A template that should be followed by all hiking guidebooks

books:

	• 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Seattle: Including Bellevue, Everett, and Tacoma (60 Hikes - Menasha Ridge) Bryce Stevens, Andrew Weber Menasha Ridge Press, 2006 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Unexpected Guidebook Gem

The other day I found myself in the passenger seat of my own car for an extended trip. Miles from nowhere with not much left to talk about and nothing but scratchy country music on the radio I noticed the guidebook I had received as a gift, stashed in the sidepocket and promptly forgotten. Raised on the Mountainers "100 Hikes" series, I knew guidebooks to be invaluable on the trail, but as reading material dryer than Central Oregon scree in mid-August.

As I thumbed the pages of "60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Seattle," I quickly moved from bored to engaged to engrossed. This book was good! In addition to finding dozens of previously overlooked trails within a short drive of my Seattle home, I learned many new and fascinating details about the places I've been hiking for years. The trail descriptions are accurate and appropriately detailed. The navigational instruction are clear and include useful visual landmarks in addition to the usual distance cues. What's best though, is that into the brief trail write-ups Weber and Stevens manage to weave bits of local history, trivia and entertaining lore that greatly enhance the hiking experience. I even found myself reading several sections aloud to my travelling companion. Finally, the authors also understand that sometimes the best hiking tip is not the trail itself, but the location of the local frosty mug or renowned double deluxe burger at trails end!

Whether you are new in town, just visiting, or a soggy Seattle native like myself, "60 Hikes" makes a great addition to your recreation library.

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Fantastic book

This is one of the best books I have found for the newbie hiker in seattle. If you have a GPS it is even better as you can just the coordinates in the book to find the starting point for each hike. The Maps are great! The descriptions are great!

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Good content, but presentation could be much better

What I like:

* I love how it features hikes *within* Seattle, Kirkland and Bellevue. Many guidebooks skip hikes within the city altogether. The one you can kayak to is pretty neat! I expect that these trails will be good for the colder months, when trails in the Cascades are snowed out. I'm looking forward to using this book more and more later in the year.

* The descriptions are quite thorough. The details help me visualize the hike, and this can be motivating sometimes. This has some cons though -- see below.

* It has a section for nearby activities. I find that useful when planning side trips/activities.

* It provides the GPS coordinates of the trailhead.

What I don't like:

* Each page has a header that is a black area with white text. On the left page it says "{hike #} 60 hikes within 60 miles" and on the right side, "Seattle including Bellevue, Everett and Tacoma". I think this space could be used better if it displayed the name of the hike and the general area instead of the same text over and over.

* Key at-a-glance information is shown in a black box with small white text. This information is quite important to me when deciding which hike to do, and I would rather have it in a more readable form. Better yet, have it in a form that I can actually digest "at a glance" (!) instead of having to read the small white-on-black text. Other guidebooks show some of this information graphically, with stars or hiker icons to indicate difficulty and/or rating. At the very least, I think the font should be the same size as the descriptive text.

* Driving directions and GPS coordinates are printed as black text over a light/dark gray background. Bad contrast!

* The descriptive text is loooong. I appreciate that sometimes, but I it's too verbose for my taste. The font size is rather small, which for me makes reading the description even less appealing.

* Whether or not dogs are allowed is also in the description text. Since I have a dog, I'd like to know this immediately, so again, I think it should be displayed more prominently.

* It would be nice if it had a topographical map for the longer trails. I find it hard to reconstruct the lie of the land from the map and the elevation graph, especially since the map doesn't have mile markers along the representation of the hike's trail. [Yes, I have my own topo map of the entire area, but a small one that I can carry with the trail description is convenient as a adjunct to a larger map.]

All things considered, I have mixed feelings about this book. It has good content, but I think there are better ones out there. Call me superficial, but I'm a weekend hiker, and the difference between an engaging/beautiful versus so-so/mediocre presentation can have a big effect on my enthusiasm for a particular hike :)

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Awesome

An awesome book, very detailed descriptions, good maps, elevation profiles with every trip, GPS, driving instructions. This is far better than all the mountaineers books. Go get a copy today.

A template that should be followed by all hiking guidebooks

The structure and organization of this books is really stunning and authors haven't left anything to complain about. This is one of very few books which has complete elevation profile for each hike instead of just elevation gain. The hiking maps are actually useful and well marked with all points of interests. Best of all, each hike contains GPS coordinates which I'm so pleased to have because wordy descriptions just doesn't cut it all the time. The descriptions long but actually useful instead like in other books where authors love to write them in painful and poor artistic styles. Each hike contains small B&W low quality photo which are usually OK and not always represents the best view from the trail. I also own 55 Hikes Around Snoqualmie Pass: Mountains to Sound Greenway (100 Hikes In...) and given choice between two I will prefer this one because of its superb structure and organization plus modern details such as GPS coordinates.

I think this book should be template for all other hiking guidebooks out there.

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reviews: page 1, 2

Seattle is home to a wealth of fabulous hikes, and 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Seattle shows you the best of the best. There are few places anywhere that can match the varied landscape of Western Washington, and 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Seattle is the perfect guide to it all. From the heights of the Cascade Range to the shores of Puget Sound, local hikes explore ancient trees, thundering waterfalls, towering peaks, and ice-clad volcanoes, some of the most enduring symbols of the region. But 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Seattle also leads to many lesser-known but equally accessible and spectacular destinations, including high bluffs and tide pools along the Pacific, abandoned mines and railways that explore Washington's rich pioneer history, and even stands of old-growth forest well inside the Seattle city limits. From short walks in neighborhood parks to epic mountain treks, 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Seattle has something for everyone, on some of the best trails the Pacific Northwest has to offer.

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