Customer Reviews

Foghorn Outdoors Pacific Northwest Camping: The Complete Guide to Campsites in Washington and Oregon

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

 

 

This is one of the better camping books as far as usefulness of the information, though it is not quite the best I've seen. The lengthy introductory section was well-written and entertaining. I have been camping and backpacking for decades and I even learned some new things from it.

My only beefs with the book:

1) The introductory section doesn't, in my opinion, distinguish adequately between equipment suited for backbacking vs. for car camping. He appears to use his backpacking equipment even when car camping and doesn't seem to realize that for a lot of people, a $79 sleeping bag from K-Mart will work just fine for car camping in the summer even if you'd be a damned idiot to take it backpacking.

2) The campgrounds listed do not include RV parks, so you'd need a separate book if you're looking for places where you can get full water/electric/sewer/cable hookups.

3) Each campground listed includes a score, ostensibly from 1 to 10, on the scenic beauty of the site, a feature which I really appreciate. However, I did not see a single site rated less than a 3, which means the book really uses a "3 to 10" scale - and a site seems to rate at least a 4 if there are any trees. The book would be more valuable if he expanded his scale to rate the ugliest spots a 1 and be a bit stingier with his 8's and 9's.

4) Finally, the best campground book I've ever seen also included a rating on how crowded the campground was on average, and gave a special symbol for "undiscovered gems", i.e. campgrounds of particular scenic beauty that were little used. I missed that feature in this book.

This book just came out (April, 2003) and is a lot better than anything we've seen. The key is the details, way good, both information, directions and maps. We've lived in Springfield for quite a while and have always kept our secret spots to ourselves. This book has all of them, which threw me, but it's got a zillion others. We checked the places we knew to see if everything was correct. The answer: Five Stars!

This book is great because it covers just about every campsite in the NW. The author is a real camper, I on the otherhand need a tent and an air mattress but the sight recommendations are dead-on.

great camping guide to the pacific northwest. book was in excellent condition, although it was used. very speedy shipper too!

I met Tom Stienstra at one of his seminars and he suggested we throw away the old editions of this book. I didn't really get it until we got into this book. He signed it! If you like to find new really great places, and like he says, "Never worry about getting stuck for the night again," this new one is The One. A ton better than before, it's true.