Customer Reviews

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

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

 

 

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.

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.

Although well written and generally humorous, the hikes described in this book are often not day hikes, or barely on this side of being day hikes. It seems Mr. Blair doesn't include looking at flowers, trees, animals, views, etc. on hikes, but instead sprints as fast as possible from point to point. A hike estimated at a "conservative" 7 hours took a triathlete and a disance runner NINE HOURS to complete. One hike he describes as a day hike (High Divide) is described in EVERY OTHER book as a 2-4 day hike. Fast and light is one thing, but Seabury Blair is living in a fantasy land. Be forewarned: unless you are a VERY strong hiker who doesn't enjoy hiking for reasons other than for a good workout, this book downplays the difficulty and potential seriousness of these hikes. I strongly suggest a book such as Wood's "Olympic Mountains Trail Guide." Don't waste your money on this one.

Most hiking guides are pretty dry, but this one is entertaining and fun to read. It's only been on the shelf for about a week, which obviously is not enough time to take all 70 of the hikes listed in this book.
But I have read about all of the hikes and the writing style of this book makes the " talk" almost as nice as the "walk." There's a trail for just about every taste and every ability, from beginner to hardcore hiker.
A real plus are the maps. They are topos, so they show the kind of terrain you'll be hiking, and the trail and direction of travel is clearly shown. There's also an elevation profile for each hike.
Another feature I liked are the little capsules of each hike, right at the top of the description, so you don't have to scour through a bunch of stuff to find out whether you'll like the hike.
I've got all the Olympic Peninsula hiking books, but this is the best one I've seen so far.

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.

I consider myself a moderate hiker and had no trouble traversing the trails described in this book in the time frame stipulated. When I'm hiking I'm not studying flowers or sitting still looking for birds. I usually trot along at the average pace that rangers have told me most hikers do, two miles an hour. That includes stopping to take photos, appreciate views and grazing in the occasional blueberry patch. Mostly, however, I'm there to hike.

Day Hike! Olympic Peninsula is a good, concise, easy-to-use guide that provides perfectly useable directions to trailheads. A pet peeve of mine is wasting valuable outdoors time trying to navigate my way in a car to a trailhead. I never had that problem with this book. In fact, I appreciated the tip provided for the trailhead at the end of the 8-mile gravel road accessed near the Hurricane Ridge Visitors Center. I never would have known this narrow road leads to a trail.

The walks listed are a good assortment for average day hikers. I only tried a few of them (Hoh River Trail being my favorite - not least of which is because there's basically no elevation gain and I saw 25 - 30 Roosevelt elk there!) so I can't vouch for the complaints of other reviewers. However, I've kept the book for future reference, meaning I'd definitely use it again. I can't wait to get back to the Pacific Northwest to explore more of the wonderful wilderness and hiking is the best way to do it.

All in all I'd recommend this book. It's not perfect but for casual day hikers it can be mighty handy.

I had high hopes for this book but, suffice to say, it's no longer in my collection. I have no question but that the author knows his topic. However, like a previous reader, I found myself confused and even lost (at $3.00+ a gallon) trying to follow directions that are too vague and in one case really led me astray.

If you want someone's opinion (and don't we all have one), this book is okay. But do yourself a favor and cross reference suggestions and particularly directions. Or, better yet, just find a better resource. Sure wish I had.

This is a very thorough hiking guide, no doubt about it. My only comment besides that is, the author is a VERY experienced hiker; so when he describes a hike as "easy", it might no really be the case! I am young and healthy, but the difficulty level seemed definitely more strenuous than described.
On the other hand, if you are super fit, go for it, the book is good.

I bought this book and "Best Easy Day Hikes Olympics" in 5/2007. I found this book, "Day Hike! Olympic Peninsula ...", to be much more substantial.

But I've come to like the book. I was very impressed by the North Cascades book in the DayHike! series, so I bought the Olympics one. The author does have a very good sense of humor, and understands the whining that accompinies 3,000 ft elv gains! I was a little disapointed that some of my favorite hikes were not included(oh well, then I won't have to share them!) in the Eastern Olympics and that I found a few errors-such as when bridges fell in,and some of the FS road directions could be better-with this book if you don't know the NF rd system, a FS rd map is a wise investment!. Still, it is a nice addition to your library-and it won't drag your pack down like Wood's book. And his love of hiking is very noticeable :)