Customer Reviews

100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon & Southwest Washington, 3rd Edition

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3 star:		(1)
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I teach at OHSU. When visiting scholars come for the summer, I advise them to buy two books: (1) Hulley et al, "Designing Clinical Research," which is a technical book about the research methods we use in our research group; and (2) Sullivan, "100 Hikes in NW Oregon and SW Washington," for when they have free time. It has a table of contents that guides the reader/hiker to hikes of her or his level, and then for each hike provides detailed instructions about how to get there and which way to head on the trails. Easy to find a great hike, easy to navigate to the trailhead, and easy to find the route.

The Table of Contents has icons to indicate the length of the hike and whether it's suitable for children. One suggestion for the next edition would be to also provide icons indicating what the drive to the trailhead is like. This info is provided in the hike descriptions but there are trailheads I won't drive to in my low-riding vehicle and it would save time to have icons re: any car vs. SUV in the TOC.

But this is a great book.

This updated NW Oregon hiking guide is an ideal daypack essential for visitors and residents alike. Bill is a peripatetic author whose slide shows I attend as often as I can, and this third edition was the subject of one of those. He's a friendly and most genial speaker/writer/ hiker whose words and pictures literally 'pop' from the page and propels the casual reader to 'take a hike'. The 2nd edition was good, but this edition's colorful photos of landscapes and wildflowers, plus traveler-friendly easy-to-follow directions and (new!) campgrounds/cabins listings puts it into the 'must-have' category. As a frequent hiker on Friends of the Columbia Gorge outings, I rely on his impeccably accurate descriptions of each hike. I also recommend Timberline Press Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest plus Moon Handbooks Columbia River Gorge for things to do before and after your explorations!

I highly recommend this book. I own several books of this type and William L. Sullivan's is the best of the bunch. His maps are useful and readable. His description of trails and routes are also valuable. I also recommend his book, "Listening for Coyote." This book documents his hike accross Oregon. It is very entertaining and a fun read.

I checked the first edition of this book out from the library and then I didn't want to return it I liked it so much. A lot of other hiking books are hard to read and don't have pictures to help you visualize where you're going. When I saw the new edition with COLOR PICTURES, I had to buy it. This book is great-- it gives good directions, it has a picture for each hike, it even tells you if there is a campsite to say overnight or if you should expect crowds. Trail etiquette is also a good thing to include; hopefully people actually take it to heart. I love the handdrawn sketches of the trail; they do a great job of showing the topography of the hike. If you live in Portland and like getting out, this book should be at the top of your list. So many beautiful places so close by. There was one beautiful hike that was literally across the river from my favorite campsite, and I never would have found it without this book!

If you live in the Portland area and like to hike, this book is a must own. Sullivan's reputation as the definitive source for hiking information is well deserved. And this wonderful, well-researched and incredibly detailed book is the only item I need when I am out hiking (aside from food and water)!

Not only does it serve as a clear and accurate guide to the hikes of the area, the book makes you feel as if you need to hike all of these hikes.

I have lived in Oregon for twenty years, I bought one of the first editions of this book, found it on my shelf yesterday. I can say its the best hiking book around, reading it was a trip down memory lane. I have done a lot of hiking, biking, kayaking over the years. Bought a new copy , time to redo a lot of my favorite hikes, Hamilton Mountian, Dog mt.
This edition is improved, the flower guide is really nice.
The best feature of this book is the small sctech maps showing the elevation and trails. No, it does not replace a real map, but its nice to have a viusual. ( years ago I was doing the Ramona falls hike and I meet a couple backpacking arounf Mt. Hood without a map! and they were lost!)
If you want an guide to the best day hiking in the Portland area,this is it .

I have found Sullivan's hiking books to be the best ones for the regions he covers. They are not too verbose, but have clear enough directions that it is hard to get lost either finding the trailhead or on the hike. He doesn't take you to any dangerous spots without warning you, and the difficulty ratings are pretty accurate (at least for me.) I have hiked about 35% of the hikes in the book and have only found one error. When I emailed him about it, he was very grateful for the correction and promised to check it out before the next edition. He obviously is committed to the quality of his books and to the wilderness experience in general.

I have lived in southern Washington and traveled in northern Oregon extensively. This book was a real eye opener! It offered hikes that I never knew existed. I am a fan of wildflowers and this book has a section of color photos of wildflowers while each hike's description tell the hiker which flowers to keep an eye open for.

The maps are very accurate as are the elevation gains. After a couple of hikes the reader will begin to gauge his idea of easy, moderate or difficult as compared to the author's. I do suggest wearing a pedometer when using this book on hikes as the author may tell the reader "1.2 miles down the trail, keep to the left - do not take the wider path to the right".

The highest praise that I can give this book is the fact that I gave my copy away as a present and bought myself a second copy.

Typically, I buy Falcon Guides, but in this case I would recommend this guide. Not that the Falcon Guides of this area are bad, but this book is preferred. The author's living in the area shins through. His recommendations on hikes are excellent, and I found the book easy to use.

William Sullivan is Oregon's hiker laureate. In these parts, there is a simple rule: if Bill is the author of a hiking-related guide book, it is worth purchasing. That is the case with his Northwest Oregon book. I have learned about (and visited) many new places thanks to this book, and eventually hope to do all of the hikes listed herein.