Customer Reviews

The Rough Guide to Ultimate Adventures 1 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

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This guide is oddly deficient for some parts of the globe, but provides plenty of great wanderlust ideas. First the bad part. Of the 48 adventures listed for North America, there are exactly three in the U.S. that are east of the Mississippi River. Apparently the Canadian Rockies aren't good for much either and there's nothing to do in Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, or the Middle East. (An adventure guide without Petra or Wadi Rum?)

But none of us will get to more than a fraction of the options anyway. There are a slew of choices on each continent, some well-worn (walking the Camino de Santiago, climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro), plus some true battles with danger (skiing to the South Pole). Each is rated on categories that determine, "Is this for me?" There are star levels corresponding to "physical, psych, skill, and wow." For the tours I have actually done myself, the descriptions and information were accurate, but the target reader is obviously someone with plenty of money. The recommended outfitters are often the most expensive ones out there and apparently people who do adventure tours are scared of public buses.

If you're looking for ideas though or just want to stoke your wanderlust, this will get the heart pumping. Packed with great photos, plenty of instructions, and bonus helpings of fun facts, this is a book worth savoring during your cubicle daydreams. [...]

I reluctantly took this book, thinking it was another bungee-jumping adrenaline-rush guidebook for the quick-marketing need-to-be-impressed crowd, but as I read some of the descriptions, I was impressed by the accuracy in the experience described, as I personally have done in the past some of the routes they suggest. For example, towards the 10th mile of the 12 mile Virgin River Zion Narrows hike, the author mentions that you encounter the tourists wading the river upstream, you know the end is near (sooo true...). The description of the Via Ferrata concept in the Dolomites is very accurate, quite unique in the travel books for the North American reader audience. And the book is not necessarily for those that need to be young and fit and risk-takers, as there are many trip suggestions for the simple walker, such as Adrian's Wall in northern England, and the Camino de Campostela in France-Spain. Nice was also the small tips such as the top five one-day trips that can be done on the Appalachian Trail. So, in a nutshell, this book is a refreshing return to a REALISTIC DO-ABILITY.

Lewis and Clark. John Wesley Powell. Greg Witt. They're all tops in the field of adventure travel. And they know their stuff. Trust them.

Ultimate Adventures takes you on a whiplash ride from O2-thin summits to batty caves--and everywhere in between. It's an exciting read, as well as a fantastic trip-planning tool. It's filled with fascinating background details and how-to tips for 177 of the world's greatest outdoor adventures. It's all here: hiking, diving, surfing, kayaking, kiteboarding, mountain biking, dog-sledding. Plenty of compelling photos, too.

Each adventure comes with an "Is this for me" rating which assesses the physical demands, the psych or emotional challenge, the skill required, and the overall "Wow!" it delivers--so you know what you're getting into.

Ultimate Adventures is a therapeutic book for those suffering from Stage II, III or IV Wanderlust. (See Wanderlust-o-Meter below for a handy diag tool) It will feed your need for intense adventure, thrilling (yet accessible) peaks, exotic treks, exceptional wildlife viewing, and wild rivers waiting to be run. No more lame vacation - or worse yet, "staycations" (whoever thought that was a good idea?).

If you have money to spend on travel, and are way past Stage I Wanderlust, then buy a copy of Ultimate Adventures and start dog-earring.

WANDERLUST-O-METER
Stage I - My last adventure trip was in 1987 when I wandered the "realistic" European villages at Disneyworld. Wow!
Stage II - I subscribe to every travel magazine there is and usually spend my tax return on a trip to somewhere I've never been.
Stage III - My best vacation is your worst nightmare. Don't make me lie on a beach in Hawaii. I crave excitement. Heliskiing? Sure! Whitewater rafting? Bring it on!
Stage IV - Ultimate Adventure? I'm reading this with my headlamp from the bottom of a cave at Borneo (see p. 286).

This book plain out incites the reader to start planning an
adventure trek. It succinctly and alluringly describes 177 adventures
from all corners of the globe and rates them according to the physical
fitness needed to complete them, their "wow" factor, special and has
lots of photos and side-bar snippets about geography, wildlife,
cultural information and other interesting bits. The layout is
dynamic and colorful and the book certainly made this armchair
traveler want to learn more about some of these fascinating travels.
This book is a welcome addition to my home library.

This is an excellent starting source for generating ideas for that next adventure. It has many excellent photos and brief description on what to do while at each destination. Lots of adentures crammed into this little book.

However, at least in the case of the American Southwest, there could have been lots more adventures (I have traveled the Southwest plenty and some of the places easily should be in this book). Perhaps to broaden the number of trips, there should be an "ultimate adventures series" for each continent? - Also, some of the trips in this book seem to be too outrageous for the average person. All in all, a good coffee book but if you need details for those trips, look somewhere else.