Customer Reviews

Hiking Idaho, 2nd (State Hiking Guides Series)

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

 

 

The trail descriptions are great. The maps are great. The depth is great.

BUT, there are two things this book is missing that any good hiking book has. Each and every trail description in this book has a 'quick glance' section which lists a quick description, general location, maps, special attractions, difficulty, season and contacts for more information - BUT not trail LENGTH or an estimated time to complete! You have to read the entire description to find the length and probably won't find an estimate of the time required. Sure, this is OK if your friend recommended hike 'X' and you want to look it up. But, it is terrible if you are looking for a hike of, say, 6 miles that you can complete in 3 hours. It's just not readily available - you'd have to read the whole book! Even better, many guides have an index of sorts where you can see this information (and the availablity of backcountry campsites) for all trails at a glance, then go to the specific trail(s) that interest you.

This is what this otherwise great guide is missing. I returned mine and picked up 'Trails of Western Idaho' by Margaret Fuller instead - which does contain this information. Ms. Fuller's book is older (1992 vs. 1995 for this Falcon Guide), but not terribly so. She has some newer revisions for her other quides and I'm hoping this one will be reviced soon as well!

I used this to figure out a doable backpack trip with kids. It gives details on how ot get ot the trailhead, park, elevation changes along the trail, distance, times of year to go, good map, and a head's up on permits/ fees/ whether fires are alowed, etc.

We had a sucessful trip and plan to use this book for any additional trip to new places. I would've not known where to go without this book. Has tons of trails for day or overnight hikes, loops, out & back, and overnight stays.

I gave this book a three just because it has no index. Really? No index? I used another book as a companion to this hiking book called "Backpacking Idaho" by Lorain, which is the most organized and helpful book on Idaho hiking (but longer hikes). The "Hiking Idaho" book was useful for shorter hikes, but not having an index or a summary chart similar to the one in "Backpacking Idaho", made this book hard to use.

If you need some ideas for some good hikes anywhere in Idaho, this is a great place to look. The book is divided into regions, and has very detailed information on a handful of hikes in each, including how to get there, the best times to go, what to be prepared for, and things to watch for. It has a map/sketch of the area for each. It is not by any means a comprehensive list of trails and hikes, which is not what it is intended for. If you're new to the area and want a starting point for some great hikes or backpacking trips, this may be just what you're looking for.

Great book for planning hikes, it's truly a must have with the "seet Spots" serie for anybody planning some hiking in Idaho. Information is accurate but you always need to prepare it using other tools (google earth, topo) and other.