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Best Hiking Books Reviewed & Rated for Quality
Standout Picks
Criteria Used for Evaluation
Effectiveness
Preparedness is one of the most important aspects of having a successful hike. One of the key aspects of planning a successful trip is making sure there is a planned route for the hike. The best hiking book is one that would have a clear description of the routes you could use in your travels as well as maps to guide you through your journey. Proper directions help individuals save time and have a good exploration of their targeted hiking area. After individuals select the routes to use for the hike, an elaborate description of the route, detailed map and interpretive details help in ensuring that hikers get the best out of their hiking activity.
Ease of Use
Book contents should be applicable to the region you plan to visit. It would not make sense to buy a hiking book that describes the hiking sites in Canada if you plan to visit Utah. The book should have detailed guidelines on how individuals could get to the places they desire. Pictures add to the beauty of a book since they enable readers to have an idea of the hike sites they plan to visit. This helps individuals make adequate preparations concerning the gear to carry while going on a trip. The hikes in a good book should be rated to help individuals know the hikes that were suitable for them in terms of taste and preference. It is also helpful in these guides to be able to ascertain easily these hikes were achieved by others. If you are a beginner and would like an adventure that will not be as difficult to manage, or if you are a risk taker and have been hiking all your life, will determine also what book you should be using to gain knowledge.
Value
We all would require something to remind us why we need to go on a particular hike. Buying a book that describes the region you plan to visit is an important resource that would help you stay focused on your target goal(s). A viable book should be one that would enable you to forget some of your fears and trouble and instead focus your attention on planning a trip that would change your life. Many individuals already have dreams of taking the ideal hiking adventure. The idea is dreamed up in your mind, however, sometimes needs the little extra push to create a visual and give the ultimate motivation to finally partake in the experience. Sometimes, we need that little something that would remind us that we could achieve anything in life. A hiking book with adequate inspirational content would go a long way to transform the way we think about life and the events within our surroundings. The best book should be one that inspires us in every possible way.
Features
Presently, numerous hiking books that individuals could choose from exist. However, the kind of experience that you would have with every hiking activity depends on how well you would be guided through your hiking journey. Although you may know that you want to go on a hiking journey, it is important to know why and how you would like to do this. Subsequently, it is important that you understand some of your goals for going on a hike before you decide on the best location to carry out your hiking activities.
We all yearn for a good time in all our travels. However, it would not be possible to have a good time when we make a poor selection of the hike regions that we hope to visit. Nonetheless, let us not rely so much on the books we read to the extent that we forget that the real adventure occurs when we visit the places we only dream of in life. Nonetheless, we need to remember the individual experience does not necessarily come from reading and the knowledge we learn from the hiking book we read, but instead the experience we have hiking ourselves.
Size
Your book should be descriptive and detailed without being too wordy. A book that is too long may easily lose the reader's interest and also make it harder for them to remember important information that they'll need on the trail. The main purpose of hiking book is to help you. Although it does help if the book is entertaining, you don't want to lose sight of the main purpose of the book. I smaller book is also helpful if you plan on traveling with it. A larger book can hold more details and feature more detailed pictures, but they are less convenient to travel with.
BEST HIKING BOOKS REVIEWED & RATED FOR QUALITY
1. Moon California Hiking
California Hiking provides readers with an elaborate account of the events that would characterize individuals’ lives when they go hiking. The book provides readers with very accurate accounts of the stories as they happened. Most hiking guidebooks do not always go for several editions. However, this particular book provides readers with a slight change of content to read with every new edition produced.
Extensive Account of Hiking Experiences
The book provides readers with different accounts of hiking experiences in California that were executed on different lucrative sites within the United States and more so in California. This is such that no matter the place you may be at the book would be able to guide you to some of the most magnificent and memorable hikes that are close to your location. In every new edition ever since the inception of the book, California Hiking has been organized based on regions. Every chapter of the book touches on a different segment of California State be it the Southern desert region or the Redwood Empire region of the state.
A Good Guidebook for Planning Vacations
Most people who have read this book would agree that most of the things discussed in the book go a long way in assisting individuals to effectively plan suitable places they can spend their vacation. Descriptions of the side trips as well as trails would help improve hiking for any person.
