The Ultimate Desert Handbook : A Manual for Desert Hikers, Campers and Travelers (Paperback)

by Mark Johnson (Author) "It had taken most of the day to climb it..." (more)
Key Phrases: roamer scales, hydration reservoirs, desert navigation, United States, North American, Sonoran Desert (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
...This is a reference book that people who want to be serious [desert] hikers should own in their collection." -- Judy Hedding, About.com

Product Description
The Ultimate Desert Handbook is the first truly comprehensive handbook on desert travel and exploration, presenting the desert not as an alien environment to be overcome or endured, but rather as a fascinating opportunity for anyone eager to learn about and enjoy a different kind of outdoors experience. Assuming no prior desert know-how, this detailed guide is intended for hikers, backpackers, campers, and 4WD vehicle travelers, along with a wide range of other adventure enthusiasts pursuing their chosen activities into the desert - rock climbers, birding enthusiasts, pilots, nature lovers, and wildlife/landscape photographers. Even dayhikers and occasional visitors to desert destinations will find the book easy to understand and extremely useful. The Ultimate Desert Handbook is packed with information and includes descriptions and histories of deserts around the world, a complete survey of the North American deserts, their indigenous peoples, plants, and wildlife; expert advice, including historical background and the latest technical developments in desert hiking, backpacking, camping, equipment, footwear, and clothing. Also included are chapters on desert mountain biking, first aid, wildlife observation & photography (including tips on film cameras, digicams, and night optics), desert hazards and survival, finding & treating water from all manner of desert sources, as well as preparing and using desert vehicles and animal transport. Last but not least is the most thorough section on desert navigation ever published - from using the stars to map, compass, sextant, and the Global Positioning System - and easy-to-follow advice on everything from selecting a low-impact campsite to signaling and rescue communications. * A Ragged Mountain Press Outdoors Paperback * 5½ × 8½ * 291pp * 80 photos and illustrations.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press; 1 edition (March 26, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 007139303X
• ISBN-13: 978-0071393034
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #335,619 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dry Topic  This is NOT!, August 15, 2003

By	Troy A. Lettieri "Professional Warrior" (NC, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the only book you will ever need for desert survival in any desert around the globe. It covers introductions to the world's deserts, with emphasis on North American deserts. The book covers general skills pertaining to desert survival (Water, shelter, food, navigation etc.) and also has sections on desert hiking, biking and photography that were good for the novice and refresher for the expert. The chapter on desert transportation was excellent and a subject often over looked in similar titles. Over all I found the book to be quite good for the novice hiker to experienced desert dwellers like extreme adventures and military types.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's the best desert hiking and survival book.., July 20, 2006

By	Terry Nathan (Santa Fe, New Mexico) - See all my reviews

The Ultimate Desert Handbook is the best book on desert hiking and survival I have found, and I have read them all. That's not just my opinion, but also that of all my friends who like to backpack and hike in the desert. Unlike other books that claim to cover the subject of desert hiking and survival, this one actually does so. Water, acclimatizing the body, clothing and equipment, navigation, backpacks and gear, information on different deserts of the world - nothing is left out.

Johnson's book is actually both well-written and very well organized, with the most important aspects, such as finding water, trip planning, etc. in the first chapters, progressing in order. The criticism of the book as somehow biased towards vehicle travel is completely off-base, and makes me wonder how carefully the critic read the material. It has a single solitary chapter on desert vehicles and preparing them for desert conditions (makes sense, because unlike other places, you may have to drive for miles through remote, waterless areas just to get to the trailhead!). In fact, the book is primarily oriented towards hikers and backpackers - probably 250 of the book's 296 pages are devoted to the subject - especially those preparing for treks in remote desert. The book actually covers a wide range of subjects - adapting to different desert conditions, trip planning, backpacking and camping gear, desert first aid, snakes and other hazards, and it has the best chapter on pathfinding and navigation (read: staying alive) in the desert I've found to date.

As to gear and equipment, the author does take space to provide suggestions on advantages and disadvantages of many items, including the newer methods of water purification, ultralight equipment, GPS receivers, water storage, Camelbaks, and so on. But rather than the usual generic discussion, the information is nicely geared to desert hiking: in the case of drinking tube systems, right down to the need to insulate one's drinking tube and choose light-reflecting colors, a tip omitted by other books. I personally found all of this very useful information, and I can't see how it possible how learning something about one's gear for such a different environment as a desert could be either impractical or frivolous. The author did probably assume the reader is intelligent enough to realize that you can't possibly bring everything along, and to make one's own choices regarding total pack weight. Suggestions are just that, not everyone will agree with them, but such is life. For myself, I'd certainly want to know the practical applications and limitations of various types of gear and clothing, especially as they apply to desert hiking. If you don't like it, you can skip the chapter - doh! I find it very strange that anyone could condemn a desert travel book with a single-star rating because it allegedly reviews 'too much' equipment, then criticize it yet again with the trivial complaint that the book left out the manufacturer's address for one's preferred brand of compass. Bizarre.

