Customer Reviews

Hiking Alaska, 2nd: A Guide to Alaska's Greatest Hiking Adventures (State Hiking Series)

5 star:		(3)
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This is a great book with a great mix of hikes throughout the state. There is good balance of short and long as well as easy and more challenging hikes. It does not try to be exhaustive in its coverage, but gives you enough ideas to occupy your time in any area of the state. It should be useful to either a once in a lifetime tourists or a resident who has an opportunity to hike the different regions of the state.

This was a great book in its first edition, this second edition takes a good design and makes it near perfect. The hike maps are superb, most hikes have elevation profiles, great reviews as well as all the important info you could need - distances, fees, maps, difficulty ratings...

I've read a lot of Alaska hiking books and this one stands out as a state-wide guide for finding hikes to take. It is not the strongest guide to equipment or technique. But if you want a book to give you great suggestions for hikes, pick this one up.

My boyfriend and I purchased this book before our trip to Alaska and it was great. It provided very specific directions to various hikes and accurate descriptions as to the conditions of each trail and their overall difficulty. We only did 3 hikes in this book, but plan on using it when we return to Alaska...hopefully in the next year! The waterproof cover is an added bonus.

Note: The book does NOT cover Denali, other than the few trails around the national park entrance.

My family has been to Alska 5 times, each time for 2 weeks. There is no shortage of outdoor activities, and likewise, a seemingly endless stream of books/guides/brochures/pamphlets to help you navigate through all the options. However, many of these publications are either way too general (for the cruise ship folks??) or way too specific (for the serious backcountry backpacker). Finding guides that provide great information for the more typical "weekend warrior" types is pretty rare. I found this on Amazon before taking our latest trip in July 2011. From the sample pages, it seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. It did not disappoint. After using it for 2 weeks, I lent it to 2 other families who visited Alaska last summer. They both agreed that it was extremely helpful.

A note of advice, especially to those visiting Alaska for the first time. Get this book and the almost indispensible Milepost. If you're visiting several areas of the state, Milepost will literally take you, mile by mile, to where you are going. Alaska has a ton of hidden treasures that you can easily drive right past without a guide to point them out. Milepost doesn't miss a thing! Order these 2 books. You'll be glad you did.