Customer Reviews

Foghorn Outdoors Pacific Northwest Hiking: The Complete Guide to More Than 1,000 of the Best Hikes in Washington and Oregon, Fifth Edition

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

After reading the other reviews on this page, I had to write my own. My family and me have used this book many times (mostly in Oregon) and have found it to be accurate and helpful. I have not had any difficulty locating a trail; and the trail descriptions are spot-on. I also own the previous addition (written by Judd & Nelson) of the book. In that edition, they listed several trails that did not even exist - for example, spend a day trying to find Bobsled trail near Pendelton. You can't and you won't. Too me, it is obvious that McMorris and Scott are actual hikers, and have probably been to the trails they describe.

I grabbed a copy at my local outdoors store, best $$ I've spent in the past year. This guide is not meant as 'the book to be taken on the trail and guide you out and back'. It is much more useful in helping you decide which trail to attempt next - be it a day trip, a few day getaway, in the midst of out-of-state hiking tourists, or way off in the wilderness. There are plenty of trails of all types in the book.

The trails are organized by region, shown on small locator maps to help you pick which place to visit. There are also a few lists in the beginning - 'best waterfall hikes', 'best hikes with kids', etc. This setup has been very helpful for my planning of day trips.

Each trail has a description of the sights you will see, specific map numbers for detailed topographic maps from other sources (no trail maps are within this book), typical months for hiking access, parking costs to expect (a bit outdated now that WA state parks do NOT charge a fee!), and fairly accurate directions to the trailhead. I wish the book included more information regarding road conditions - I drive a Honda Civic and some of the trailheads are accessible only by way of an off-road vehicle because the roads are so bad.

I have bought a number of topographic maps from other sources and this book lists maybe half of the trails on the maps.

This was a gift for a hiker I know. When I got the book I looked through it and all the information you need to know if the your going on a hike to fit your personal needs is there. It includes distance of hike, legth of time it takes an average hiker to complete the hike and even scenery types and sights to look for. Very informative and helpful guide!!!!

Though the directions are not always clear and the trail maps themselves are nonexistant, I honestly do find this book helpful for a couple of reasons. As some readers said about the last edition, this book is a great index for Oregon and Washington hikes. Whatever it is, there is a good chance it's in here. It's a good book to peruse through to get a few ideas for what to do on your next day off, but I always, always, always compare what other books or websites have to say about any trail before I go looking for it.

One of the good things about this book is it does include contact information for all of the trails and also permit information which is helpful for people who don't think about paying for parking. It is useful for little things like that, but I would strongly recommend always having one or two other more detailed books nearby. There is a gentleman, last name Sullivan, who has written several regional books, at least for Oregon, and they have fantastic details, maps, directions and pictures. They include 100 trails for each region and so far seem to be quite accurate. I strongly advise checking them out.

Happy hiking!

I used this book twice on recent hiking trips to Washington and Oregon and found various inaccuracies for at least half of all the hikes I tried from this book's descriptions. In many of those cases descriptons on how to get to the trailheads where inaccurate, or if or what parking pass is required at some of the trailheads. But what really is missing is information on the road conditions to the trailheads: I found that many of them can only be accessed with a four wheel drive or high clearance vehicle -- something that would be good to know ahead of timeif you only have a plain old passenger car like I do. My recommendation is to take the information in this book with a grain of salt and to consult at least one other hiking guidebook before you venture out to go hiking.

Trails are misnamed, mislocated and just plain missing. Some of the best routes are left out completely and some of those that are included are no longer in existence (and haven't been for nearly 15 years). Do yourself a favor and buy the previous version of this book (the one written by Ron Judd and his partner). It maybe a little outdated, but at least they are hikers and are NW natives so they know what they are talking about! Or better yet, buy the more specific hiking guides from Falcon or Mountaineers books.