Customer Reviews

National Geographic Guide to the National Parks of the United States, 5th Ed. (National Geographic Guide to National Parks of the United States)

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3 star:		(1)
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I just bought the 2006 version of this useful resource to replace my trusty 1989 (!!) original. The new one includes up-to-date content (e.g., Joshua Tree is now a National Park, no longer a National Monument tucked away in the "Excursions" section) but I have two major gripes:

#1. I was surprised that so many of the photos haven't changed since 1989 (and who knows how long they were taken before that) except for some that are actually worse. One example is the frontispiece photo for the Yellowstone section. In the 2006 volume it is an under-exposed, super-contrasty shot of the terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs. Disappointingly (given the incredible opportunities to portray the visual variety that is Yellowstone) there is a second quite similar photo 6 pages later of another section of Mammoth. In my old book, the Yellowstone frontispiece is a lovely shot of the lower falls of the Yellowstone River completely missing from 2006. The other photos, in this section at least, are unchanged. So what's wrong with that? They're OLD. The colors are overly-saturated in the traditional National Geographic style, some with the contrast hiked so high that the details are lost. I admit this is perhaps a matter of taste. It's just a missed opportunity to improve the illustrations, and good ones are always very useful!

#2. There is a dearth of Web information. Each park's URL is listed, but not those of the associated excursion locations such as near-by wildlife refuges and national forests, all of which do have Web pages, nor for the lodging concessionaires.

Having said all that, I find this book to be a particularly useful jumping off point for Web research. It's well-organized, though due to the volume of material, understandably, none of the descriptions contains great detail. But most of what I want to know is there: what's the best time to visit? what are the gateway communities and in-park accommodations options? The maps are readable and sufficient for planning purposes. I particularly like the Excursions sections describing what other interesting areas are in proximity to the parks.

The book is compact, dense and heavy, easy to navigate, with a much-improved index so you no longer have to know what region a park is assigned to find it.

I definitely do recommend the National Geographic Guide to National Parks of the United States to help make decisions and plans for travel to our parks and surrounds.

This is a great reference book. We had been purchasing hiking books for the National Parks we visit and decided on a whim to also purchase this book, partly to get the free shipping. It was a wonderful idea. It gives you a look into all the wonderful National Parks our great country has to offer. Makes you want to visit them all. Pictures are great...and is organized in regions, so you easily see all the National Parks in the area. Great buy to give you ideas if you haven't visited parks, or just to look at to learn more about what is out there. I'm sure we will visit some now that we never would have because of this book.

This is the best book I have ever seen on the National Parks. The photography alone is worth the price. It gives very comprehensive advice on each park, and you can tell by the way it is written that these people have actually been to, and spent time, in each park. I love the way it breaks down each park into suggested amounts of time so that you can better plan your trip. There are maps for each park, and in the maps is my only complaint. Most of the maps cover more than one page and because there is very little page border down the center, it can make it difficult to see the center of the maps. Other than that, it truly is an awesome book, whether you actually get to travel to the parks or not.

Found this book to be a tremendous help in deciding where to go and what to see. We traveled to the Badlands, Yellowstone, The Grand Tetons, Arches National Park, Canyonlands, Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon, Painted Desert and The Petrified Forest. This book was a tremendous time saver. It allowed us to find the best viewing areas quickly and we did not miss any of the important sights. Well worth the modest price.

Good book of national parks. Good practical information for the short term visitor (how many people have the vacation time to spend 2 weeks anywhere? not many i think) which is welcome to see. I'd recommend this book if you'd like to get a feel for where you'd like to go, what you might see when you're there and where you might stay. Once you've figured that out you might do well looking elsewhere for some detailed information, but for the casual visitor the basic information (10 - 20 pages per park) is great. I'd recommend this book if you're either someone who's like to visit a few parks or someone who's trying to work out which park to go, or someone who'd just like to flick through to see if there's something you hadn't considered before.

Perfect if you want to get a general idea of all National Parks available. Once you decide where you are going, I recommend getting a more detailed guide specific to the place you decided to visit.

This guide is a must have when planning to visit any National Park. It provides "must see places" as well as popular hiking trials. Important information such as directions, when to visit, how to visit, places to stay, and descriptions are very well written.

The National Geographic Guide to the National Parks of the United States provides a basic and useful introduction to the parks. The maps, photographs, descriptions, and information about the area surrounding each park have helped us launch many memorable explorations. Suggestions regarding activities in each park are framed with consideration for both the automobile tourist and the hiker. The two copies of the Guide I recently purchased were for our niece and nephew who are just starting to travel with their young families.

If you are visiting National Parks and want a useful guide to help plan your day(s) this book should be on your list. It goes beyond the quick synopsis you get in AAA guides and describes worthwhile stops and hikes at all the National Parks in the U.S.

This book includes all the national parks in the United States (as of mid-2008). Note that there are a few non-traditional parks in the system such as Hot Springs, which nonetheless get the same treatment. It even has the national parks in US territories (i.e., outside the 50 states), although the park for American Samoa barely gets two pages.

All in all, the guide is pretty good at giving you overviews of each park, with maps and information on each. It tells you usually what the main things to do in the park are and what you can do in a day or more. It is not a substitute for making your own plans, though, so do not rely on it completely. Someone suggested that web information is lacking, which is true, but it might be better to rely on the parks' web sites for up-to-date web information anyway.

There are also excursions listed for many, but not all, parks. This makes sense because some NPs are close enough to each other that you'd be listing the same excursions. I would note that the distance to excursions varies greatly. I also wish they weren't so skewed in favor of national forests and wildlife refuges (not much emphasis on state parks), but these are nice to have.

I would finally note that sites such as national lakeshores, seashores, preserves and monuments that would be of interest to readers of this book are not covered as it only covers national parks. Some of these are covered in a one-paragraph excursion description, but because this is a book on the parks that is all they get. My point is that there are many places in the US designated as other than national park that are worth visits, and to find out more about those you'll have to look elsewhere.