Hiking Shenandoah National Park [Paperback]

Bert Gildart (Author), Jane T. Gildart (Author)

Book Description

Series: Regional Hiking Series | Publication Date: August 1, 1998

Features over 50 hikes in Virginia's largest national park.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Rich in human history and wildlife, Shenandoah National Park is truly one of the jewels of the East. Located in northern Virginia, Shenandoah is an easy drive from Washington D.C., metro area. Park trails lead to sweeping views, rushing waterfalls, and historic points. With over 196,000 acres (79,000 of the designated wilderness), Shenandoah offers a wide variety of hikes for all abilities. Recently updated, Hiking Shenandoah National Park provides detailed descriptions and maps of 59 of the best hikes in the park. From easy day hikes to strenuous backpacking trips, this guide will provide you with all the latest information you need to plan virutally any type of hiking adventure in the park. Hiking Shenandoah is divided into sections according to the park's three districts: North, Central, and South. Each hike description includes the distance, level of difficulty, elevation information, a trail map, and a detailed narrative of the hike. The guide also includes overview maps and comprehensive information on backcountry safety, minimum impact techniques, and the park's human and natural history.Don't forget to include Hiking Shenandoah on you next adventure in the park.

About the Author

Bert and Jane Gildart are hikers, writers, and photographers specializing in outdoor recreation. They live in Bigfork, Montana.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Falcon; 2nd edition (August 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560446609
• ISBN-13: 978-1560446606
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #513,047 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #20 in Books > Travel > United States > States > Virginia

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 3rd edition review, August 14, 2006

By 

H. Fogg "DayHiker" (East Coast) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hiking Shenandoah National Park (Paperback)

NOTICE READERS OF THESE REVIEWS:
seems the reviews for the 1998 edition is the same reviews for the 3rd edition (Jan'06), I'm sure there's been updates and corrections in the past 8 years. (different ISBN numbers)
more comments added 9-27-2006:
I'm beginning to appreciate this book the more I use it.
Table of contents lists all the hikes in order of MilePost on Skyline Dr.
Each Hike # has the Milepost at starting Trailhead, difficulty, traffic,
and other useful info. Then a description of the hike, a graph chart of
the Topo vertical change, and signicant 'encounters' broken down to .01
of a mile. and of course a "Trail Map"
But wait there's more: Dont overlook the APPENDIX in the back,
where each hike is categorized by difficulty (Easy, Moderate, Strenuous)
and by type (Views and Waterfalls). SO, in my case, instead of reading
every single hike in order, I jumped to the Appendix and planned
all my Waterfalls hikes.
Aug'06
I have the 3rd edition, and it helps fill-in the gaps to the waterfalls books of virgina I bought. I like hiking to waterfalls, and this book adds more hiking details, than the waterfalls books.
Any one interested in hiking trails in SNP, can also access the National park service web page and choose Shenandoah and they have trail "maps".

23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Misleading, incorrect, yet complete., July 17, 2004

By 

Alex J. Avriette "Alex Avriette" (Arlington, Virginia USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hiking Shenandoah National Park (Paperback)

This book offers literally dozens of hikes throughout the Shenandoah National Park. We bought it -- at Shenandoah -- for that exact reason. We had gone out casually hiking on our own, without guides, and wanted book so that we could plan hikes better, and hike to some of the falls in the park.

Our first foray into the Shenandoah with the book as our guide was to Rose River Falls, pp. 86. This is a 4 mile, moderate hike, in a loop. Essentially, you drive to mile 49, park, cross the street, and walk a mile or so, and there the loop is for you to hike.

Or so the book says. It turns out that this is not the case at all. It describes a sharp right at a blue blaze. The first blue blaze, which is on your right, is also a right turn. It is not the correct right turn. In fact, it takes you to Shenandoah's Dark Falls, which are very popular. However, they also constitute -- only the trip up, mind you, which is where this inaccuracy deposits you -- a 'strenuous' hike. We hike one weekend a month, sometimes 3 weekends a month. We live in the area.

Our second foray, again using the book, was this time much better prepared. I brought with us a pedometer and a compass. We calibrated them before leaving, and set out on our hike. This time was for the Hawksbill Summit (pp. 84). Drive to mile 46, park, walk 100 yards, make a left at the white slashes, and proceed along the AT through the loop.

This did not happen. As it turns out, we hiked a full thousand feet (that is, 333 yards), and did not see a single white blaze. Nor a single white slash. We walked back down the path, and had a look. We had not, I am sad to say, missed anything. There are no slashes within a thousand feet of the road. There is no fork to the left, to the right, or anything. As it turns out, this time, we were presented with a sign from the park service. The turn on to the Hawksbill trail is .4 miles from the road. That's twice what we walked, 2,000 feet. Somehow the author of the book managed to confuse "100 yards" and "700 yards".

This is simply inexcusable. Hikers can get (and do get, as it turns out) lost due to this horrendously inaccurate information. I'm not sure what the other reviewers were hiking, but our luck (0 for 2) has been abysmal. We're getting another guide, and we're not going to trust that one without a GPS.

Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.

Two stars given because it does include almost every trail in the park -- you'll just have to get another book if you want to hike them.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for day hikers., August 7, 2007

By 

Virginia Day Hiker - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hiking Shenandoah National Park, 3rd (Regional Hiking Series) (Paperback)

I've had very good luck with the older edition of this book. In fact, I bought it a while ago. I've enjoyed it enough that I wanted to review it and Amazon.com seemed like a good place.

Thus far I've been on five of the hikes, the shortest being about six miles with most in the nine to ten mile range. I've hiked almost forty miles in the last six weeks with no problems.

It might be a bit elementary for an experienced hiker, though. The topographic profiles are very, very general, so if that bothers you, then it might not be the book for you. The maps are obviously simplified, if it shows one switchback, then you might encounter eight on the actual trail. More exact information can be found in the text.

Hey, if you're a serious hiker, then you're going to have a "real" map, anyway. Although, I will admit to leaving with this book as my only guide. Zero trouble. I always stick to the path, never improvise, check the book often, follow signs, and use common sense.

There are plenty of overly complicated, wordy hiking books out there with overly busy maps that many day hikers find intimidating. A relative was showing me two such books this weekend. The maps were very detailed, but hard to read. Route summaries were pages and pages. For those reasons, she's never used any of them.

I'm not looking to plan my own route or backpack the AT. I want to have a good time, go at a moderate pace, and follow the hike as described. I want to know where the trails are, the route, the landmarks, and the general lay of the land. This book gives it to me. It's easy to read, easy to understand and laid out very logically.