Hiking from Here to WOW: North Cascades (Wow Guides) [Paperback]

Kathy Copeland (Author), Craig Copeland (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Hiking from Here to WOW: North Cascades will guide hikers to the most compelling destinations in Washington's Glacier Peak Wilderness and North Cascades National Park. This first book in the new full-color WOW series covers 50 trails that epitomize the "wonder of wilderness". Each superlative hike was selected for its power to incite awe. The trips lead to cathedral forests, psychedelic meadows, spiky summits, colossal glaciers, and more. Coverage ranges from short, tremendous dayhikes to multi-day backpacking adventures. Dayhikers and backpackers alike will find that the discerning advice in this guidebook helps make the most of their precious weekends and vacations. Kathy and Craig Copeland hiked more than 1500 miles through the range, ascending elevation equivalent to climbing from sea level to the summit of Mt. Everest nine times. And they've described it in refreshing style--literate, entertaining, and inspiring.

From the Author

Kathy and Craig are dedicated to each other, and to hiking, in that order. Their second date was a 20-mi (32-km)dayhike in Arizona. Since then they haven't stopped for long.

They've trekked through much of the world's vertical topography, including the Nepalese Himalaya, Patagonian Andes, Spanish Pyrenees, Swiss Alps, Scottish Highlands, Italian Dolomites, and New Zealand Alps. In North America, they've explored the B.C. Coast, Selkirk and Purcell ranges, Montana's Beartooth Wilderness, Wyoming's Grand Tetons, the Colorado Rockies, and the California Sierra.

The Copelands are veteran guidebook writers who have an ardent fan base for their Don't Waste Your Time, Where Locals Hike, and Done in a Day series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Wilderness Press; 1 edition (April 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0899974449
• ISBN-13: 978-0899974446
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #867,036 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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  Books > Travel > United States > States > Washington > North Cascades

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book and a definitive guide, September 26, 2007

By	Timothy W. Cunningham (Philadelphia, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Hiking from Here to WOW: North Cascades (Wow Guides) (Paperback)

Craig and Kathy have updated their opinionated prior work "Don't Waste Your Time in the North Cascades" and have done a spectacular job again. I wanted to wait to write this review until I had the opportunity to use the book during a recent extended backpacking trip to the North Cascades, and wasn't disappointed in the quality or accuracy of this guidebook and the opinions expressed by Craig and Kathy Copeland.

I agree with their approach. I flew 3,000 miles to backpack in the Glacier Peak Wilderness with my 23 year old son, and didn't want to have a second-rate experience of slogging through uninspiring stuff to get to the "WOW" stuff. So this book was a big plus.

It all depends on what you want. Yes, the entire wilderness is wonderful. Yes, it can be appreciated regardless of whether the scenery is spectacular. But spectacular makes me shiver with excitement, and while I don't mind working for it (and working hard, too!), I definitely want the WOW. If you want this type of mountain experience, then get this book.

By the way, I also purchased the MP3 on their website about bears which is a must download. Their thoughts on water purifying technology and trekking poles are also invaluable for those unfamiliar with such topics.

So, if you are planning a day trip or backpacking trip to one of the places the Copelands write about, and you want to maximize your experience...then buy their books and enjoy.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The one book for Cascades for casual hiker, September 10, 2008

By	Sytelus (WA, United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hiking from Here to WOW: North Cascades (Wow Guides) (Paperback)

The book is with beautiful color photos for each hike which nicely complements with short, energetic, passionate, funny, useful and opinionated descriptions. Vital info for each hike is neatly organized and there is a good description of getting to trail head although there are no GPS coordinates or elevation profile graphs. Maps for hikes are very basic and you WILL need Green Trail maps along with this book (each hike description contains Green Trail map# that you will need). The binding is fragile and pages are too glossy/slippery for a hiking book so I don't think it can take rough use on trail. The book has an "hike at glance" table which can help you to choose an hike for your preferred length and elevation gain however book is missing a central detail list of content so to actually locate an hike you will need to go to other page. One other thing missing is table for best hikes to do for a given month. For Cascades this is very important and should be included in "at glance" table hopefully in next edition.

If you really want to get your money's worth, I suggest you buy or borrow from Library another book Don't Waste Your Time in the North Cascades: An Opinionated Hiking Guide to Help You Get the Most from This Magnificent Wilderness. Both of these book are written by same authors, published by same publishers and have almost exact same content (and I mean word-by-word same) for common hikes between two books with exception that the later one contains all hikes organized by 4 ratings (Premier, Outstanding, Worthwile, Don't do) and also the later doesn't have color photos. This is extremely useful for hikers like me because I don't get to go to Cascades very often and want to make best use of my time by picking the best possible hikes. So having this ratings from author I don't have to ask other less experienced hikers about what I should be choosing when choice is so vast.

So for me, the best thing is combination of this WOW book and a list of hikes sorted by rating from "Don't waste your time..." book (pg 5-9). I really hope author includes this ratings in next edition of WOW book in "at glance" table.

Having said all that, I believe this is probably the one book you should buy if you are going to buy one for Cascades. And if you are going to do only two hikes in Cascades it should be Skyline Divide and Ptarmigan Ridge!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great guide book full of details that make a difference, April 6, 2008

By	ADVRIDER "Dan" (Deception Pass, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hiking from Here to WOW: North Cascades (Wow Guides) (Paperback)

I recently picked up this book - Wow guide - North Cascades.

In addition to exploring the outdoors I seem to collect guide books and I have to say "Thanks! to the authors. The attention to detail and the writing from an actual experience of personally being there comes through.

This book just happens to cover the area I call my backyard. Having been on most of these trails, I can tell you that little advice like... "at 2.5 mi you might notice a faint trail beginning to countour right (northeast). Ignore it. It goes to....." really makes a difference.

I have been in the outdoor industry for most of my life, either in the field or behind the scenes helping others get out there. So I have an appreciation for accurate and grounded information.