Utah's National Parks: Hiking, Camping, and Vacationing in Utah's Canyon Country : Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The national parks of Utah, despite their arid-to-semiarid climates, high temperatures in summer and bitter cold in winter, lack of dependable precipitation, and poorly developed..." (more)
Key Phrases: shrub live oak, bench trail, greenleaf manzanita, Navajo Sandstone, Capitol Reef, Salt Creek (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you are planning a tour of Utah's national parks, this guide should prove handy if not essential. It includes easy strolls and multiday backbreakers for Bryce, Capital Reef, Arches, Canyonlands, and Zion. In all, it describes 123 hikes in a user-friendly format. Easy-to-read info blips provide data for hike distances, elevations, difficulty ratings, hazards, and in-seasons. Each hike also includes an ample route description and a few tips thrown in for good measure. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches, and Canyonlands offer remote and unspoiled wilderness and perhaps the finest backcountry recreation in the nation. Detailed descriptions of 125 hikes, ranging from brief strolls to demanding, cross-country backpack treks. All are shown on topographic route maps.

Product Details

• Paperback: 422 pages
• Publisher: Wilderness Press; 2 edition (January 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 089997242X
• ISBN-13: 978-0899972428
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #136,605 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hikes for evey level of experience, May 27, 2002

By A Customer

We have just returned from hiking & camping in Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Arches And Canyonlands (Island in the Sky area), and found this book to be one of the best of any guide book we have used (over 30 years of hiking). The hike descriptions were so interesting I read them again after doing the hike! The description of how one gets to the trailhead in in a separate section titled "driving to the trailheads", which may cause problems for individuals who don't read scan through the chapters first before deciding on a hike. We found the descriptions of the trees and plantlife on each trail very useful and I would not hesitate to buy another of Ron Atkinson's guide books, they are obviously very well researched.

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Wow- Beg, steal or borrow another guidebook, May 21, 2001

By	"ryang74" (Glen Ellyn, IL US) - See all my reviews

Just back from a 9 day backpacking trip in Utah, using both this book and Adkison's book on Escalante. It left me with poor trail descriptions, (scarily) poor or wholly incorrect maps, and an "interesting" (read: madman-style insane) style of giving directions to trailheads. I am by no means new to the outdoors, nor to getting to remote trailheads, routefinding, etc; I can say with a degree of confidence that this is the poorest guidebook I have ever purchased. The second star is given for his "reccomended" hikes, which were, on the whole, generally right on.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but trying to cover too many areas, January 29, 2007

By	S. Culberson - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This was a decent guide book, but it really tried to cover too many parks at once. It seems like it covers more family type day hikes and not a lot of backcountry and backpacking trails. We used it to plan hikes in Zion National park and Canyonlands - Needles District. The book recommended a hike in Canyonlands National park that did turn out to be awesome (Chesler Park/Elephant Canyon to Druid Arch).

We also used it to plan a hike to the Subway in Zion. In this case, I wish it had given more detail, as we ended up a little over our heads on this hike. The water was a LOT higher than we expected based on the pics we had seen and information we had. Apparently, the water levels tend to be higher in April due to snow runoff. If the book had given more information, we probably would have never attempted the hike at that time of year to begin with. Oh well, I guess you live and learn, right?

In conclusion, I would recommend this to anyone who is planning to visit one or more of the parks for a short period and wants to hit the hightlights. If you want a more in depth hiking trip to one of the parks, I would recommend getting a more detailed guide book specific to that park.