Category: books and magazines

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Sprawson – Overland Track

A new guidebook for our favourite trail in Australia.

The Overland Track: Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair

by Warwick Sprawson

details on Red Dog Books. ($39.99) Check also the website for the book.

Just the other day I recommended the classic hiking guidebook for The Overland by Chapman. About half the price.

On the other hand, this new competitor by Sprawson garnered some praise from Frank in Oz. His site is definitely the best source of information on the Overland, online.

In fact, you might simply want to download Frank’s Overland eBook, and refer to that PDF from your mobile device. It’s also less expensive than Sprawson.

All good options.

Check our Overland Track information page. It’s one of the top 10 treks in the world.

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best hiking guidebooks

by site editor Rick McCharles

I’ve updated this list, my first revision since 2007.

At besthike we are assessing hiking guidebooks all the time. Most are poor: too much dense text, lousy maps, too few photos and graphics.

The worst of the worst are lists of dozens of hikes in a region with a short summary of each. There is no recommendation on “best hikes” because the author has (presumably) not walked them all.

Sadly, there’s no shortage of bad hiking guidebooks.

How do you find the BEST hiking guidebooks?

We often START by looking at the Lonely Planet walking guides.

Lonely Planet books are brilliantly succinct, have great maps and a high standard of quality control. And from the LP website you can buy just specific chapters as PDFs, if you wish.
And in some cases, the Lonely Planet guide is the best available. As an example, Lonely Planet Trekking in the Patagonian Andes.

The very best hiking guidebooks we’ve seen are the newest editions of Chapman’s guides to Australia.

Overland Track and Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair

The Overland Track guide, for example: 64 pages, 48 colour photos, 9 colour topographic maps, costs only A$17.95 including tax. Chapman is the undisputed expert on the region.

Chapman wrote the first editions of the Lonely Planet guides in Australia, later deciding to self-publish along with his wife and other co-authors. These guidebooks are near perfect, both informational and inspirational. Elevation profiles, history, climate, vegetation, geology, wildlife.

Other “best” guidebooks that come to mind include Blisters and Bliss, the beloved, venerable guidebook to the West Coast Trail. It uses humour to best effect.

The most compact format for a guidebook is published by Rucksack: waterproof, lightweight, open-flat with built-in map. (Exploring the Inca Trail, for example.)

But the VERY best format WAS The Canadian Rockies SuperGuide, by Graeme Pole, which WAS offered in a 3-ring binder (with a plastic sleeve for carrying only those pages you need).

It’s no longer available in the binder form. These days I’m back to photocopying the pages I need from his newest edition (2011).

Do you have a favourite guidebook? If so, leave a comment below.

… The future, obviously, is digital.

I’ve just bought a new iPod Touch (no GPS) and will be experimenting with Apps and other digital guides this season.

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disappointed by Greg Mortenson

If you saw the 60 Minutes piece (VIDEO) on author Greg Mortenson, you’ll be saddened and disappointed too.

… Krakauer, and others, say that Mortenson has embellished some of the details of his story to make them sound more dramatic and impressive. That some of the things he claims happened to him in his books are, at best, stretches of the truth, and at worst, outright fabrications.

There are even some indications that the funds that are raised by CAI are not being spent properly and that the organization lacks transparency in how it operates. …

I’m not at all convinced by Greg’s response to the charge as published by Outside – Greg Mortenson Speaks

Greg Mortenson is finished. What a setback to a great cause.

(via The Adventure Blog)

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West Coast Trail guide FREE

Well …

not FREE. But rather by donation.

The West Coast Trail in British Columbia is our #1 hike in the world. It will change your life.

Here’s a resource you shouldn’t miss, a quality PDF publication of Hike Bike Travel:

This guide answers some of the most important questions about the West Coast Trail …before you begin.

• If this is actually the trail for you
• Which trailhead you want to begin with
• How many days you want to spend on the trail
• accommodation and transportation pre and post trip
• What to pack
• Meal suggestions
• Total costs

It’s all good. But the most useful section for those planning a future WCT adventure are suggested itineraries.

The ‘issue’ on this trek is deciding on transport to and from remote trailheads: Port Renfrew and Bamfield.

To do that you need guestimate how many days you’ll need to complete the challenging 75 kilometre (45 mile) up and down.

Download and see for yourself via Hike Bike Travel – West Coast Trail – Hiking & Backpacking Guide

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Montaña de Oro State Park, California

by site editor Rick McCharles

I drove into the Happiest City in America, SLO (San Luis Oprah) VIDEO directly to Tourist Information. Happily the girl at the desk was a hiker. She immediately recommended the Mountain of Gold. And sold me the SLO adventure trail maps by Central Coast Books. ($10)

There are a number of official trails of varying difficulty and terrain. This State Park is “miraculously free of charge“, considering the deficit California budget.

Dogs are not permitted. But you’ll see horses, mountain bikes and trail runners.

In fact, I’d say this destination is even better for bikers than for hikers.

