Customer Reviews

Hiking Wyoming's Wind River Range

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

 

 

The author does a very good jop at trail discriptions and gives a good feel for the lay of the land. How ever the guide would benifit greatly with better maps, specifically a much more detailed overview map which shows the major peaks and their relationship to the trials dicussed. An index with the trials and peaks that is cross referenced would make it much easier to plan trips. The author should take a look at the AMC White Mt guide book, the bench mark for all guide books. This book did not met my expectations and I am looking into others.

The most complete descriptions of Wind River trails are in this book. Each trail is characterized as to its length, difficulty, and traffic volume. An elevation profile for each trail is provided as well as brief descriptions of key points along the trail and their mileage points. There are detailed driving instructions to each trailhead. There is also a fairly lengthy narrative regarding the topography of each trail. Additionally, each trail is numbered and it is fairly easy to use the maps in the book to string trails together to design a multi-day backpacking trip. The book is 262 pages long and is one the Falcon guide series. Other features of the book include brief sections on the history, vegetation, wildlife, and geology of the Wind River Mountains. There is information about US Forest Service Wilderness Regulations, and since part of the Wind River Mountains are contained in the Wind River Indian Reservation, there is information about that, too. To round things out there is a backcountry checklist (what to take), information about hiking with children, and information on zero impact camping. Drawbacks include the lack of an index, the lack of a bibliography and little, if any, information about off-trail hiking.
If you plan to hike in the Wind Rivers on established trails and you don't mind the absence of an index, then this is book is excellent.

This is a frustrating book to use although the meat of it---the trail descriptions and stats---is very detailed and well written. The lack of an index, or any way to use all the maps together, and the fact that the maps are very incomplete, make it very annoying to use. Add to this that there is an almost explicit LACK of information or routes for any of the peaks, and one wonders why one bought the book at all. There is no route to the top of Square Top Peak, nor over Dinwoody Pass, or up to Gannett. Even the non-technical peaks are omitted. There is also no "About the Author" section (although it says that there is one), and this is important when one is going to rely on him to guide you into the Wind River Range.

This guide book is a pain to use. Mainly because of the poor maps. The hiking guide is organized by trailheads, but the overview maps that are given do not cover a large enough area to plan a 4 or 5 day trip, which is the main reason I bought this book. I find myself flipping from section to section trying to piece together the trails in my mind. I've bought many other Falcon guides, and have been happy with all the rest. Since I know of no Wind River alternative guidebook, I bet you'll probably still buy this; I would, it does have some good info. But, I recomend buying a Wind River map while your at it, or use some sort of computerized map (google earth).

The trail descriptions are great and very informative. The distances are highly innacurate. I checked several of them with mapping software and they invariably are 10-15% on the low side. I like the descriptions and the profiles, but I use mapping software for the distances.

We used the book to help plan our trip to the Wind River Range. We also used the book as a reference during the hike. The descriptions of the trails were accurate, and very useful.

If you are a backpacker, like I am, you will revel in the great information on what to prepare for and how to negotiate a trip into the Winds. 2010 is planned out, so we are putting a trip into the Wind Rivers on our calendar for 2011. This book has been invaluable in getting us going!

I have found this guide to hiking in the Wind River Mountains to be very informative. The author goes beyond just descibing the difficulty or lengths of hikes. He describes the geology, landscape, vegetation, and even whether a lake holds fish and what type of fish it holds. At times, I felt as if I was on the hike myself. I have been very pleased with this purchase.

I just completed a six day haike in Soutghern Wind River area and I found the book Hiking Wyoming's Wind River Range very informative prior to making the hike. However, it could be more complete as to the various hikes and it needs some update in regard to the tails that i took. I will at a later date give my comments in more detail

This guide was a good introduction to a new hiking area for us. The trails were well described and easy to follow and the prose was useful in suggesting the prominent features of each hike.