Customer Reviews

The National Outdoor Leadership School's Wilderness Guide: The Classic Handbook, Revised and Updated

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mark Harvey's Wilderness Guide is the NOLS "classic" for a reason. Here's what this book is not:
1. a guide any kind of RV camping
2. a series of meditations to help you become one with nature
3. a tool to help identify birds, trees, or edibles
4. a necessary element to prepare for a day hike with your kids in the local nature park

Here's what this book is:
1. A clear and rudimentary guide to being a responsible outdoorsperson - utilizing the Leave No Trace guidelines.
2. A technical outline of wilderness travel and living techniques - including the best way to layer your clothes, pack a backpack, and tie your gear.
3. An overview of basic emergency procedures, from bear attacks to thunderstorms.
4. A tool for learning and teaching expedition behavior and outdoor etiquette.

As an active outdoor educator, I have read this book cover-to-cover many times and would recommend it to any aspiring outdoorsperson. Once you've read and mastered the techniques in this book, you can branch out into lightweight backpacking, adventure racing, or whatever strikes your fancy. Do you need this to go on a day hike with the fam? Heck no. But if you're ready to get serious about multiday trips and backcountry travel, this should be the among the first books on your shopping list.

Overall, Harvey has created an outstanding example of what outdoor books should be all about. The Wilderness Guide mixes age-old, tried and true practices, along with modern examples. Harvey combines the 1960's and `70s ethics of Leave No Trace, with modern practical examples of why you should visit the wilderness in the first place and what you might learn out there.

As a carefree college student,I camped quite often, but today, as a thirty year old business owner, I prefer to enjoy the outdoors by day, and to sleep in my warm, safe, familiar home by night. Harvey's Wilderness Guide has not only helped me to more thoroughly enjoy my day hikes, but it has also served as a catalyst to reignite my enthusiasm in camping for more than a Sunday afternoon. Harvey delivers intelligent, informative information in an easy to understand and enthusiastic style. The Wilderness Guide is packed with information, but it is far from bland reading, for Harvey is not only intelligent and well written, but he has a sense of humor as well. I live in Aspen and have spent time with Mark Harvey on numerous occasions. Possibly I will be able to camp with him one day. If not, I always have The National Outdoor Leadership School's Wilderness Guide.

I read the book in preparation for a mountaineering course - it's great - informative, well written, a good balance of solid content and easy readability. He would be a great person to go up a mountain with - but the book is a little easier to fit in the backpack!

An absolute must for anyone who camps in the non-RV sense of the word.

This book is an EXCELLENT book for anyone new (OR EXPERIENCED) in back country travel. This book can help you assess your skill levels (if you are honest with yourself). I believe being honest with ourselves about our skill sets as well as our abilities is crucial to back country travel (be it camping, backpacking or simply hiking). This book can help you learn skills -- but you have to practice them! It also can help you assess areas of weakness where you need to hone skills OR ask for HELP in learning. Taking a class in crossing crossing glaciers? Learning how to recognize potential avalanches? If you know you don't have these skills, you are truly taking a risk in backcountry where these exist. Back country medicine? Do you know how to best care for wounds? This book is full of essential information. I recommend it to anyone who will be in back country.

Harvey's way of covering all the bases, display's a deep knowlege and passion for his subject. And, his subject is something that too few people ever experience. The author's informal style coupled with real-life examples and antecdotes, makes for some fun reading, (about something that can be very serious).

I would definitely recommend this book to a friend. In fact I can think of who that friend might be. And, giving it to this person would be a great bonding experience.

We use this to plan our Wilderness Survival camp outs with scouts. Wonderful introductory guide! Many ideas for building practice survival scenarios.

I really enjoy this book. It is very informative, and I found myself breezing right through it because I found the information and writing style so refreshing and useful. It sort of breaks down the basic NOLS overview and covers quite the range of topics for outdoor activities, chiefly backpacking. A very useful guide if you intend to make some trips to the backcountry and enjoy the beautiful land we are blessed with. A great book to start with if you are at all interested in a NOLS course, or just interested in the outdoor aspect of life.

I bought this book about ten years ago and I was very impressed. The book is used for NOLSWG, but I used it to learn more about backpacking in the wilderness. Each chapter was easy to read and had enough information about backpacking/camping.

I love the content of this book! I use it as a "textbook" for my HS Recreation Resources and Wilderness Studies class. Last year, most of the students paid their own money for it, so they could keep the book.