubtedly better equipped to decribe them than someone from say...oh, Kansas. Based on our own extensive local knowledge, we can attest that this book is a worthy survey of some of the nation's greatest day-hiking lands, by one of the region's acknowledged local experts.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Wouldn't Recommend, July 30, 2006

By	R. Church (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Just returned from the Olympic Peninsula and found this guidebook to be less helpful than expected. Perhaps things have changed their since the 2002 publication so double check info on hikes before heading out. Had trouble finding trailheads for #61, specific distances would have been helpful in the "Getting There" section, wasted 1 hr and lots of gas trying to find #59 Big Flat,never found it. A confusing time trying to locate #35 Mount Angeles Saddle, trailhead signage doesn't include this name, located it nearly a mile in. Recommend a more current publication.