Customer Reviews

Hiking Arizona, 3rd: A Guide to Arizona's Greatest Hiking Adventures (State Hiking Guides Series)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There are only a couple of different ways to do a hiking guide for an entire state. You can shoot for comprehension, as Tom Stienstra and Ann Marie Brown do in California Hiking, or you can try to present a "best of the best" selection. Hiking Arizon, now in its third edition, attempts the latter. There are some benefits and detriments to this approach. On the positive side, pages are not quite as crowded and there is space for maps. On the negative, it is difficult within such a format to provide enough hikes to appeal to everyone. Although Bruce Grubbs attempts to provide a wide variety in this book (and he certainly succeeds when it comes to covering the many habitats found in Arizona), the actual hikes themselves are heavily weighted towards the macho end of the sport.

There are 120 hikes described in this book with the bulk of them in the center of the state from north to south. The average distance for each hike is 9.52 miles: far more than the casual tourist or semi regular visitor to the state (I am in this category) can afford time for. Although he does include some short nature walks, mostly in and around Yuma, the bulk of the hikes described here are for people who are very dedicated to the sport. A little more than 1/3 of the hikes listed are considered "stenuous" and even shorter walks in this book are a lot more difficult than they might appear. The Cholla trail, for example, is only 1.6 miles, but you pack in 1,260 feet into the .8 one way hike. That is extremely difficult walking by any standard. Similarly, Horseshoe Mesa is listed as only 4 miles round trip, but you have 2,400 feet of elevation gain in just two miles one way.

Granting that this book's target audience are dedicated "hard core" hikers, I have very few complaints about it. I would like to see hypsometric maps, common in other Falcon Guides, so one can see elevation changes along the route. I am surprised that Petrified Forest National Park did not get a single route write up. I think Catherine's Landing offers some nice walking along the Colorado River in the early spring. But on the whole this book does a good job at providing dedicated hikers numerous opportunities to explore the sunshine state. One of my favorite backpack trips was the Cabin Loop which my cousin, uncle, and I did several years ago using an earlier edition of this book. But casual visitors to the state will not find a lot of use from this book. I recommend they look to Best Short Hikes Arizona.

This book provided more misdirection than direction. Some of the descriptions beg the question whether the author actually hiked the trails, or the editor confirmed the accuracy of the descriptions. It proved little or no value at all during a recent trip to Sedona. To the editor - for the 4th edition, consider a new title: Hiking Arizona 4th: Get Lost.

This books is a good collectors item for any one and every one who is interested in exploring the Arizona wilderness. Good writeup, illustrations, maps and photos.