Don't Waste Your Time in the North Cascades: An Opinionated Hiking Guide to Help You Get the Most from This Magnificent Wilderness [Paperback]

Kathy Copeland (Author), Craig Copeland (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Opinionated, indeed! But with so many breathtaking hikes in Washington State's North Cascades, it's a pleasure to find a guidebook that attempts to separate the magnificent from the merely splendid. With craggy, glacier-clad peaks, magnificent ancient forest, and towering volcanoes, this remote region offers outdoors enthusiasts a seemingly endless variety of hiking and backpacking options. Many hikers consider the North Cascades--also known as the American Alps--the jewels of North America's mountain ranges. Don't Waste Your Time in the North Cascades rates the best trails for experiencing such a diverse wilderness--and also mentions which trails to veer away from at all costs. Occasionally the book's tone can be grumbling, but the authors are trying to do hikers a service; when it comes to crowded trails and uninspired treks, a little grumbling is OK if it serves as ample warning.

Product Details

• Paperback: 370 pages
• Publisher: Wilderness Press; 1st edition (January 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0899971822
• ISBN-13: 978-0899971827
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,019,269 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Hiking Guide I've Purchased, January 3, 2000

By 

Douglas Welzel (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Don't Waste Your Time in the North Cascades: An Opinionated Hiking Guide to Help You Get the Most from This Magnificent Wilderness (Paperback)

I decided to go with this book based on the excellent reviews and I have to say, I agree with all of them. The hikes I've done out of this book have been fantastic. The authors basically let you know how much "bang for your buck" you get on each hike, and they are right on. During the top rated hikes you get to amazing and varied scenery very quickly. Color photos would be nice, but you can't have everthing.. :)

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Useful hiking guide? That's a matter of opinion., August 8, 2005

By 

C. Ryan (Winthrop, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Don't Waste Your Time in the North Cascades: An Opinionated Hiking Guide to Help You Get the Most from This Magnificent Wilderness (Paperback)

The idea behind this book is that hikers in Washington's North Cascades, defined in this book as north of Stevens Pass/U.S. Route 2 to the Canadian border, primarily want to see scenic panoramas as distinct from primeval forest, lakes, rivers, birds and wildlife. If that's your primary goal then this hiking guide that describes 110 outings (25 mostly-short backpacks and the rest day hikes) may prove helpful.

For each hike there is a chatty opinion section telling why the authors liked or disliked the hike followed by a facts section providing a brief summary of how to get there and, in a general sense, how to follow the route. The authors rate each hike with a 1-4 boot print rating (1 = Don't Do and 4 = Premier).

Ironically the authors ridicule hikes they deem not scenic enough for the summer season but recommend them as so-called shoulder season hikes that present forested lower elevation waterways as a good thing to do when snow still blocks high country trails. Well, duh... Fully a third of the backpacks are rated "Don't Do" which makes me wonder why the authors don't suggest more recommended hikes.

I've hiked the majority of these trips and generally agree with the authors' assessment but not their conclusions. The fact is it's not possible to do many multi-day hikes in the North Cascades without traversing forested valleys that connect the higher elevation scenic gems. And many memorable trips, especially in the inevitable inclement weather common to the North Cascades, are memorable for the subtleties of forested wilderness and bodies of water as opposed to the grandeur of sweeping panoramas.

There is a detailed index of place names, three pages of official park and forest information sources with phone numbers (but few specific web listings), unremarkable b&w photographs and no large scale maps. A helpful introductory section for people unfamiliar with the region provides cautionary information about bears, cougars, noxious insects, etc.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best!, December 10, 1998

By 

"taoshi" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Don't Waste Your Time in the North Cascades: An Opinionated Hiking Guide to Help You Get the Most from This Magnificent Wilderness (Paperback)

At first I was skeptical, mostly because of the title, but I bought this book anyway. Wow. This is one of the best hiking guides I have ever read. The descriptions are clear, the directions easy to follow, and everything in the book matched the hike! I like the honest writing and the rating system, these make it easier to pick out hikes that fit my mood and overall shape of fitness, or lack of fitness in my case. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to explore the American Alps and get a great experience out of it.