West Virginia Hiking Trails, 2nd: Hiking the Mountain State [Paperback]

Allen de Hart (Author)

Book Description

Series: AMC Hiking Guide Series | Publication Date: September 1, 1997

NORTH CAROLINA HIKING TRAILS

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

West Virginia offers breathtaking wilderness and some of the best hiking in the East. Tucked away among the hills and valleys are uncrowded trails, natural gardens, cool cascading streams, and geological treasures. This book is the only comprehensive trail guide available for the Mountain State, with completely updated descriptions of more than 500 trails and nearly 2,000 miles, including the 300-mile transstate Allegheny Trail.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Appalachian Mountain Club Books; 2nd edition (September 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1878239562
• ISBN-13: 978-1878239563
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,106,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #13 in Books > Travel > United States > States > West Virginia

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Comprehensive Guide to West Virginia Hiking, May 22, 2003

By 

David Prager "redhawk" (Winterville, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: West Virginia Hiking Trails, 2nd: Hiking the Mountain State (Paperback)

If I were to choose one word to sum up this book, it would be "quantity." Allen states that he describes over 500 trails, and though I did not count them, that number sounds about right. Trail length ranges from about 1 mile to overnight backpack trips. Some background information is provided for each area, and a brief trail description (usually one paragraph) is provided. Maps are provided for the national forest lands (about half the hikes) but not for state parks or other land. The book is pocket-sized so that it can be carried easily on hikes. No matter how much hiking you have done in West Virginia, you will certainly find some destination in here you have not been.

Unfortunately, to fit 500 trails into 350 pages, something has to be omitted, and in this case what is omitted is details. I already mentioned the lack of maps, but many of the trail descriptions are nothing more than directions for walking. Few insights are given as to what will be seen on the trail. This lack of detail combined with a lack of trail summary (a table listing all the trails in the book) make it very hard to choose a trail to hike.

In summary, if you are looking for a comprehensive trail guide to the state of West Virginia, this is definitely the book for you. If you are looking for the best hiking West Virginia has to offer, this guide will help only slightly. Despite its shortcomings, this is still the best guide to West Virginia hiking on the market. It should be considered by those planning a hiking trip to the Mountain state.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good info, Some things missing, April 6, 2001

By 

[e-mail] (Lawrence, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: West Virginia Hiking Trails, 2nd: Hiking the Mountain State (Paperback)

This book has excellent information on a large number of trails in the Mountain State. The descriptions are detailed and, on the trails I followed, are very accurate. However, little attention is paid to summit data such as elevations, directions for side trips to reach summits, etc. As a person who is interested in "peak bagging", I was somewhat disappointed. There are about 173 summits in West Virginia over 4,000 feet and there is almost no reference to this attribute. This book is essential and has a tremendous amount of useful information, but does not go far enough.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything you need to know, July 9, 2009

By 

William E. Liberatore (Bridgeport, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: West Virginia Hiking Trails, 2nd: Hiking the Mountain State (Paperback)

If you are into trails... this is the book you need for West Virginia... everything from how to get there to what you can expect on the trail. I know Mr. DeHart personally and he walked every inch of every trail that he wrote about.