Customer Reviews

Experience the California Coast: A Guide to Beaches and Parks in Northern California, Counties Included: Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Sonoma, Marin

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

 

 

North of the Golden Gate Bridge, the California Coast becomes much more rural and rugged. Many state parks, beaches, tourist towns, and rivers invite exploration, but there is so much out there it is hard to know where to begin. Enter the California Coastal Commision which has somehow strong-armed the University of California Press into printing a guidebook listing all parks, beaches, public access points, private nature preserves, hostels, and many whale watching tours. (When was the last time a major university press published a travel guide?) If you are unsure where to go, this book is a good place to look for ideas.

On the whole, this is a decent book. Every park, tourist center, or beach has a one to three paragraph description focusing on the basics: fees, directions, natural features and the like. Destinations are listed from north to south with facing maps showing their location. The book is further divided into six major chapters: one for each county north of San Francisco. Interspersed throughout the text are feature articles covering everything from techtonic plates to birding and common coastal flowers. The color photos are stunning, but don't expect that much blue sky on your vacation. The north coast receives a lot of rain.

My main concern with the book is that park descriptions are sometimes too brief. In some ways, this is an unfair criticism because comprehensive guides cannot get bogged down in details. Still, I thought hiking was definitely shorted in this book. Day hikers will want to supplement it with John McKinney's California's Coastal Parks: A Day Hiker's Guide. If you want to spend several days, or weeks, exploring the wilder sections of the coast on foot, consider getting Bob Lorentzen and Richard Nichols Hiking the California Coastal Trail, Volume 1: Oregon to Monterey. State parks also often publish their own literature and maps. That said, this book is a valuable resource for planning your north coast vacation. Get it and go enjoy California's wild and scenic coastline.

Great book. Really helped my visitors with their vacation planning. Great maps, terrific pictures, well organized, easy access layout and great descriptions. I would highly recommend it to others.