Moon Handbooks Canadian Rockies: Including Banff and Jasper National Parks [Paperback]

Andrew Hempstead (Author)

Book Description

Series: Moon Handbooks Canadian Rockies | Publication Date: April 2003

Stunning mountains, alpine lakes, shimmering glaclers, and abundant wildlife await the visitor to the Canadian Rockies, one of North America's premier travel destinations. This four-season area has much to offer travellers and Andrew Hempstead's Moon Handbooks Canadian Rockies is the resource to uncovering its hidden treasures. Five parks are found in the Canadian Rockies-Banff, Jasper, Kootenay, Yoho, and Waterton Lakes-each filled with miles of hiking and skiing trails, hundreds of campsites, and numerous lake and rivers. Visitors can explore the world-famous Burgess Shale, home of many fossils; brave rafting the plunge on the Kicking Horse River; or sample regional Rocky Mountain cuisine- caribou, moose, and elk. This revised edition includes measurements in both the imperial and metric systems; an expanded accommodations section; helpful sidebars on cutting flight costs or finding great hotels rooms for less; as well as website listings for many destinations. After a day in the field, hit the bars and pubs of Canmore and Banff, or soak in the luxuriant waters of Radium Hot Springs. Informative, practical, and inspiring, Moon Handbooks Canadian Rockies is an essential guide to planning a trip to this awe-inspiring part of the world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"America's finest travel guidebook series . . . extensively researched, engagingly written, intelligently indexed, and packed with helpful maps and sidebars."

About the Author

Andrew Hempstead has spent many years exploring, writing about, and photographing Canada. He has been writing since the late 1980's, when, after leaving an established career in advertising, he took off to Alaska, linking up with veteran travel writer Deke Castleman to help research and update the fourth edition of Moon Handbooks: Alaska-Yukon. In the ensuing years he focused on writing about Canada. In addition to this Canadian Rockies guide, he is the author of Moon Handbooks: Alberta & the Northwest Territories, Moon Handbooks: British Columbia, and Moon Handbooks: Vancouver. He is also the co-author of Moon Handbooks: Atlantic Canada, Moon Handbooks: Australia, and Moon Handbooks: New Zealand. His articles and photographs have appeared in a variety of magazines, including National Geographic Traveler, Travesias, and Interval World. He lives in Canmore, Alberta.

Product Details

• Paperback: 293 pages
• Publisher: Avalon Travel Publishing; 3rd edition (April 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566914930
• ISBN-13: 978-1566914932
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,821,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #34 in Books > Travel > Canada > Cities > Banff
  • #97 in Books > Travel > Canada > National Parks

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book on the Rockies, November 24, 2000

By 

Steve McKee (Adelaide, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Moon Handbooks: Canadian Rockies (1st Ed.) (Paperback)

This is, without doubt, the best 'travel' book written for those travelling through the Canadian Rockies.

I lived in the Canadian Rockies for 2 ½ years and now when friends and fellow travellers ask me for advice about the Canadian Rockies (i.e. What to see...what to miss, Where to stay...and what roads to take for better wildlife viewing, etc) I always tell them about this book (and one other - The Canadian Rockies SuperGuide by Graeme Pole).

The main reason this book leaves others like it (lonely planet, Frommer's, The Rough Guide, etc) way behind is because 'Even locals will learn something'. (Get yourself to the top of the Jakeroy Glacier trail and you'll get an understanding of how well this author knows the Rockies).

While most travel guides tell you about the mainstream tourists destinations, this book continues past those to inform the reader about the lesser-known (and in many cases...Better) areas of the Rockies. The benefit of this extra information is the reader will be able to explore the Rockies...and find their very own, special part of the Rockies...away from the 4 million per year tourist herds.

This is a 'travel guide' full of information on what to see, places to stay, places to eat, and much more - if that's what your after - you wont find better. ('ALBERTA and the NORTHWEST TERRITORIES handbook' and 'BRITISH COLUMBIA Handbook', by the same author, are also the best choices for your money).

(The Canadian Rockies SuperGuide - by Graeme Pole, is a great book for in-depth information about tourist sites, and certainly gets my recommendation, but covers nothing close to the range of information you will find here).

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent source of information, May 8, 2001

By 

"geoffhill_1" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Moon Handbooks Canadian Rockies, Second Edition: Including Banff and Jasper National Parks (Paperback)

This book was invaluable for our Spring 2001 trip through the Canadian Rockies. The book is obviously written with the aim of appealing to a wide range of travelers, and does so well. My wife and I have very different interests, but found that each evening we would sit down and study the next day's itinerary almost solely using this book--her searching out museums and a picking a spot to eat dinner and me looking for outdoor activities. As a retired historian, I was also pleased to see comprehensive coverage of the history of the region, along with dozens of interesting tidbits that helped make the trip more enjoyable. It was too early in the season for us to do much hiking, but the trails we did follow all came from this book and another, Canadian Rockies Trail Guide. I highly recommend this book to anyone traveling north through the Rockies region of our Canadian neighbors.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical Planner for a Canadian Rockies Vacation, September 28, 2005

By 

D. S. Thurlow (Alaska) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Moon Handbooks Canadian Rockies: Including Banff and Jasper National Parks (Paperback)

Moon Travel's "Canadian Rockies Handbook" is packed with the practical information needed to plan a great vacation in the Canadian Rockies. In a well-organized format, the handbook covers how to get there, what to see and do, where to stay, and a nice slice of commentary on the various towns and other sites of interest. The discussion about accomodations includes a decent range of prices and facilities. The focus is on the area in and around Banff and Jasper National Parks, a stunningly beautiful area with endless opportunities for outdoor recreation, sight-seeing, and relaxation. The handbook includes maps and diagram that are sufficiently detailed to enable to visitors to get to the main points of interest. The handbook also provides information on popular hikes, golfing, and white water rafting, among other activities.
This handbook is highly recommended to anyone planning a vacation in the Canadian Rockies, even if they have visited the Rockies before. This handbook provides enough detail in a compact format that it may inform regular visitors on wonders they may have missed on prior trips.