Cost and Value
Every chapter of the book is fitted with a map or two that play a very significant role in assisting individuals to locate trailheads. In addition, the authors have highlighted some of their most favorite hiking spots n the maps making it easy for individuals to make a more informed decision concerning the areas to visit to have an informative and educative hiking experience. Some of the best trails that are highlighted by the authors include the Big Sur, Santa Barbara, and Monterrey and they are all found in the coastal region of the state.
2. Best Short Hikes
The five national parks that are situated in Utah contain some of the most dreadful yet inspiring geology in the world. A walk through the parks leads to discovery and exploration of different natural elements and structures that form part of our world. The book provides readers with the best routes that they could use when walking through the parks.
Informative
Every hike that is described in the book contains area maps, distances to be covered, highlights and trailhead directions that are easy to follow. This makes the process of selecting the best hike route fast and efficient more so in situations whereby people have a limited time schedule for the hike.
Resource for Planning Hikes
This book is an important resource that can be used to help plan for a hike in the parks situated in Utah. It gives an idea of what individuals should expect the moment they get to their selected national park, in Utah.
Cost and Value
It may be difficult to accept, however, even some of the most experienced desert explorers and hikers are bound to come across things they knew nothing about by reading this book. Explorers may be provided with new insight concerning the forces that may have led to the emergence of some of the landscape found in the park.
3. Best Hikes Rocky Mountain
Anyone who wishes to go hiking on the ‘Rocky Mountain National Park,’ would find this book an invaluable resource that would help you complete your adventure with the best experience ever. The book provides readers with a wide variety of hiking options to an extent that it might be difficult for individuals to choose the hike that they would wish to engage in on a daily basis.
Elaborate in its Description of the Park
If you have never been to the Rocky Mountain National Park then the moment you read this book it would be as though you have ever been to the park. The entire park is well described in the book. The book provides individuals with information on the best seasons that it would be viable to go on different hikes outlined in the book. Readers are also provided with valuable information concerning GPS coordinates, elevation as well as elevation gain that makes it easy for individuals who use this book as a guide to travel through certain regions that are recommended in the book as some of the regions to visit for a hike.
An Effective Guide
Individuals who would read this book for the first time would be pleased by the valuable information contained in the book. The book is well structured. It contains adequate information that would enable an individual to best analyze and plan upcoming hike routes something that would not be possible to be conducted by a person without prior knowledge of the regions to visit. The details in the book would help a hiker understand the trails which would be difficult if someone were to rely on the park’s website that provides little to no information about the trails.
Cost and Value
The book provides individuals with a glimpse of some of the sites that they would experience. The book includes pictures of the areas that are recommended as best for hiking. Maps are also included to help improve the whole travel experience for those who may wish to go for a hike using the contents of the book to guide them throughout their adventure.
4. Best Hiking Colorado
Even for the people who may have frequented some of the regions described in the book, the moment they go through the contents of the book they would realize that there are several trails described in the book they never even knew existed. The book is elaborate; an easy read and with good maps that would enable individuals to trace the travel paths with much ease during an actual hiking adventure in the regions.
Elaborate
The book has outstanding descriptions for the areas that are recommended for people to visit if need be. The contents of the book contain profound elevation profiles that go a long way in making hiking a fun activity for the people who love going on adventures. Yes, there are numerous hiking books that individuals could choose from however if you fail to make the best decision on the hiking book that would suit your needs such as the one mentioned above then you would be headed for the worst experience of your life.
Informative
Despite being of a small size this book is packed with so much information about the most lucrative areas to do hikes in Southwestern Colorado. Subsequently, any person who wishes to plan for a hiking vacation in Southwestern Colorado would immensely benefit from the pool of information that is available in this particular book. Besides, the contents of the book are written in plain language that could easily be understood. The book suggests very interesting areas where the residents of the area could do hikes.