I was hoping to climb this feature …

Morro Rock is a 581-foot (177m) volcanic plug located just offshore from Morro Bay, California, at the entrance to Morro Bay Harbor. A causeway connects it with the shore, effectively making it a tied island. The area surrounding the base of Morro Rock can be visited. The rock is protected as the Morro Rock State Preserve.

Climbing on the rock or disturbing the bird life is forbidden by law. …

… Too bad.

There is a guidebook for the region published by the Sierra Club – San Luis Obispo County Trail Guide

But leave a comment if you’ve a personal recommendation on BEST HIKES Montaña de Oro.

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Cicerone – The Pacific Crest Trail

1st edition (November 14, 2010) by Brian Johnson aka Ancient Brit.

Crow recommends a new guidebook to the 2700-mile Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, Mexico to Canada …

Amazon

Brian is an inveterate walker, having completed the PCT three times, backpacked round the coast of Britain, hiked from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean across the Pyrenees and also completed all the Scottish Munros in a single summer. A retired physics and sports teacher, he is also a keen cyclist and canoeist and has led groups climbing and hiking in Britain, the Alps, the Pyrenees and California. This is his first guide for Cicerone.

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Ridgerunner: Elusive Loner of the Wilderness (1986)

Ridgerunner by Richard Ripley sounds a terrific read:

… “During the early 1940s in Idaho’s expansive Selway-Bitterroot wilderness, a few items disappeared from a tent camp, a lookout tower, and a ranger station.

Eventually, the continuing loss of food and supplies at such isolated sites confirmed the presence of a mysterious solitary.

For years no one saw him, even though he entered Forest Service quarters while employees slept. In the winter, when he did leave tracks, they were found on the most inhospitable ridges and earned him the regard of locals who appreciated the cost of survival under such circumstances.

Once apprehended, the Ridgerunner proved to be both witty and ornery – a man who said he simply wanted “to live like a coyote,” and who was so woodswise and contentious that he vexed the government and a major timber company for the next 20 years.”

as quote in Adventure Journal

A must read for anyone familiar with the North Central Idaho Mountain Country (Lewiston, Orofino, Pierce, Headquarters, Elk River). A well written biography about a incredible man who lived his life alone in the mountains of Idaho.

Amazon

I picture him looking something like this …

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Classic Hikes in the Canadian Rockies

… by Graeme Pole.

Classic Hikes in the Canadian Rockies is the ultimate guide to the 63 best backpacking trips and day-hikes in Banff, Jasper, Yoho, Kootenay, Mt. Robson, Mt. Assiniboine, Waterton, Kananaskis Country, and Akamina-Kishenina parks. Detailed trailhead and route descriptions, and a colour map for each hike help get you to the trailhead and keep you on route.

The hike descriptions are packed with comprehensive information on history, geology, wildlife, wildflowers, and side-trip options. Colour photographs depict the principal features. Tips on equipment, food, drinking water, backcountry etiquette, minimum impact travel, hiking with children, preparedness, and bear safety round out this indispensable resource. The new edition includes five “new” hikes and a foreword by Robert Bateman.

Since first publication in 1994, this award-winning guidebook has sold 55,000 copies.

Publication date: April 2011
Retail price: $27.95

Orders: Alpine Book Peddlers
alpinebk@aeontech.ca, 866-478-2280
Information: Graeme@mountainvision.ca
mountainvision.ca

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Nordic Walking books

I took a close look at Nordic Walking by Malin Svensson. (2009)

Paperback and Kindle editions.

… Yet I’m still not convinced I’d benefit from hiking canes. I’m still suspicious Nordic Waltzing is a bit of a fad, especially in Europe.

… On the other hand, I don’t see the popularity of poles on the trail in decline. There are more & more each year.

Perhaps I need to get injured before really giving poles a fair try.
🙂

One similar book is Nordic Walking for Total Fitness by Suzanne Nottingham & Alexandra Jurasin

UPDATE: Check the comments for advice on poles from people who have actually used them. Buzz points out that almost all long distance hikers consider them essential, … the same guys who sometimes feel that toilet paper is a luxury.

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first person to hike the PCT?

The Pacific Crest Trail … follows the highest portion of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Range, which parallel the Pacific Ocean by 100 to 150 miles (160 to 240 km). The Pacific Crest Trail is 2,650 miles (4,260 km) long …

In 1970, Eric Ryback, a 17-year-old student, was credited as the first thru-hiker on the trail and his 1971 book The High Adventure of Eric Ryback: Canada to Mexico on Foot focused public attention on the PCT.

Wilderness Press, publisher of guide books “The Pacific Crest Trail: Volume One and Volume Two”, raised in those books specific doubts about Ryback’s claim and produced evidence that he accepted rides for some of the journey. Ryback and Chronicle Publishers sued Wilderness Press but the suits were dropped in 1974.

The first person confirmed to have thru-hiked the entire PCT, as well as the first person to hike from south to north, was Richard Watson, who completed the trail on September 1, 1972.

The first woman was Mary Carstens, who completed the journey later in 1972 …

Eric’s book is sadly out of print.

(via Hiking Lady)