Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Hiking in Alaska

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If you're going to Southcentral Alaska (i.e., anywhere within 100 or so miles of Anchorage, including the Kenai Peninsula) a much more comprehensive and useful book is 55 Ways to the Wilderness in Southcentral Alaska by Helen Niehauser (sp?). Unlike 55 Ways, Dufresne's book does cover the whole state, but it lists only a small number of hikes, and they are all multi-day trips, some of them requiring good route-finding skills. It also appears that Dean Littlepage's (sp?) book on hiking in Alaska has statewide coverage and lists many more hikes than this book, though I have only thumbed thru the TOC of that one. On the other hand, Dufresne knows his stuff, writes engagingly, and describes some renowned multi-day hikes in depth. I took a longish trip to Alaska hiking the trails he recommended and had a wonderful time.

This book contains sections for each geographical area of Alaska. It gives background on the area, tells you what types of permits you will need to hike, what transportation is available, etc. It also suggests several trails in each area. The book also contains a 100 page section on Alaska in general - history, facts, wildlife, transportation, etc. A great book if you want to plan a trip to Alaska but need to figure out which part of the state to go to. Not as useful if you want a lot of detail about a specific region.

Used this guide in planning my trip to Alaska this summer. Was very happy. Didnt steer us to many touristy things but gave us the real low down on what to do and more importantly, what to avoid.