Cost and Value
This book provides readers with everything they would require to learn about the important hiking areas in Southwestern Colorado. Other than providing readers with a ‘topo map’, the book also issues directions to trailhead thus enabling individuals to have a less difficult experience during a hike. The book also provides readers with various comments on why it would be important for individuals to go hiking. The author also provides readers with suggestions concerning the best times of the year to do a hike in Southwestern Colorado.
5. America's Great Hiking Trails
The contents of the book could help revive individuals’ passion for hiking even with it being that some people may have lost morale with the whole hiking idea as an important recreational activity. The writing in the book is well-articulated and laid out. Further, the images integrated as part of the book contents go hand in hand with the words used in describing the sceneries in their natural state. It is understood that this book is a valuable resource for any person who wishes to experience the best moments in some of the lucrative hiking sites found in the United States, which are described in the book. The book covers close to 11 routes that range from the better areas such as the iconic Appalachian to the lesser-known areas such as the swampy regions of the Florida trail.
Inspirational
The book is rich with photos of the regions through which individuals are bound to travel during their expedition of the hiking trails in the United States. It provides readers with vast knowledge concerning the history of the potential hike areas in America as well as highlights of the hiking areas best suited for people who love adventure.
Maps
The maps contained in the book make it a proficient tool that can be used for planning a vacation with friends and family to do a hike in some of the most renowned hiking locations in America.
Cost and Value
The book contains immense information that is combined with well-taken photographs. The descriptions, as well as the beautifully taken photographs, would make someone long to visit some of the regions described in the book for a hike. It is a convenient beautiful book that a majority of people often find themselves flipping through the pages of the book to have a quick look at its content while in the restaurant or on the train. It is a good gift idea for a friend or family members too.
6. Best Hikes with Kids
Individuals who may require a guidebook that would assist them to point out child-friendly trails that they could use for hiking activities should not hesitate to acquire the Best Hikes with Kids book. The book provides an elaborate description of important hiking regions that individuals could visit in the Cascades and Western Washington region with their children. It should be noted that individuals residing within the regions that have been outlined above would benefit a great deal by acquiring this particular book to use as their guide. With the book, you would be able to plan a hike that you may carry out on your own or with the kids depending on what you feel would work for you as a family.
One of a Kind
This book is unique to the numerous types of hiking books that are available in the market today. Perhaps the book’s uniqueness comes from the fact that it outlines the child-friendly areas that families can visit with their children. You could share the book with friends or relatives who have children. Sharing the book makes it easier for those with whom you share the guidebook to learn about the suitable areas to do a hike with their kids without subjecting them to any harm.
Descriptive Content
The contents of the book are elaborate and written in a simple language that would enable children to understand more about some of the hiking spots that are described in the book.
Cost and Value
The book provides suggestions on exceptional hiking sites alongside a clear description of some of the activities that individuals could do with their children as part of the hiking adventure. The book is divided based on the regions that families could visit with their children, which aids parents to effectively plan the trips that would be important to go on a weekend and the trips that would be important to attend on a weekday.
7. Lost on the Appalachian Trail
This particular writing on a hiking adventure is not only inspiring but also a joy to watch. This may be perhaps because of the fact that the events of the story are told from a real-life point of view by someone who had been on an actual hiking activity on the Appalachian Trail. The author expresses many emotions concerning some of the enchantments and difficulties that he had to go through on a day-to-day basis during his adventure. All through the events of the story readers come to learn of how the occurrences that the author encountered gradually molded him into someone he did not expect he could be in his entire life. With this book, even the people who may not be in the position of going for a hike for various reasons best known to them would be able to re-live the experience of being on an actual hike through the stories told by the people who have been on actual hikes. The assertions in the book are well elaborated to an extent that an individual may feel like he or she was in the field doing or going through the same experiences as the author. The proclamations in the book can inspire the reader to make efforts to go hiking to the same places the author visited.
Detailed Guidance
The book is exceptional. You may not be one to love reading books but the moment you would read a few pages of this book, you would definitely be motivated to read more and more pages of the book. The reading is very enjoyable. The book provides readers with an idea of what they should expect anytime they go on a long distance hike through unfamiliar terrain. The author’s written piece is quite descriptive and very much easy to follow.