I found the Ultimate Desert Handbook to be the first desert hiking book I've read that acknowledges the differences between the major U.S. desert regions AND provides information throughout the book useful to each desert region, not to mention other deserts of the world. This material is provided throughout the book, and is NOT limited to the brief descriptions in the introductory chapter. This is significant, as many hiking books that purport to deal with desert travel or survival base a lot of their material on experiences gained from one particular desert, guidance that isn't always applicable to others.

There's a lot of material here I've never found in other desert survival books (or nature 'walking' guides for that matter), and that includes the U.S. Army and Air Force survival manuals. For instance, I've always read that barrel cactus may be used for water in an emergency - but was surprised to learn that there are several look-alike subspecies with pulp that are poisonous or sickening, something the Native Americans knew but apparently the Air Force doesn't, so this book tells how to identify them, just in case. Many books tell you about the solar survival still and transpiration bag, but the author takes care to point out their fatal flaws. You can find information in this book I've never seen in any other hiking book that could only be of value to someone walking long distances in the desert: how to work primitive, wind, or solar-powered windmills, find directions from winds and eroded rocks, siphon water out of a covered aqueduct, hide a water cache, hike lava fields or sand dunes, find directions from desert tracks and trails, treat desert blindness, or perform first aid for arterial bleeding. Again, not something you're likely to find in the Audubon guides. Although the book isn't strictly a desert survival text, it's no surprise to see that it's very popular with park rangers, thru-hikers, desert expedition members, and those familiar with extreme desert travel.

Now, there are some things the book isn't, which is obvious to anyone who bothers to look over the chapter titles. It isn't a nature guide to desert flora and fauna - beyond telling you which plants, animals, and insects can hurt or help you, which is the point of the book. For example, we get extensive advice on avoiding potential injury from rattlesnakes (individualized to species where necessary), while learning there's no need to stomp on the local tarantula that comes close to your campfire. The book does takes care to demonstrate the fragility of the desert environment where indicated and provides advice on low-impact hiking and camping. This duality may bother some people used to strict genres such as 'hiking book', 'survival book', etc., but not to fear - it's all seamlessly integrated into a comprehensive guide to desert hiking, survival and travel. And since the book deals with BOTH desert hiking and desert survival, it teaches not only what to do in case of disaster, but how to prevent disasters in the first place through preparation, acquisition of expertise, and development of one's hiking and pathfinding skills. The book also isn't a long, novelistic narrative of one man's voyage of discovery and personal growth, so it could hardly be criticized for not including such material (how anyone could mistake it for such a book is baffling to me). The author is more concerned with providing objective information (as he should be in this type of book) to the reader rather than an homage to Ed Abbey, great a novelist as he was.

So, if you're a big-city dweller just looking for a good winter read, or the Latin scientific appellation for the local deer mouse, you'll need to go somewhere else. But if you need the best desert hiking and survival guide, this is it.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A hot book!, February 28, 2004

By	Candace Scott (Lake Arrowhead, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

I am a hiker, so I looked at the book from a hiking perspective and found it excellent. It is by far the best hiking book I've seen that specifically addresses the unique rigors of being in the heat for lengthy periods. Johnson has a nice little ranking system for each journey, from ranges from one star for easy treks and 4 stars for the strenuous ones. I do think his ranking system is just a trifle soft. Some of the hikes that get 4 stars aren't really that difficult, nor do they have exceptional elevation gains. But this is a minor criticism.

The bext part of the book is the descriptions of how brutal heat can wither the human body. Johnson gives helpful tips on how to protect your skin, face and eyes from the ravaging effects of the sun. I once hiked 24 miles Rim to Rim in one day in the Grand Canyon without sun glasses and can attest how vicious an experience that was on the eyes. He also stresses that you'll need a minimum of one gallon of water, per person, per hour when you're in 100+ degree temperatures. Many scoff and say, "That is too much water!" Believe me, it isn't.

All in all, a good book and one which every desert hiker or desert fan should own.