Customer Reviews

Moon California Hiking (Moon Handbooks)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Every two years or so, hikers in California are blessed with a new edition of Ann Marie Brown and Tom Stienstra's California Hiking, by far the most complete hiking guide to the state. Keeping track of all the trails and updating when necessary is no simple task. Indeed, one of the authors proudly advertises hiking, camping, and otherwise exploring the out of doors almost half the year in an effort to keep this book up to date and to "avoid .. getting a real job." The 2008 edition is the largest in several years and includes over 40 new hikes.

What has stayed the same. California Hiking still divides the state into sixteen geographical regions and lists hikes in each area. Maps of each region are provided with directions to the trail heads, and regions are organized from North (Redwood Empire) to South (San Diego County and Southern Deserts). An introduction explains how to use the guide and lists favorite hikes of the authors in multiple categories, from best wildflowers and waterfalls, to best "difficult" hikes (the authors use a slightly different aphorism) ie., hikes you might not want to take your spouse on. Each hike includes a brief description, along with directions to the trailhead. Individual trail maps cannot be included in a guide as comprehensive as this one, but the authors provide information on where to obtain available maps, along with important details like entrance fees, permits, and local government agencies.

What is new. More trails! From one end of the state to the other, the authors have added new hikes: some twenty in the San Franciso area alone. I am personally looking forward to walking the recently opened Mill Creek trail, found just south of Monterey and Carmel. Old growth redwoods are one of my passions, and any new trails of this sort are welcome. Among the new hikes in Southern California, Gray's Peak and Black Mountain Lookout both offer spectacular overlooks. Also new is Runyon Canyon in Hollywood Hills and several new trails in the Sacramento area. A few trails have been dropped from this edition. The Cedars Creek Interpretive trail, for example, has fallen into disrepair and is no longer listed in California Hiking. But for the most part, the changes are in favor of more, not less, and this edition is worth purchasing for the new hikes alone.

Other changes include updating mileages and difficulty ratings. Those of us who are absolutely exhausted after climbing to the top of Yosemite Falls will be relieved to find that this trail is now rated a "4" on the difficulty scale (which runs from 1 to 5). The authors have also made extensive mileage updates to reflect new trail alignments. Deep Creek Hot Springs is now listed as 4 miles from a new trail head, and the Ewoldson trail, probably the single most beautiful hike in the Monterey area, is now listed at 5.3 miles to include a spur trail to a stunning overlook.

Over the years I have met a number of hikers who use this book as their hiking bible for the state. More than a few of them (myself included) dream of walking every trail listed. That would require a Herculean effort, of course, but it says a lot that the authors of this book have done so multiple times and given the rest of us what is surely the most comprehensive state hiking guide currently available in the United States. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

I actually used up my first copy of this book - I still have it but the pages are falling out and it is pretty dog-eared, so I bought the updated version. I love the rating systems (1-5 for difficulty, 1-10 for ooohs and aaahhhs), the area maps, the specific tips for each hike. My husband and I hike in the Sierras a lot during the summer and this book has taken us to some wonderful places. We even used the book to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary with a "hike" across the Golden Gate Bridge! Just about anywhere you go in California, this book can guide you to a very satisfying hike.

Stienstra et al's California guidebooks have been the gold standard for hiking, climbing, and fishing in the Golden State. However, this latest edition of California Hiking falls short of previous editions. While I'm not very familiar with hikes in northern California, I can say that this latest edition has some glaring omissions as far as southern California is concerned. Two omissions that stand out are hikes to San Jacinto Peak via the Devil's Slide trail and up the East Fork of the San Gabriel River to the famous Bridge to Nowhere. These are two premiere hikes in SoCal, but they are not included here. They are included in earlier editions of this book. I suggest purchasing an earlier edition of this guide when it was published by the Foghorn Press.

For a guide of it's scope I think it does a good job, but I find myself having to do a lot of further research into each individual area (the authors do provide good resources for maps and additional contact info). For the amount of information and detail I'm looking for, I would have been better off going with individual regional guides. Also, I'm from the Oroville area and I was disappointed how few hikes were listed in the Sacramento/Gold Country section. With only 10 hikes it is the shortest chapter in the book. The driving directions to traiheads, rating system, and additional info (such as which trails allow dogs or bikes) is very useful.

I am so pleased with this book, and it gets used so often, I am on my second copy. I don't consider hiking a trail until I have checked it out in this book. Brown and Stienstra's rating system is dead-on, based on my own expectations, from the degree of trail difficulty to rating the beauty of a particular trail. The directions to trailheads are excellent (even an ice cave in Modoc County, which was just an unmarked hole in the ground following 20 miles of forest roads, was an easy find!). This information has made it easy for me to know how to prepare and pack for a trip, whether its an easy day hike or a moderate weekend excursion.

They have also endeared themselves to me with their commentaries about the hikes/trails. I especially appreciate input about the history or special nature of hike or area, as this feature has attracted me to many of the trails listed in the book. I am a fan of waterfalls and trails of a historical nature, my daughter loves caves, and my son loves special or unique features, such as finding hundred-year-old mining equipment on a botanical trail in Del Norte County. Adding this type of information makes finding the perfect trail a snap. My family is trying to work its way through as many hikes as possible, and believe me, there are many hikes worth taking over and over.

I noticed that their book on Northwest hiking is not as comprehensive, which is a shame, but this California hiking book should be on every California hiker's bookshelf, from beginners to extremists. My only wish would be to break the book down into a northern and southern California version, as this book is very thick.

I appreciate the very large number of hikes in this book, that allows for nice planning. However, we are in 2011, and every hike description should contain GPS (latitude and longitude) coordinates of the trailheads. I spend countless hours trying to figure out where are the trailheads on maps, by following the roads descriptions, and this is sometime very difficult given that some of the roads in the descriptions are small backcountry roads that don't appear on most maps. The descriptions also rely on land features (e.g. "past the electric antenna") that make map localization nearly impossible.

I would give 5 star if this book would contain GPS coordinates for the trailheads.

Took this book along with me on an impromptu trip out into the Sierras. Nice to have when you can't look up trail descriptions or maps because there is no internet service. I had this along with the California Camping one by the same guy...for 3 days I let these books guide me through the mountains. Very descriptive, up to date and accurate. I would read it and plan out the next day's hike as I drove into the unknown...and if I didn't like the hike, I would turn around and pick another hike out of the book. I love that it tells you what topo map to bring, and how it tells you the difficulty and view rating. That was very helpful in knowing whether the long trek would be worth it. Going to take it with me again when I go exploring the Eastern Sierras again this coming week. Wouldn't leave home without it!

Gave this book for a Xmas present. Recipient was very excited about it and felt that it was very complete.

I purchased this book as a gift for Christmas this year and I just received it today on my front door step and I ordered it three days ago! I def thought that it would come a little late due to the holiday season but they were on top of it! When I opened the package the book was in perfect condition....no bent edges or scratches! The book is pretty thick and every page looks really interesting and has detailed descriptions of every hike! This book is a must have for hikers who live in California!

I moved to California from the east coast and so wasn't familiar with the tremendous richness of hiking opportunities that the state offered. My brother, and Angelino, gave me this book as a gift. I spent a bunch of my weekends in grad school going from great hike to great hike using this book. The hard-core, lifelong Californians may find fault with some omissions, or disagree with some of the trail ratings, but for an newbie looking for a comprehensive guide to the opportunities in CA, this book is hard to beat.