Customer Reviews

Hiking Grand Canyon National Park, 2nd (Regional Hiking Series)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been hiking Grand Canyon since 1977 with over 9,900 miles below the rim and have hiked all the trails in this guide, in most cases multiple times. This guide has the most detailed descriptions of all canyon hiking guides; maps are more than adequate; nearly all information is up to date. Adkison's writing style is very clear. I especially appreciate his information about plant communities along the routes. This second edition is largely the same as the earlier edition. I am glad to see the addition of a section on cairns. How can this book be improved? Add an index. Looking through the guide I only found a few errors --- Western Union is no longer available inside the park and the Tanner Trail one way distance is not 7 miles but more like 10 miles!

I'm planning a backpacking trip to the Grand Canyon. I've looked at several guidebooks and I've bought bought this book as well as Hiking Grand Canyon National Park, 2nd (Regional Hiking Series) by John Annerino, and Hiking the Grand Canyon's Geology (Hiking Geology) (HTGCG) by Lon Abbott and Teri Cook.

I liked the straightforward and informative approach that Ron Adkinson takes in this book. The Grand Canyon is a big place with a lot of alternatives for trips. I was able figure out which trails I want to take using this book.

I especially like the capsule summary of each route that have clear ratings for the difficulty, water availability, average hiking times, suggested cache points, and distance.

Compared to this book, I found the HTGCG by Lon Abbott and Teri Cook nearly as good but the focus on the geology in HTGCG makes it harder to pull out the hiking information. Though, once your route is chosen, HTGCG, helps you understand what you see.

I reviewed several other hiking books on the Grand Canyon and read the trail guides for my selected and reserved trail. This book was the best written and most complete. I would generally say that this book might be the best bet for a good hiking volume for the GC.

Great overview of hiking trails in the Grand Canyon, which makes trip planning very productive! Great overview that covers trailhead locations, hiking distances, elevation gain/loss, difficulty rating, general maps (still need detailed topo maps), water availability, landmarks, scenic highlights, etc. Great value!

I highly recommend this book to every backpacker, who likes to spend more than 4 days of strenuous trekking in the Grand Canyon. It's full of details about how to prepare yourself for such a trip, in case you never did anything alike. For me it was the right choice, because it provides a perfectly described list of trails.

Although the book does give you maps for each trail, I'd additionally buy a map of at least 1:40'000, too.

I bought 6 different hiking guides on the GC to prep for a trip we are planning. This one by far had the most written info on each trail. Not a ton of pictures, but if you are looking for an in depth description of the trails, this is the book.

I've long thought that Hiking Grand Canyon is one of the best books about backpacking in the park. The PRINT edition is, at any rate. This review is of the Kindle version. This version preserves all of the text, but leaves out the maps that are critical to understanding the text. This is NOT apparent from the sample version of the Kindle edition, which includes the page with the map key, and includes several pictures (in grayscale, but discernible). I've brought my kindle along on some trips because it's lighter than a book, and I'd hoped that this version of the book would be worth having along. It is, but it's not what it really should be.

I've used this book for multiple canyon hikes. Good reference with basic tips for what to pack and prepare for.

While writing my book "The Tortoise Diet - Win The Race To Lose!", an account of my 120 pound weight loss, I bought this book an became interested in hiking in the canyon as a fitness goal. This very informative and well written book helped inspire me to hike in 2005 from the South Rim to Phantom Ranch, and back again the next day. This May (2006) my husband and I are hiking from the South Rim to the North Rim. We will be carrying along our copy of the book to help us appreciate the canyon more as we undertake this huge fitness challenge(my husband is 55 and I am 49.)

This book offers hikes for the more adventurous souls. I gave it as a gift to someone who really likes to explore the less traveled paths and among many books on hiking the Grand Canyon, this book seemed to fit the bill. I'm waiting to hear from my friend, when they get to go, and find out first hand how they enjoyed the various hikes.