Customer Reviews

Rocky Mountain National Park Dayhiker's Guide

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an outstanding introduction for those preparing to shun the automobile for the Rocky Mountain National Park backcountry. In a brief 140 pages Jerome Malitz delivers a superb overview of 33 park trails and destinations. Malitz's introduction includes a nice survey of park flora and fauna, geology and history. There is also a concise overview of precautions before heading into the backcountry. (I've hiked extenstivley in RMNP and strongly advise heeding Malitz's cautions. However inviting the scenery and innocent appearing the trail, RMNP is not Disney World. People, especially those who casually head down the trail without forethought, can get into trouble.)

Information on destinations is logically grouped by sections corresponding to general areas of the park. Each section begins with a very legible, color USGS topographical map with trails and campsites marked. Within each section, Malitz gives a nice description of the trail including the trailhead of choice, distance, altitude gain and elevation at the destination. Narrative is punctuated by color photography of key landmarks.

This is a fine primer on RMNP backcountry and will whet the appetite of any who are ready to see what is beyond Trailridge Road or the parking lot. (For readers ready for the next level of detail, I also recommend Dannen's "Hiking Rocky Mountain National Park" (8th Ed.). Together, these two books provide the maps, photography, narrative and detail to send you on your way with zeal and confidence.

Not bad. Each hiking trail has 2 to 3 pages written about it and a couple of color pictures. The length (in miles), point to start, and elevation change is listed for each trail. We have two small children and are using this book to plan our visit to the park so we don't go to the wrong area. The shortest trail listed is 0.1 miles and the longest is 16 miles (round trip). The highlights of each trail (water fall, lake, view, etc.) are briefly described. I am happy I bought it but the maps are cut up (to cover each individual area of the park)so prior to visiting the park I still will need to purchase an overall map of the park.

I've lived less than an hour away from Estes Park for over 40 years and hike in RMNP quite a lot...

This book covers a FEW destinations in RMNP and completely ignores many wonderful day hikes.

Some of the route descriptions are actually TOO detailed for my taste (pages long in some cases) and I'd like to see more maps.

I do like the format of the book, I just wish it had more information.

I prefer Lisa Foster's Rocky Mountain National Park - The Complete Hiking Guide. Her book covers EVERY one of the 440 destinations in RMNP - and she has been to EVERY one of them. She knows what she's talking about and her book is EXCELLENT! I've been to about one hundred of the destinations, so I know that her book is accurate. As I said though, her book covers EVERYTHING in the park - short hikes and very long hikes. It's probably more information than most people need.

I own shelves of hiking guides on Colorado, and this one is near the top of the list. Not only is it informative, instructive and accurate, Malitz writes well and gives the hiker all the essential information needed to make the trek. I live outside of Colorado and only visit for a few weeks each year, specifically to climb 14-ers and the magnificent Rocky Mountain National Park. Being unfamiliar with the Colorado roads and most of their trailheads, I necessarily rely on this guide to get me to the trailhead with no hassle and accurate driving directions. Roach has never disappointed me. He gives exhaustive directions and includes a map for each trek. If you need a four-wheel drive vehicle to get to your destination, he will let you know. If you have a drive on a dirt road for 6 miles to reach the trailhead, that information will be included.

He also describes the trail conditions, whether it's rocky, has scree, is exposed and has a ranking system for how difficult the hike is. If there is scrambling involved or permanent snow fields, he lets you know. If it's a class 3 hike but listed in other guides as class 4, Malitz makes the correction and explains why he feels this way.

There are separate sections on the unique and often volatile weather in the Colorado peaks. This is imperative for out-of-state hikers who aren't familiar with the frequent, violent afternoon thunderstorms in the Rockies. When I hiked in RMNP for the first time, I photocopied several chapters and took it with me in my pack, and was glad I did. When the thunderstorms began, I descended ASAP, following his advice. This is an outstanding hiking guide. I wouldn't hike in the Rocky Mountain state without it and neither should you. Enjoy!

Really liked this book. Displays elevation at destination, altitude gain, distance one way, and which trailhead to use at the beginning of each trail description. Lots of full color photos make it easy to tell your in the right place, but can take away a bit from the element of surprise for what you're going to see when you go there. Only one map in the book, so the purchase of a trail map may also be in order. All in all a good book with short, concise descriptions of trails and what can be seen from them, as well as precautions about altitude, exposure, and other concerns.

A nice, easy to read book with descriptions of some of the more popular hikes in the park. Descriptions are thorough enough to follow and enjoy major trails. Not recommended for the hardcore explorer; for this I recommend The Complete RMNP Hiking Guide by Lisa Foster. Malitz's book is pleasant and the trail descriptions are of moderate length, though it only covers a fraction of the hikes in the park.

I have planned many trips to various parts of the country and next summmer it is to RMNP. I bought this book along with the Falcon guide to compliment eachother. This book offers what looks to be some great and more popular hikes. It has many full color beautiful pictures. If you are seeking more of an adventure though in terms of climbing some mountains like mt meekers or you would like to see more hikes in general if you were to choose one book i would choose the falcon guide. But i would reccomend buying both books as compliments to eachother. As a combination i would rate them 5 stars

The author spends paragraph after paragraph describing the wildflowers you'll see, and very little time describing the trail conditions or difficulty of the hikes. For example, a "steep gravely descent" turned out to be at least a mile of nearly vertical and very dangerous rock wash which our group would never have attempted given a more accurate description.

The topo maps were nice in some cases, but were difficult to read since they were so small. I did not like having to flip back to the beginning of the section to see the map for a specific hike. In general, it was difficult to find things in the book -- the "overview" map at the beginning does not tell you what page the various sections of the park are on. Altitude gains/losses are just stated as a number -- I much prefer having the profile which shows altitude vs. distance.

The photos are wonderful and give you a good taste of what you'll see on your hike, but the language throughout is too verbose -- I'd rather have a concise trail description that is easy to reference.

I used this book to select day hikes on our first trip to RMNP. We hiked up Deer Mountain and Estes Cone (highly recommended). The descriptions of the hikes were concise and accurate, and they kept us away from the more crowded trails. While the trails are clearly marked, it was nice to know in advance what to expect.

I wish the maps were bigger & on one page. I like to identify peaks and I wasn't able to do it using the maps in the book. Luckily, I also had a National Geographic map of RMNP.

A great guide! Very good photos of each area. Includes topo maps of each trail. Very informative.