Afoot and Afield in Los Angeles Country (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Los Angeles County sits astride one of the earth's most significant structural features-the San Andreas Fault..." (more)
Key Phrases: old firebreak, gated fire road, tall chaparral, Agency Difficulty, Distance Total, Los Angeles County (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The second edition of this popular book covers all of the county's open spaces. A total of 192 hikes-including 17 new ones-are described in detail with trips organized into specific areas. Illustrated; detailed maps.

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Wilderness Press; 2 edition (September 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0899972675
• ISBN-13: 978-0899972671
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #220,910 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful descriptions, but too wordy for use on the trail, June 7, 2002

By	Timothy C. Buchheim (Upland, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book covers most of the important hiking areas in Los Angeles County. There isn't room in the book for every hike at each of these areas (partly due to the long descriptions of the hikes which are in the book) but the author covers a good variety at each site, including most of the best hikes.

The descriptions of the hikes are wonderful (such as the mention of the "Darth Vader house" at Solstice Canyon) but are a bit too wordy to follow while on the trail.

You will definitely need a separate map, as the maps in this book are too small and lack necessary detail. For many of the shorter hikes in the Santa Monica Mountains or Griffith Park you can find nice maps in the book Day Hikes Around Los Angeles, which makes a nice companion to this book. For longer hikes, get a good topographical map. (Watch out, some of the USGS maps of the LA area are pretty bad, including many of the maps of the Santa Monica mountains.)

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars required for anyone wanting to hike in LA, November 27, 2000

By	Heidi Halsey (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

My sister got me this book when I first moved to LA and I was so excited after browsing the book that I made a goal to go on one of the listed hikes every other weekend. One of the hardest parts about hiking in LA is finding the trail. Afoot and Afield provides detailed driving instructions needed to reach the trailhead as well as directions once you are on the trail itself (which is very helpful considering sometimes the hike is not really even a trail). I often take the book with me on the hike to make sure I don't get lost. The book also lets you know what the best times of the year and the day (i.e. make sure to go at sunset) are for the specific hike and it estimates the difficulty and duration of the hike..which i've found to be quite accurate. Readers will be amazed at how many diverse & interesting hikes there are in LA. And it always is amazing how going on one of these hikes makes you totally forget that the big bustling city of LA is just minutes away. Keep this book away from friends though. You'll never get it back, they'll love it so much! In fact, you really can't be a hiker in LA without it.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy it, Keep it, Live by it, March 8, 2002

By A Customer

This book is indispensible to me. I moved down the LA area after living in a rural forested area of northern california for many years. Needless to say - I greatly missed the outdoors, and I got this book to get acquanted with my new surroundings. I try to go on a hike every other weekend, and right along with me is this rumpled, wrinkled, dogeared, inked-on book. There are hikes for everyone, some appropriate for children - some catering only to the experienced hiker, and everyone in between. So, wether I feel like going on a 2 mile hike - or a 12 mile hike....this book is straped to my daypack. The author has covered every hike in good detail - there are, of course, a few exceptions - but in general, the directions and writing are reliable. He also provides interesting histories of some trails, appropriate times of the year for maximum enjoyment, and little hints on things to pay attention to or watch out for. Buy this book - then get out and use it.