Customer Reviews

Top Trails Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks: Must-Do Hikes for Everyone (Top Trails: Must-Do Hikes)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I live about 90 miles from Jackson and 100 from West Yellowstone, so I go to both parks a lot. As a teacher, I have my summers to go camp and hike from time to time, and I just got back from a trip today. While at Lake Hotel, I chanced on this book, and bought it. This was yesterday. The book has 45 different trails in it to hike in Yellowstone and the Tetons (though most are in Yellowstone). I went ahead and hiked one yesterday (Elephant Back) and got a great view of Yellowstone Lake. The directions were very clear and there were guide-points along the route in the book so I knew just where I was. The book even mentioned this is Grizzly habitat in the spring/early summer, and sure enough, when I got down from the hike, there was a bear. This kind of information could be a lifesaver to the inexperienced Yellowstone or Teton hiker. Today, I hiked two more hikes in the book, one short one at West Thumb and a longer one at Biscuit Basin up to a waterfall and overlook. This book is very easy to use, has great maps, grades the difficulty of each hike, and has a variety from hikes under a mile to hikes of over twenty that take several days. My goal, using this excellent book, is to hike them all in a year or so. Great photos, durable cover, great maps. This is the perfect book for locals or for tourists who come often or who are planning a two to three week stay. I would not think it would be good for someone visiting for a day or two, as you could not scratch the surface of this gold mine of information. Two thumbs up!

Yep, there are lots of hiking guides out there for Yellowstone and the Tetons. Too many, in fact. Most of them seem to be focused on quantity, not quality. They simply list trail after trail, but lack detail and advice about how to choose a great hike that matches your tastes and fitness level. After comparing this Wilderness Press guide to the Falcon book and others, I found it to be the most useful and compact. And my on-trail testing this summer has proved my hunch true. It's very specific about which hikes are the best during which seasons, and which trails are the best for avoiding crowds and seeing wildlife. There are good individual maps for each hike, many quality b&w photos, plus lots of background and historical information. For a serious visit, I'd still recommend picking up a guidebook like the Lonely Planet, as well, but for hiking and backpacking, take it from Ramblin' Bob, this is the most up-to-date and best darn guide to Yellowstone and the Tetons available.

If you are headed to Yellowstone and/or the Grand Tetons, and you plan getting out of your car, then this is the book you want.

It is current, the information is correct and complete. Nystrom, a veteran writer (Lonely Planet Guides), writes clearly and with the authority that only a seasoned outdoorsman can bring to the pages of a book. His book is the result of careful research and time in the field. So, get your gear together, buy this book and head to Yellowstone ot the Tetons.

We just spent a couple days in the park with this book and would highly recommend it to anyone planning to hike in the park. It has an excellent chart in the front of the book that quickly tells you everything you need to know before chosing a trail. It outlines details about the trail including the possibility of wildlife sightings. This chart helped us decide which trails would be good for the little kids and which ones we would have to do alone. We found the descriptions of the trails to be accurate and packed with info about the flora and fauna we saw along the way. I am sure we'll use this book again and again. This book helped us experience the wilderness of a traffic-packed park.

This book well-deserved to win the National Outdoor Book Award. The books has a great deal of detailed information on each of the 45 trails included in the book. This information was great to help plan a trip to the national parks, matching hikers with hikes of appropriate difficulty.

Yep, there are lots of hiking guides out there for Yellowstone and the Tetons. Too many, in fact. Most of them seem to be focused on quantity, not quality. They simply list trail after trail, but lack detail and advice about how to choose a great hike that matches your tastes and fitness level. After comparing this Wilderness Press guide to the Falcon book and others, I found it to be the most useful and compact. And my on-trail testing this summer has proved my hunch true. It's very specific about which hikes are the best during which seasons, and which trails are the best for avoiding crowds and seeing wildlife. There are good individual maps for each hike, many quality b&w photos, plus lots of background and historical information. For a serious visit, I'd still recommend picking up a guidebook like the Lonely Planet, as well, but for hiking and backpacking, take it from Ramblin' Bob, this is the most up-to-date and best darn guide to Yellowstone and the Tetons available.

First of all, this is a GREAT book.

I just want other readers to know that 3/4's of this book, if not more, is on Yellowstone hikes. I would have loved more hikes on Tetons - at least half and half...which is what I was expecting when buying this book.

Very easy to read. Appreciated the information of levels of fitness needed for each hike.

Wilderness Press made its name in outdoor publishing by focusing on the High Sierra of California and later the rest of the Golden State. Their "Top Trails" series similarly is focused almost entirely on California. But if any wilderness area is deserving of coverage in the Top Trails series, the greater Yellowstone ecosystem has to be included. Now in its second edition and with a single author, this book gives you a quick overview of some of the best hikes in both Yellowstone and neighboring Grand Teton National Parks.

The Top Trails series does not aim to be comprehensive. Rather, this book is designed to list the best trails from short "family friendly" day hikes to longer overnight excursions. In the category of the former, almost all of the really popular hikes in the park are included here: Mammoth Hot Springs, Observation Point view of Old Faithful, Artist Paint Pots, Tower Falls and the fossil forest all get full write ups. If you hike any of these trails, you will also share them with hundreds of others on any given summer afternoon. This is not necessarily a bad thing: these places are popular for a reason. Slightly longer treks up Washburn peak, and hikes to various waterfalls also appear in this book and several very long day hikes (or overnight backpack trips) are featured. In all, it is a good selection. Distances, natural features, and wildlife viewing are all equally balanced.

My only complaints about the book are that several of the hikes are one way affairs requiring a shuttle. Shuttle hikes are fine, but if you are traveling any great distance to Yellowstone you will not be bringing two cars and hitch hiking is not all that easy. Also, the hike selection discusses fishing a lot. I'm good with that. Indeed, during my three summers in Yellowstone, I went fishing every chance I could. But I would have included the hike to Cascade and Grebe lake in this volume because of the opportunity to catch (and release) a unique Grayling found only in these lakes in the park. Still, this is a fine book. Reading it, I found myself remembering adventures from years ago and wondering when I would be able to schedule another visit.

This is a really good trail book for Yellowstone and the Tetons, but I wonder if maybe the writter is holding back on more secluded or backwoodsy, if you will, trails? I feel these same trails are pretty much in all the books I have read. The thing that puts this one in the lime light is the fact that it has pretty much all the trails in one book. I find it handy that I only need to tote one guide book, instead of three, with me on the trail. I would like to say thank you, Andrew, for the details your book puts forth!