Good Read
Any person who loves adventure would most definitely find the contents of this book very intriguing. The book reminds readers that they should always be ready to face their challenges if they wish to attain their goals in life.
Cost and Value
The book entails many personal experiences and it is written from an honest point of view. With this in mind, buying and reading the book would most definitely provide a person who plans to visit the Appalachians someday for a hike with an idea on what to expect. Prior knowledge helps an individual know what he or she is expected to carry to use during the adventure.
8. Fifty Places to Hike
Most of the regions recommended that individuals should strive to visit for hikes before they die as portrayed in the book are found in the United States. Nonetheless, when you read through the book contents readers are left wondering whether the regions stated in the book are the best 50 places to do a hike in the entire universe. Readers are also left wondering about the types of hikes that would be most suitable to be carried out in the suggested regions. The problem with the contents of this particular book is that they do not have a personal touch.
Outline
Every chapter of the book takes up 3-5 pages depending on its content. Every chapter of the book has a photo that helps individuals to have a slight clue of the things that were being described in every chapter of the book. One valuable resource that the author failed to incorporate in every chapter of the book is a map or a detailed description of the routes that would be important to use during a hike.
Personal writing
Contents of the book are told from a more personal point of being thus neglecting the practical aspect. After all, most people would like a book that would act as a guide in their adventure than a mere fantasy storybook.
Cost and Value
The book is a great gift idea more so for friends and family members who love traveling and adventure. Individuals might just find some of the places they have longed to visit their entire lives by reading this book.
9. Blanket of Stars
Amongst countless Camino books that you may come across, this is by far the best hiking book you could ever read. The author flawlessly lays out her personal experiences throughout her journey. She points out some of her fun experiences as well as the challenges that she had to deal with in the course of her travels. The events of the story are conveyed in an engaging manner thus making readers feel like they were there with the author during her expedition.
Inspirational
The author tells readers of her struggles to find a purpose in life or perhaps find balance in her life perhaps by going on an adventure. The author is very thoughtful and honest in the way that she analyses her life. Other than providing readers with an account of her own struggles and achievements, the author also talks about the struggles and experiences of the people she was with, in her journey (her Camino companions).
Good Flow and Easy to Read
The contents of the book range from the hilarious and heartwarming events to the events that would lead to readers becoming absolutely terrified. However, there is great synergy in the events of the story making the book an easy read.
Cost and Value
Blanket of Stars is very fascinating and quite informative. The book provides readers with information about the history of the Camino de Santiago concerning their walk for adventure. It has a lot of humorous content that would keep a reader entertained in ways that may make individuals forget about their troubles even if that was for a short while. All through the adventure, the author strived to ensure that she improved her status by making herself better than she was before starting her hiking expedition.
10. World's Best Travel Experiences
The book provides readers with a variety of hiking places they could visit all around the world. The contents of the book would inspire any person to yearn to go for a hike to some of the regions described in the book sometime in their future lives.
Exceptional Photos of Different Locations and a Fan Book
The photos in the book make it an enjoyable book to peruse. Pictures of different locations are also well laid out thus evoking individuals’ urge for an adventure. Once you go through the contents of the book, you will acquire varied options concerning the places that you could visit in days to come. For those people who may be short of ideas concerning the places they could do a hike then acquiring this book would be of immense help to you.
Inspirational
Any person who loves traveling would be thrilled with this book. Similarly, the book would inspire people who do not like traveling and adventure to try out a walk through some of the trails outlined in the book. The images alone are sufficient to entice someone to want to learn more about some of the numerous potential hiking regions found all across the universe as described in the book. After all, the price at which the book is currently being sold in the market is very reasonable for any person with the desire to efficiently plan an adventure.
Cost and Value
Acquiring the book provides individuals with assorted ideas that they could use for a lifetime in choosing important hiking areas within and around their places of residence. Spending money on acquiring this book would not be regarded as a waste of finances judging from the spectacular quality of the informative photographs. You could recommend this book to friends and relatives or at least buy them a few copies of the book to guide them to choose the best-hiking sites more so the ones closer to their neighborhoods or states of residence.
Sources
- , Life Hack, Information Site
- , Moon Guides, Travel Guide
