Customer Reviews

Pacific Crest Trail Hiker's Handbook: Innovative Techniques and Trail Tested Instruction for the Long Distance Hiker

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Last summer I walked 515 miles using the techniques in Jardines book. I walked through the entire state of Washington. I encountered rain, snow, mosquitos galore and a host of other problems that were all easily handled with the techniques outlined in Ray's book. I even made my own backpack on an old Singer sewing machine with the plans in the book. I wore running shoes the whole way. I finished the hike in 23 days, counting the five rest days I took. This book is excellant, not to mention well written.

This book presents interesting ideas for reducing the weight of one's backpack, giving directions for making and modifying equipment and using that equipment effectively in the outdoors. Though the information is often geared toward hiking the PCT, the information certainly applies to any backpacking experiences.

This watershed volume encourages backpackers to shed scores of ugly pounds from their backs, travelling faster and lighter. The author contends that this leads to smoother, easier travel, covering more miles per day with less fatigue. There is some controversy about recommendations like wearing running shoes to pack in, but Jardine presents the pros and cons and explains the importance of training to be able to use these new techniques. If you aspire to ultralight packing, fast packing or long-distance packing this is an important book to read. And it's pleasurable reading too!

Thirty five years of hiking, Twelve years with Moutain Search and Rescue and I was blown away by the consept of ultra light back packing. Ray Jardine's systems make perfect sence to me. The pct trail surounds our town and I look forward to putting much of these systems to work this winter, when this part of the snow bound trail seems like mine.

I read this book when it first came out and it blew my paradigms out of the water--and not just in regard to backpacking! Jardine slays many of the "sacred cows" of backpacking here. This is the book that launched the lightweight backpacking revolution.

Concepts I had always accepted as the "conventional wisdom" of backpacking: you must wear big heavy boots, you must carry a big heavy pack, etc., etc. were demolished by Jardine. His ability to think so far outside the box was really astonishing. He made so much sense, I was amazed I hadn't seen these things before. It actually made me look at other areas of my life to see where else I needed to recognize blind spots and think outside the box.

Great ideas that will help you enjoy the wilderness more. From the man who invented camming devices for rock climbing and I'm pretty sure he was the first person to climb at 5.12 level.

This book completely transformed the way I plan and execute multi-day backpacking trips. What's more is that the transformation was literally overnight. In August of 1998, before I read the book, I hiked 187 miles on the PCT in 14 days and averaged about 13 miles per day. After that hike, I bought this book an went back out on the PCT two weeks later to apply Jardine's methods, which resulted in covering 221 miles in 9 days for an average of almost 25 miles per day. I was able to double my daily mileage just by reading the book!

Its not just the increased mileage that impressed me, but also the increased comfort. Because I was able to lighten my load tremendously, I was more comfortable while hiking and not as worn out when I stopped. No more back pains from huge and heavy packs.

Almost all the techniques that Jardine teaches are simple and easy to learn. Like I said above, in just two weeks, I was able to apply everything in the book that appealed to me and the results were immediate and direct.

Some people do not like Jardine's authoritative writing style, but it didn't bother me in the least. I jsut took the ideas that I liked and didn't bother with the few I found to be unappealing.

Being an Eagle Boy Scout, I was prepared for everything. In fact, I was so prepared I could hardly carry my pack. Ray Jardine has shown me a new way: less is more. Less weight is more enjoyment while backpacking.

I have read all Ray Jardine's books about light weight hiking and this is by far the best. I have read this book 3 times. It is full of light weight hiking information that will help you hike faster, more miles and be able to hike longer. It will help you lighten that big refrigerator that so many of us carry on our backs when hiking, "the pack". This book allows you to pick out the things that may work for you. It also covers all kinds of safety issues and some general first aid.
Just a great book.

The most important thing to realize about this book before buying it is that it is relevant not only to people wanting to hike either very long distances or the Pacific Crest Trail. It is brimming with ideas and advice, some of which will be appropriate for one hiker and not for another (as Ray himself points out). I was amazed how accurate everything is described, from a scientific point of view - Ray's logic is crystal clear too. The seemingly mundane practical stuff is what I like. For example, rather than info about pitching tents and what type of socks to wear, technique/planning are most interesting to me. As one example, technique for covering various distances of trail without water supply along the way, and so on. Also, there are some nice points about taking care of nature, self-sustaining in an Apocalypse, the shock of coming back to civilization and other side topics of interest to the outdoors person are included.

I've not yet read the updated versions of this book, but I've read on the reviews that the updates are minimal. In any case, this old book is relevant to anyone spends more than a weekend in the wilderness (and I would imagine would even be of interest to the weekend warrior).

The book was great if you can keep an open mind. The book can really change your hiking style.