Customer Reviews

Guide to Southern California Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is very detailed and the content is excellent. There are two main flaws. The first, the quality of the book binding is some of the worst I have ever seen. Forget taking the book with you on the trail. I have now had two of these books and both times the book fell apart with casual use within the first two times of flipping through it for trails.
Although the appendix does give phone numbers for the forestry service offices for the various trail areas, the biggest problem is many of the trails in this book are closed indefinitely (more than just seasonal closures) according to the forestry offices. This is not a fault of the book, but a result of the southern california fires. The desert roads are mostly open, but forget the mountain and foothill routes for a while. Great book, but be aware before you buy that many of these routes are not legally accessible anymore.

Here's another great book from Charles Wells to make four-wheeling less a stressful shot in the dark and more fun. When you can put more of your attention on the `wheeling, the scenery and the companionship of friends and family, and less to not getting lost, the trip is always more enjoyable. I've used and reviewed all of Well's books and this one lives up to his usual high standard of accuracy, utility and value. In most cases, I've had a chance to take the book on a trip and spot check Well's work. I've almost given up trying to catch a mistake... because I haven't yet!. While I'm way too far east right now to spot check this time, I know parts of the area covered in this book very well and in those areas, I know he hit a bulls eye. The best part of Well's guides is the value for dollar. There's a lot of info packed into these books, from basic vehicle and trip prep, a primer on off-highway driving as well as specialized tips on the local areas. There's also a section on GPS and, of course, the maps and routes to some of the best four-wheeling SoCal has to offer. Guide to Southern California Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails is the fifth book by Wells on some of the best four-wheeling areas in the USA. May yours become as dog-eared and trail dusty as mine have become!

Very good book with easy to read maps and detailed information about the backcountry driving roads. The binding is terrible and the book starts to fall apart during the first use and deteriorates. After two returns, we resorted to buying a 3-ring binder, hole punched all the pages and use the book this way.

I agree with the other posters- the book is made very poorly. I used it one time and the binding fell apart. Jeep without a top and pages shooting off into the wind... The material inside was excellent

This is a great book for off-roading! My husband, our 2 golden retrievers and I have been on many of the trails. All the mileage markers are right on and easy to follow (especially if you have a GPS system). One MAJOR flaw in the book is it's terrible binding. Our first book literally fell apart on the second use, only held together by a big rubber band. I bought another one (is this the author's intention, you think?)and after receiving it, immediately took it to Kinko's where they spiral bound it for under $5.00 in just 5 minutes. It's even better than the original, because it will lay flat for easier use. I've purchased a total of 4 of these (for other off-roading friends!).

This book is great. I have gone to many of the places in the book since I bought it, many of which I did not even know about. The book makes the locations easy to find thanks to the listed GPS waypoints and you also know what to expect on the trails thanks to the information given.

This is a GREAT book. I have ridden on most of the trails, from Arrowhead, Big Bear to the Anza Borrego Dersert. With variety this wide, you can ride all year long, deserts in the winter, mountains in the summer. I have recommended this book to many other people who have purchased it and ridden with them on these trails and they have followed the book and gone on rides by themselves.
If you 4-wheel it or ride motorcycles make sure that you get a street legal motorcycle and buy this book.

I would give these books ten stars if I could! I think I own every book Charles Wells has published. The information contained in these books is definitely the best you can buy. The trail descriptions, maps and helpful tips are invaluable when you are out on the trail. We have certainly enjoyed putting these books to good use.

My two Colorado books and especially the Moab book are dog-eared and well worn from many happy days on the trails. I too was surprised when pages fell out of the California book. I called the 800 number listed in all of the books and was surprised when the author answered the phone. I can tell you he was genuinely embarrassed by the quality problems in this printing. He told me he has since changed printers and the way the books are bound. He immediately offered to send me a new copy from the new printing at no charge! I asked if he had ever thought about a spiral bound version. He liked the idea and sent me a custom-made spiral bound version, and only asked that I let him know what I thought.

Mr. Wells, I wanted to tell you publicly that your customer service is the best I have ever encountered! My navigator, who is also my wife, said she really likes the spiral bound version and she hopes you bring those out for all your books. Thank you again for all the beautiful places we have visited as a result of your wonderful books!

Have barely used, but have looked thru and really like it. I don't have any issues with the toughness of the book, it looks and feels just like any other paperback of it's size that I have. I guess time will tell whether it falls apart faster, I don't know. For the price (currently 16) I have no problem with the quality at all though. Recently I was out quad riding with the family in the Truckhaven area of Ocotillo Wells. We came across an older couple in a Jeep and talked to them for a bit. The guy was telling me about this book he had and he went and got it and sure enough it was the same book I just bought. He said he's been using it for years, which by the highlighting he had in it I didn't doubt. The structural quality of it seemed great, it was more used and flexible than my brand-new book but nothing was coming apart at all. I asked him about his experience with the trail accuracy and he said it's been great, he's had no problems at all. Now I'm sure he hasn't ridden every SoCal trail in this book and I don't doubt there are some issues with some of the trails, as other reviewers have stated, having changed some over the years. But he's clearly don't a lot of 4-wheel driving with it, especially in the Anza-Borrego area, and really liked the book. That made me feel very good about my purchase and I'll make sure to keep the book with me on our drives.

This guide has so many trails to explore! It is basically an endless number! I just hope it is up to date so we don't travel to a trail and find out it isn't there any more! But so far that hasn't happened.