Glacier Day Hikes, revised edition [Paperback]

Alan Leftridge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 2003

Glacier Day Hikes is your all-inclusive guide to 34 of the park's most spectacular day hikes. Author Alan Leftridge, a ranger and naturalist who field-tested each hike, describes and interprets the wonders you'll find along the trail.

At-a-glance information for each hike assists you in choosing those best suited to your ability and interest. A special color section gives you a preview of some of the majestic scenery you'll experience.

This newly revised edition features elevation gain/loss information for each trail, as well as GPS-compatible maps.

-34 of the park's best short hikes
-simple directions to the trailhead
-trail descriptions and tips
-easy-to-read, GPS-compatible maps
-information on level of difficulty, distance, elevation gain/loss, best time of year, and more
-11 black-and-white photographs
-31 color photographs

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alan Leftridge has been a seasonal naturalist in Yellowstone National Park and a wilderness ranger in the Mission Mountains Wilderness of Montana. He is a Certified Interpretive Guide trainer and conducts guide training and interpretive writing workshops throughout the United States. He is the author of the children's book Going to Glacier. Leftridge lives south of Glacier National Park in the Swan Valley.

Product Details

• Paperback: 124 pages
• Publisher: Farcountry Press (May 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560372486
• ISBN-13: 978-1560372486
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,803 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > Travel > Reference & Tips > Food & Lodging > Parks & Campgrounds
  • #42 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Hiking & Camping > Excursion Guides
  • #82 in Books > Travel > United States > Regions > West

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but there are better, June 25, 2007

By 

Joseph Boone (Irvine, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Glacier Day Hikes, revised edition (Paperback)

Glacier Day Hikes was one of two guides I purchased prior to a recent trip to Glacier National Park and Waterton Lakes (the sister park in Canada). There are 34 hikes listed here broken down by geographic regions inside Glacier. At the beginning of each hike listing, there is some basic information such as length in miles, level of difficulty, and best time of year to complete the hike. The maps and detailed descriptions are clear and relatively easy to use.

Overall, this is a good guide and if it was the only one I had purchased, I probably would have been pretty happy with it. Since I had the opportunity to compare it to another book, however, certain flaws became rather apparent. First, this book is too large to fit in a pocket so you can't easily bring it on the trail. Second, the elevation change (or amount of climbing) during the hike is not given either in the summary or the detailed description. This is a huge factor in determining the difficulty of a hike and should be included. Their difficulty rating is nice, but I prefer to gauge some aspects of the hike myself. Another quirk in the book is that the geographic categories don't make a lot of sense. Glacier National Park has several areas that lend themselves to this kind of distinction but in some cases the book made up its own boundaries instead and I found this very confusing to use. Finally, the book includes no hikes from Waterton, so if you go to the Canadian side, you will get no guidance here.

Comparing Glacier Day Hikes to the Best Easy Day Hikes Glacier and Waterton Lakes National Parks, 2nd (Best Easy Day Hikes Series) it's pretty easy for me to say that the Falcon Guide was more helpful. It had none of the flaws that Glacier Day Hikes did and was the one that I carried with me during the whole trip including the hikes themselves. This book does list more hikes within Glacier, but they are all longer hikes that many people won't want to try anyway. This is certainly not a bad book; it has a lot of useful information. But it is not as helpful as "Best Easy Day Hikes" so I can't recommend it.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good preparation for hikes in Glacier, July 7, 2005

By 

David - See all my reviews

This review is from: Glacier Day Hikes, revised edition (Paperback)

I read this book and picked out short, day hikes for my wife and I before going to Glacier National Park. It gives length of hike, elevation change, rates the difficulty, gives a map, and describes the scenery and landmarks along the way. I used it on the hike to help find the way, because the park trails are not always marked very well.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful guide for hiking in Glacier National Park, July 14, 2006

By 

Danielle Taddy "Nature Enthusiast" (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Glacier Day Hikes, revised edition (Paperback)

Glacier Day Hikes, was a very useful & helful book on a recent trip to Glacier National Park. The guide is filled with tips, like the best time to hike, items of interest along the trail and distance & duration. I recommed hiking St. Mary and Virginia Falls, Hidden Lake and Appekunny Falls. Especially if you enjoy viewing snowmelt waterfalls! Get out of your car when visiting Glacier National Park; over 700 miles of trails exist for you to explore.

If you are interested in plants, an excellent companion book is Wildflowers of Glacier National Park and Surrounding Areas by Shannon Fitzpatrick Kimball and Peter Lesica (Trillium Press). This book is very user friendly and is more than just a refernce book of wildflowers. Glacier National Park is a horticulturist's paradise.