The Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Book [Paperback]

Tom Taber (Author)

Book Description

Series: Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Book | Publication Date: March 8, 2006

Rising just south of San Francisco, through San Mateo, Santa Cruz, and western Santa Clara counties, the Santa Cruz Mountains offer amazing scenery and outdoor recreation opportunities for Bay Area residents and visitors. This compact, detailed reference guides hikers, bikers, bird watchers, naturalists, and other outdoor enthusiasts through redwood canyons, conifer and oak woodlands, along the rugged Pacific coast, and to breathtaking summit views of the Bay Area and beyond. Each chapter includes an overview of the park or preserve with directions on how to reach it; detailed trail maps; and descriptions of trail conditions, ecology, topography, geology, history, and points of interest. At the beginning of the book, a map illustrates all the public lands in the mountains, and a separate chapter lists each unit of public land alphabetically. Special sections highlight noteworthy features, including poison oak, acorn woodpeckers, logging history, interesting characters, banana slugs, the best places for dog walking, and more.

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Oak Valley Press; 10th edition (March 8, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0960917098
• ISBN-13: 978-0960917099
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,036,533 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Review of the 10th edition, April 10, 2006

By 

Fritz R. Ward "dayhiker" (Crestline, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Book (Paperback)

It says a lot about a book that it is continuously in print and updated for 30 years. This edition, the 10th and printed in 2006, preserves the nice features of previous editions and also offers the author's reflections upon what remains to be done for conservation and recreation in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

The general format of the book has not changed. Every county park, state park, open space preserve, or land otherwise available to public access in the Santa Cruz mountains is described (in alphabetical order) with special attention to the hiking opportunities in each. Trail descriptions are a bit sparse, but Tabor includes a decent map of each area to allow you to find your own way. The book is also chock full of "Special Sections" which detail local and natural history and also discuss such practical matters as where you can actually walk a dog in this part of the distinctively 'canine unfriendly' Bay Area.

Tabor's suggestions for the future of the Santa Cruz Mountains are worth noting. He urges the construction of more campgrounds and backcountry trail sites, an absolute necessity. It is almost impossible to get camping reservations on weekends. He also suggests practical ways to extend trail systems and increase the salmon and steelhead runs in mountain streams. I'm less sympathetic to his demand that the gun club near Castle Rock be shut down. I'm not a gun owner, but I never felt I was near a "war zone" when visiting this state park. In my opinion, antagonizing outdoor sportsmen will not promote conservation, but I could be wrong on this. On the whole though, this book is an excellent guide to the region and hopefully it will inspire more efforts at conservation and preservation in the area.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could be better organized, clearer, with more mileage notes., June 29, 2009

By 

Lauren "BreadPuddn" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Book (Paperback)

I'm really surprised at the number of 5 star ratings here. I was going to give this book 2 stars, but tried to squeeze more out of the book, putting in more effort, and finally decided on 3, max.

While the focus is on trails to a degree, it's also about the parks. It's not geared toward a hiker who wants to plan in advance, wants to know changes in elevation, if the trail is mostly exposed to sun or not, and also mileage on all trails. Mileage is given in many cases, but for instance, the author author describes one as a "short trail". Is that 500 feet, or 2 miles? What's a short trail? Some trail maps have mileage, some don't, or mileage is missing from some legs. There are also typos too, the kind that spell-check won't catch. I expected a list of trails by length, and a list of trails by area. The book's table of contents is based on parks, it seems.

I do like little features like the page that shows what certain animal footprints look like, and I like the little anecdotal notes here and there. But, even though it's been updated it's still not a clean read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book for People in Bay Area, July 7, 2007

By 

S. Duan "wolfdancer" (Bay Area, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Book (Paperback)

We live in Bay Area and have been using 9th edition of this book for several years exploring Santa Cruz Mountains. It has been a great experience!

The book has a map of Santa Cruz Mountains at the beginning of it, with the parks marked on the map and the list of the park names. There are pictures for you to get an idea of the area, and very good educational description of the park.