Hiking Virginia's National Forests, 7th (Regional Hiking Series) [Paperback]

Karin Wuertz-Schaefer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2001 | Series: Regional Hiking Series

The 75 outstanding trails in this guide are perfect for camping, hiking, backpacking and camping in George Washington and Jefferson National Forests.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Covering sweeping vistas, splendid peaks, beaver ponds and cathedral-like virgin forests, the 75 outstanding trails in this guide are perfect for camping, hiking, backpacking and camping in George Washington and Jefferson National Forests. New photos and an update of all pertinent information and changes make this the most up-to-date guide to hiking in Virginia's National Forests.

About the Author

Karin Wuertz-Shaefer is a member of the Sierra Club and worked for several years on the club's New York staff. Karin and her husband, Bob, a physicist, have been involved in efforts to establish wilderness areas in Virginia. She lives in Mount Airy, Maryland.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Falcon; 7th edition (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762709383
• ISBN-13: 978-0762709380
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #829,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #47 in Books > Travel > United States > States > Virginia

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Concise but Incomplete Guide to Virginia's National Forests, November 11, 2005

By 

David Prager "mathprofhiker" (Winterville, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hiking Virginia's National Forests, 7th (Regional Hiking Series) (Paperback)

Spanning much of western Virginia, the combined George Washington and Jefferson National Forests provide some of the best and most abundant hiking in Virginia. Being an avid hiker and planning to spend a few months in central Virginia, I chose to purchase this guide to give me some hiking ideas. Unfortunately, I was not particularly happy with what I got.

This guide describes trails from 10 selected areas in the national forests. While the selected areas range geographically from Big Schloss in the north to Mount Rogers in the south, all of the areas selected are remote wilderness areas. Many excellent dayhiking trails (such as the Cascades Trail near Blacksburg) are left out. While some people enjoy long wilderness dayhikes or backpacking trips, many hikers (such as myself) prefer more manageable dayhikes. Due to the areas selected for description, very few hikes in this book fit into that category. While it would be impossible to describe all of the national forest trails in 193 pocket-sized pages, more variety would allow this book to be used by a wider audience.

Normally in my reviews I give a description of what is included with each hike. With this guide, that is somewhat difficult because Karin doesn't really describe hikes. Instead, she simply describes each trail in the selected area, usually giving no indication as to how they might be put together to get a nice loop (or other) hike. The problem with this method is that the author ends up merely recounting facts about the trail rather than describing a hiking experience. As such, while the descriptions contain some good information, it is hard to get a feel for what hiking this trail in person would be like. Also, while each selected area comes with an area map (with contour lines!) and an area overview, you have to be careful relying on her maps: quite a few details are omitted, and frequently the maps have been rotated on the page so as to best fit the shape of the region (so north is not necessarily "up"). Thus, in addition to leaving a lot of hikes out, the descriptions that do appear in this book leave somewhat to be desired.

In conclusion, if you are looking for some detailed information on the wilderness areas in George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, perhaps for a backpacking trip, this guide might be of interest to you. For the rest of us, this guide will be too narrow in focus and too hard to use. Most people should consider one of the 50-hikes books instead of this guide.

4.0 out of 5 stars mid atlanic, April 3, 2010

By 

Edward Shewbridge (Martinsburg, WV United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hiking Virginia's National Forests, 7th (Regional Hiking Series) (Paperback)

good if you live in the mid-atlanic region and want to hike in the national forests