Hiking Acadia National Park (Regional Hiking Series) [Paperback]

Dolores Kong (Author), Dan Ring (Author)

Book Description

Series: Regional Hiking Series | Publication Date: June 1, 2001

Sample more than 120 miles of hiking trails through the approximately 40,000 acres of America's first national park.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Lace up your boots and sample more than 120 miles of hiking trails through the approximately 40,000 acres of America's first national park. Explore the famous rocky coast of Maine, trek through verdant forests, amble along the shores of secluded lakes, or see the views from the mountaintops of Mount Desert Island. Veteran hikers and outdoor writers Dolores Kong and Dan Ring will introduce you to these trails and more. Use this guide for up-to-date trail information, accurate directions to popular as well as less-traveled trails, difficulty ratings for each hike, detailed trail maps, and zero-impact camping tips. Whether you are a day-tripper or long-distance hiker, old hand or novice, you'll find trails suited to every ability and interest throughout Acadia National Park. (6 X 9, 272 pages, b&w photos, maps, graphs)

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: FalconGuides; 1st edition (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560449233
• ISBN-13: 978-1560449232
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #757,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #25 in Books > Travel > United States > States > Maine

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great guide to the park, December 17, 2001

By 

MLX (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hiking Acadia National Park (Regional Hiking Series) (Paperback)

This is an invaluable guidebook for hikers at Acadia National Park. Our family -- including children ages 12, 9 and 3 -- visited Acadia for four days this summer and used this book to select a variety of trails. The authors describe the grade, distance, degree of difficulty and sights of nearly 150 miles of trails. Following their advice, we went along the Wonderland Trail to an enormous tidal pool, and chose the most appropriate route for our group up 1,200-foot Penobscot Mountain; there are many trails to the top of the mountain, and the book helped us choose the right one for our skill and fitness level. The older two children and one parent also climbed the cliffs of the Beehive; it's rightly described as a strenuous trail, but if you're not afraid of heights, the view of the coast is spectacular and the taste of wild blueberries at the top makes it special. (This hike is listed as one of the authors' favorites.) We found the book extremely useful. The book would also be useful for more experienced hikers; the authors have been on all of the park's trails, in all kinds of conditions. And the book fits neatly in a backpack, for handy reference in case you need to check the maps while hiking. Highly recommended.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hiking with kids in Acadia, August 12, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Hiking Acadia National Park (Regional Hiking Series) (Paperback)

I found this book to be very helpful in planning my vacation in Acadia. I have 2 boys aged 5 and 13 and needed hikes that were doable for the youngest one. He turned out to be the best hiker of us all! This book gave me a good sense of what the trails would be like. We only did easy and moderate and one strenuous one (South Bubble Trail). You will need to buy a more detailed map (like from the AMC) but the trails are well marked. I liked the section on the authors' favorite hikes. We did most of our hikes from their recommends. Don't miss the Wonderland and Great Head trails if you go! Happy hiking.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most important thing to know about these reviews, July 11, 2010

By 

Joseph A. Maxwell (Fairfax, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hiking Acadia National Park (Regional Hiking Series) (Paperback)

The most important thing to know about these reviews is that they are of two completely different books, by the same authors. Most of the reviews (including this one) are of Kong and Ring's Hiking Acadia National Park, a 250-page guidebook with detailed descriptions of 94 hikes, ranging from easy to strenuous. Our family (me, my wife, and two daughters, 14 and 12) used this guide for 4 days in Acadia earlier this summer, and found it clear, accurate, and extremely helpful in choosing appropriate hikes. Everyone who has reviewed this book up to now has given it 4 or 5 stars. I do agree with the 4-star review that you should also get a trail map at the park; they sell a map that's more detailed and up-to-date on trail names than the small maps in the book.

However, several of the reviews are of Kong and Ring's Best Easy Day Hikes: Acadia National Park. This is a much shorter book (96 pages, only 21 hikes) and we didn't use it. It gets mixed reviews; some liked it, some hated it. See David Prager's review for a detailed, evenhanded summary of its pros and cons. Unfortunately, when you click on "Look inside" for this book, it takes you to the first book instead, so there's no way to look at this and decide if it's the best book for you. Amazon really messed up on this one.