Recreational see-go-do adventure and travel, ooh and aah guides, it sometimes seems, are a dime a dozen in the bookstores in the Northwest Superlative. This one is 30 bucks - and to me appears worthy of every hand-earned penny. Host of Northwestern Outdoors, a Wenatchee-based radio outdoor program that airs on several stations, Kruse has invested the last couple of years in searching out, researching, interviewing and capsulizing great places to explore in Washington. I was especially pleased to see that he stepped beyond the destinations available on public lands to include many of the more interesting and valuable private operations that offer everything from Anacortes kayaking to Zoller's Outdoor Odysseys. And that's the editorial gist - places where outdoor people will enjoy themselves, assuming that most readers, like the author, are well-rounded outdoor enthusiasts with a myriad of outdoor interests. The book offers great places for hiking, bicycling, fishing, hunting, horseback riding, camping, canoeing, kayaking, bird watches, rock climbing, wildlife viewing, white-watering, skiing, and natural wonder watching for cavers, climbers, petrified forest tourists, historians, and water-fallers. If you're like me, Kruse writes, you enjoy the outdoors. I'd imagine you are also interested in more than just one outdoor pursuit? Which is why his book covers such a broad spectrum of outdoor recreation, dividing between 76 destinations and activities on public land and 77 entries for private lodges, resorts, guide and outfitters. If you're considering cross-country skiing in the Methow Valley, hiring an outfitter to drop-camp your elk hunt, catch a Skagit River steelhead, spy on birds, summit a mountain, rent a trout-fishing cabin, run a kayak downstream fast, book a charter boat, tackle a tuna, oogle and eagle, oooh at a whale, roam the state on a bicycle, stick a sturgeon, flush pheasants, dump ducks, fly-fish the Yakima, photograph big horn sheep, chow down at Whistlin' Jack Lodge, explore the Stehekin Valley, or prop your feet on a porch railing with a view---I suspect that Mr. Kruse has been there ahead of you, dug up the answers to questions you haven't even thought to ask yet, and then delivered driving directions, costs, accommodations, specifics, contact numbers and all the pertinent insider info. For bar bets, he's thrown in state trivia (what's the state gemstone, motto, bird and just where are the wettest and driest places in the state?) He added a comprehensive list of our state's birds and animals, and covers the national, state, local and private parks, forests, monuments, historical sites, trail systems, waters, wildlife areas and more. Format wise, the book is divided into overviews of outdoor recreations, where-to-go wrap-ups and then assembled by geographic region, with an excellent cross-referencing index. If you're headed for the Columbia River Gorge, San Juan Islands, Mount Rainier National Park, Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Channeled Scablands or the hills north of Chewelah it has a section. Kruse has written a book for the diversified outdoorsman, the outdoor family that wants to try it all, the outdoor adventurer, and those who simply want to go plop down in someplace beautiful. Adding color and information are 230 color photos, 13 detailed orientation maps all on a high-quality slick, heavy paper stock that fairly bounces color and type off the pages. There's a consistency to the formatting that makes the book easy to use. Same info in the same place on every page. That's a useful necessity in a guide book. If it's outdoors in Washington state Kruse has it covered. It's the outdoor guide for outdoor guide for out-of-staters and the answer for any local who has ever wondered, what will I do this weekend? This book has more answers than most of us have time to enjoy. --Terry Sheely, TNScommunications
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