Monterey Bay Trails [Paperback]

David Weintraub (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: Wilderness Press (September 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0899972489
• ISBN-13: 978-0899972480
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,971,296 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Weintraub is a writer, editor, photographer, and educator based in Aiken, SC. He is the author of eight travel books and many articles for publications such as Photo District News, Outdoor Photographer, and Hemispheres. David has a master's degree in journalism and mass communications from the University of South Carolina, where he is a full-time instructor teaching visual communications and writing. David writes two columns each month for the website Black Star Rising, "Notes from the VisCom Classroom" and "Eye on Image-Making."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pleasant Day Hikes near Monterey Bay, July 9, 2004

By 

Fritz R. Ward "dayhiker" (Crestline, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Monterey Bay Trails (Paperback)

After a beautiful weekend in Big Basin Redwoods State Park my wife and I were not terribly eager to end our Memorial Day vacation by taking the direct route back home to Southern California. So we went by way of the coast and stopped at Point Lobos State Preserve near Carmel for some short walks. We were stunned at the scenery and immediately vowed to return. This is not the first time we have had such experiences around Monterey. The area is simply ideal for walking. The scenery is so delightful and the weather so mild that it demands a good guidebook and Weintraub's book certainly fulfills that role.

This book details 48 hikes in some 28 different state and county parks or other public lands. Most of the routes described are short pleasant walks. Fully 75% of the trails are under 5 miles and only two exceed 10 miles. (One of these, the Waterfall loop in Big Basin, is an absolutely mandatory hike. It is one of the most beautiful waterfalls in the state.) Each route description includes a topographical map.

This book covers some of my favorite areas: Point Lobos, Big Basin, Henry Cowell Redwoods and surprisingly Pinnacles National Monument. I've done some exploration in all these places. But this book has made me aware of so many other nice parks in the region. After reading Weintraub's descriptions I'm looking forward to visiting Garrapata State Park, Jacks Peak County Park, and some of the wonderful beaches around the bay. In short, this is an excellent book for planning a vacation around. It is well worth the price.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Quality, January 19, 2007

By 

Peter McCluskey (San Bruno, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Monterey Bay Trails (Paperback)

This book isn't quite complete enough or well organized to satisfy me. It overlooks some fairly good hikes, such as the hike to Berry Creek Falls from Waddell Beach (which I consider to be the most scenic and least strenuous way to get to those falls) and the Big Rock Hole hike in Henry Cowell. The maps are designed to show only the hikes described in the book, which makes them hard to use for creating longer versions of those hikes as I often want to do.

It's sometimes hard to find the park I'm looking for. For instance, Nisene Marks is only listed in the index under "Forest of ...".

3.0 out of 5 stars So-so, February 22, 2011

By 

J. Wagner (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Monterey Bay Trails (Paperback)

The book is good for identifying places to go hiking, but it leaves a bit to be desired once you get to those places. The maps are not good at all, printed off computer topographic software and hard to read. As another reviewer noted, the maps show a particular trail without showing its place in the greater setting, so stringing trails together from this information is very difficult. My preference would be a trail guide that in the interest of brevity skips the types of brush and birds along the trail and gets right to the information I need-- miles to the next intersection, changes in altitude, etc. Sadly no such guide exists for this area. It's a shame to have to carry a book for the information on one or two pages, which this guide necessitates. This book isn't all that different from other trail books for this area in this regard. All in all, it isn't bad, but it could be better.