Customer Reviews

Hiking Wyoming's Medicine Bow National Forest - Second Edition

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

 

 

I live in Laramie, WY and purchased this book (2003 edition) because I wanted to expand the areas that I could hike and snowshoe in the area. It works for me because I am already familiar with the Medicine Bow area and occasionally want to be reminded of other hikes that I haven't been on for a while. The guide is accurate, well-organized, and includes a sizeable number of trails from which to choose. It is not a 'sit down and read about Medicine Bow NF' type of book -- it is truly just a trail guide.

Each hike description includes the trail distance, level of difficulty, elevation range, preferred season, the name of the topo map to use (not included), hike overview, trailhead directions, and trail description. The distance and descriptions are most useful to me, especially when I'm snowshoeing instead of hiking.

The website www.medicinebowtrails.com gives very accurate praise of the book, so I won't repeat it.

I would *highly* recommend this book to hikers/bikers/skiers/snowshoers who live in the Medicine Bow National Forest area, but it might not be as useful to people who are just passing through.

I used Marc Smith's book on a brief September 2006 visit to the Laramie Range and found it helpful and accurate for the hikes I took in that beautiful area, surprisingly little visited, even on a spectacular fall weekend with both aspen and ash in full yellow. I can't assess how useful it would be for other (apparently more popular) areas of the National Forest but I would visit those places with fair confidence, with this book in hand.
The format is very similar to the recent Falcon Guides of similar purpose; i.e. trip description, with succinct data prefaced, maps of the immediate route.
As always, I would suggest getting hold of actual topo maps (or GPS, these days, I suppose) for more demanding trips. At least visit the Douglas office of the MBNF to get a district map (seven dollars, if I remember rightly); take the first Douglas exit on I25 coming from Cheyenne; the Forest Service office is on the right.

This is a great guide with a lot of good information about the Medicine Bow area. It is the best single resource we found for hiking the Snowy Range and surrounding area. Great trail descriptions and a lot of useful tips.

This book is of great help. Nice pictures and reference to other web links.

This is a great book for hiking, bicycling, and horseback riding. It lets you know ahead of time which trails are open for the different activities, so you know what to expect on the trails. The summary of the trail gives you the basic information to know whether you even want to attempt that trail, which saves time from reading about all the trails. The directions to get the the trailheads are great. The maps showing the different trails and how some connect are excellent. Of course, not even off path is shown in the book, but all the main trails are included along with many smaller trails.

This book was very informative and gave great insight on you vacation to the Medicine Bow National Forest.

I moved to this area and wanted a book about hiking around here. Relaxing by a lake after the first hike, I started to appreciate the treasure trove of information in my hands, and since, I've hiked or skiied almost every single trail in this book (it's meant for snow-free times, but since many of the trails double as ski trails, it's useful as a ski guide as well).

Marc Smith is accurate; I've learned not to doubt. If he says the distance to the trailhead is 2.5 miles off the main road, he means exactly that. He includes a note of which areas are fee areas (handy to have a $5 bill with you BEFORE you arrive).

The trail descriptions are just as accurate, detailing confusing parts and landmarks.

Yay Marc. Thank you so much.