Customer Reviews

Scenic Driving Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, 2nd (Scenic Driving Series)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

We used this book every day we were in Yellowstone. It was such a help in planning each day, knowing where to stop, what to expect in terms of how long hikes were, finding restaurants and shops, etc. I would read the information about each place aloud to the kids, which helped pass the time between stops. One word of caution, though. We are not the type of family that does a lot of hiking, camping, climbing, etc. We did find that some of her descriptions of the difficulty of the hikes and trails were a bit underestimated. Between the heat and the altitude, this is important to keep in mind! Other than that, I think this is a must have!

I had never been to Yellowstone, had limited time and wanted to see it all. This book prepared me for EVERYTHING - with great maps of small sections of the grand loop, and what to expect along the way, it made planning the trip a breeze! I will look for more of these guides whenever I travel to parks, etc. "Don't leave home without it!"

This second edition adds two new drives, and updated information from the 1999 edition.

Most surprising, for a guidebook, is the intimacy of tone, and enthusiasm for the parks and the beauty of the surrounding areas.

This book contains substantial, and well researched information on the historical, geological and natural features of the parks, and the tone is that of a close and intimate friend, sitting in your passenger seat, pointing out the window and exclaiming, "Hey! Look at that!"

Far from the staid and removed tone of many guidebooks, this book is truly an "Insiders' Guide," and makes me want to check out the other books in the series.

After reading the reviews for this book, I purchased it as I went on a quick tour through Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. I was very disappointed. The trips are listed from point-to-point around the Grand Loop. However, if you are driving the loop in the opposite direction, the book is very difficult to follow. It doesn't give driving distances for the points of interest. The book gives an estimated driving time from one (i.e. Mammoth to Old Faithful) to another, and mentions some points of interest along the way, but the reader is left to guess where along the drive it might be.

Be aware that the park access fees have changed since the book was printed. Other than that, I did not notice any major discrepancies.

Another minor gripe is that none of the pictures are in color, but are clearly color photos printed to black and white. For the price of the book, they should be in color; heck, even the Lonely Planet series uses color pictures. If not using artistic or color photos, I'd rather have more substance to the book itself.

I always travel with multiple guides and was glad that I did, especially for the Yellowstone portion of the trip, and would recommend the "Yellowstone Treasures Travelers Companion" instead. It had the same or more information than this book, listed mileage to each point of interest from either direction, and had color photos.

http://www.amazon.com/Yellowstone-Treasures-Travelers-Companion-National/dp/0970687311/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213397462&sr=1-1

For those interested in viewing the parks and surrounding areas by vehicle, this book is a good resource. The book lists 28 different driving tours in and around Yellowstone and Grand Teton National parks. Each tour provides a general description along with driving time, attractions, and points of interest.

Does a nice job of breaking down the drives between points of interest inside the parks.

Thorough coverage of the Yellowstone/Grand Teton area....but, unless if you're someone who plans to do a lot of driving tours, I'm not sure that you couldn't find the same information on the Internet.

I used this guide extensively on a 3-day drive through both parks. It's packed with information and is well written and organized. Highly recommended.

This book is OK for the main roads in Yellowstone and the Tetons. I had hoped for more of the "off the main track" roads. You can get most of the info here from free brochures and park literature. But it is well written and fairly complete. If you just want to travel the Grand Loop with all the other tourists, it will guide you. If you want to find a little wilderness, you need to find another guide to driving the back roads (or just get the hiking books and save the gas!)

If this is your first visit to the parks, a helpful guide through the roads of the area, as well as some photo spots.

The format of this book made it almost worthless. It is a narrative text for designated drives. You cannot use it for shopping which sights you want to see. Fortunately, we purchased more than one book for our trip. We recommend Frommer's Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks, which we used very heavily. It is now full of underlines, notes, and highlights, and it is a good souvenir. We threw Scenic Driving away; it was not worth the trouble to send back to Amazon.

Great book and recommend to anyone wanting to get the most from the Yellowstone/ Teton parks. So many areas look unimpressive from the road, but get out of the car in as many areas as possible and you will be greatly rewarded. The book also gives many worth while short detours from main road that are spectacular.