Foghorn Outdoors: California Hiking: The Complete Guide to More Than 1,000 of the Best Hikes (Paperback)

by Tom Stienstra (Author), Ann Marie Brown (Author) "Can't decide where to hike this weekend?..." (more)
Key Phrases: Tom Harrison Maps, Lake Tahoe, Mount Shasta (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
There are few corners of California in which Tom Stienstra has not set Vibram-soled foot at one time or another.

In this information-packed guidebook, the longtime San Francisco Chronicle outdoors columnist catalogues the best (and the rest) of the Golden State's trails, combining his encyclopedic knowledge with that of another accomplished trekker, Ann Marie Brown. The two cover more than a thousand hikes that range from short jaunts to multiday expeditions, rating each walk for length and difficulty and providing notes on water sources, points of interest, permits, contacts, and other useful data. At the most demanding end of the scale, for example, is a 14-mile scramble up Mount Shasta, for which they recommend that you carry an ice ax and crampons; on the moderate side is the 10.6-mile ramble through Pine Valley, in the coastal mountains above Big Sur, with "an up-and-down course that soon becomes more down than up"; and on the easy end is a 1.2-mile round-trip amble along the Desert View Nature Trail near the summit of Southern California's Laguna Mountain. In every instance, Stienstra and Brown tell what you can expect to see and where you're likely to encounter trouble in the form of storms, predatory mammals, or crowds.

Thoroughly updated, this is by far the best single source of information on planning a hiking trip in California. --Gregory McNamee --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
Meticulously researched and smartly written, Foghorn Outdoors offers some of the best recreation guides around.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 900 pages
• Publisher: Avalon Travel Publishing; 6th edition (March 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566914876
• ISBN-13: 978-1566914871
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #382,009 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great detailed information, April 24, 2000

By	"nadir80" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Foghorn Outdoors: California Hiking (Paperback)

I've used this book a few times when back home from college, and I was really surprised to see that it included trails I always thought minor or didn't consider to be "trails." This book is so thorough! I most recently used it as a reference when I was in Yosemite, and the description listed side-trips and very clear information about what to expect (landmarks, bridges, etc.) at the top of the Yosemite Falls trail, things I otherwise would have overlooked had I just followed the trail signs. The book generously estimated 6 hours round trip, and it took me that amount, with a nap and lunch included. The difficulty and time estimates are accurate, I think. This is a great book because it's really easy to find something that's just right (a suitable distance/time/difficulty) in whatever area you may be in. There is even some cross-referencing, so that multi-day backpacking trips can be planned by linking up several trails.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Decent list of hikes, but some bad information, June 18, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Foghorn Outdoors California Hiking: The Complete Guide to More Than 1,000 of the Best Hikes (Foghorn Outdoors Sereis) (Paperback)

This is probably the most comprehensive listing of hikes in California, but it's not without its flaws. First of all, the authors have clearly not updated information on all of the hikes. The 2001 edition, for example, gives an extensive description of a hike through Bear Gulch Caves in Pinnacles National Monument. As anyone who's been to the park knows, these caves have been closed for over four years. The book's cover claims it's been updated, but, given this glaring error, it's likely that there are other hikes for which it's best to independently verify the information.

Second, there are many places in California that the authors skip over. For example, there are no hikes listed in the Dome Land Wilderness in the Southern Sierra, except for the section of the Pacific Crest Trail that goes there.

Third, while the book does list hikes across the state, it doesn't have any trail maps. While I know that adding trail maps would make the book much longer, it would also make it more useful. As it is, some of the trail maps are very hard to get a hold of.

So, while still worth buying for its coverage of hikes across the state, this book could have been much better.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rating very accurate and reliable!, February 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: California Hiking: The Complete Guide to 1,000 of the Best Hikes in the Golden State (Foghorn Outdoors: California Hiking) (Paperback)

Too bad this guide is not available for other regions. When traveling into Northern California I found the hiking scale for difficulty & view to be very accurate. I really appreciated the User Group section, which let me know where I could take my dogs (they like to hike too). Excellent guide & I hope more are to be coming.