Hiking the Southwest's Canyon Country
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Product Description
With its first-rate information on how to make your trip to the American Southwest's Canyon Country a safe and pleasant one, this is an excellent guidebook. But if you're interested in learning more about the geology, archeology, native cultures, and natural splendors of red rock territory along the way, it's downright indispensable. In this new edition, six completely revised two- and three-week trip itineraries give information on some of the high desert's most enjoyable trails and breathtaking scenic attractions in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. For each trip cluster, Hinchman provides handy, easy-to-read maps and enticing photographs, along with natural and human history of the area, basic geologic and archeological history, and an overview of the area's climate and plant and animal life. Hikers will come to understand and appreciate, for instance, the Anasazi dwellings at Mesa Verde as well as the natural forces that converged to create the Grand Canyon. Whether planning to stake out whimsical hoodoos in Goblin Valley, explore Chaco Canyon, or feast your eyes on any number of cliffs, arches, and petroglyphs, this is one guidebook you'll be glad you packed.
Spotlight Customer Reviews:
Summary:
Allow Much More Time
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Comment:
This is an excellent book for planning trips in the Southwest. My wife and I used it for a three week tour based in Albuquerque and going on excursions that included Petroglyph, NM, Acoma Res., El Malpais, El Morro, Canyon de Chelly, and Chaco Culture NHP. We found the time estimates in the book to be far short of the time we spend touring an area and/or a destination. Unless you do "New York Minute" tours you will need to double many of the time allotments in the book. That said, the book is excellent for an overview of things to see and do in an area. It can serve as the one book to plan your trip and to take along with you.
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Summary:
Lots of Good Short Hikes
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Comment:
The best characteristic of this hiking book is that it is more focused on the day hiker than the backpacker, describing an abundance of shorter and easier hikes than the average hiking guide catering to the young and strong. Longer hikes are here; but there's plenty also for the duffer, i.e. yours truly.
Hinchman describes 160 hikes in the deserts and canyons of the Four Corners region of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah, including the Grand Canyon and several magnificient National Parks in Utah. Along the way she also points in the direction of other lesser known walks. For example, despite my familiarity with New Mexico, I never knew that Petroglyph National monument just outside Albuquerque had good short hikes. I'll visit there next trip.
Along with all the good, I have a complaint that the guide is somewhat difficult to use, divided as it is into six different, sometimes overlapping "tours." I had to search for a while to find hikes in Mesa Verde which were placed in Chapter IV rather than Chapter V which seemed a equally logical place to find them. Once you get the hang of the author's methods and madness, however, the guide is easily usable. An improvement would be a map showing the location of hikes described and a less complex numbering system.
Smallchief
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Summary:
Somewhat useful but could be much better
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Comment:
I got this book at my local REI, it was the best they had on the four corners area. That said, it falls short of the standards set by many other hiking or travel books:
1. I wish the maps were better. It made me think that most of the famous arches in Arches NP were in the Fiery Furnace area, while in fact they are not there -- just the map is rather crude.
2. I wish it had better overall area maps with clearly marked areas of interest etc. Something to help better plan your trip if you only have a long weekend at your disposal. The book is organized instead in multi-day linear itineraries which seemed at best arbitrary and useless to me.
3. Does not mention (beyond a couple of sentences) some obvious top spots like Antelope Canyon and other slot canyons in Arizona.
4. No ratings of hikes according to scenic-ness. Many other books do this and I appreciate it. Although the SW is usually great, some hikes and sights are way more impressive than others.
5. Black-and-white photos of the colorful Southwest (almost a crime!), and no photos of many of the landmarks...
In a nutshell, you should already know where you want to go (from reading on internet etc) and then pick up this book to glean some more detail. And then go again on the internet and search some more to determine if the specific sights are worth it.
UPDATE (July 2007):
After my second consecutive trip to the Southwest, I am impressed how comprehensive this book is. If something is worth *hiking* it will be in there, and sometimes the directions to the trailhead will be better than the "official" ones in the BLM / NPS leaflets. So my opinion of the book is somewhat higher, plus its idiosyncrasies grew on me.
That said, the weaknesses remain:
- organization is abysmal (although the index in the back helps a bit)
- maps are relatively bad
- not enough photos, B/W mostly, quality is rel. low
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Summary:
A Superb Guide to Canyon Country
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Comment:
This guide is excellent in many respects: the maps are well-drawn without drowning in detail, the multi-day itineraries are useful (but by no means necessary and can be broken into day trips), and the descriptions of the trails and the many photos let you know that you are on track. (Never underestimate the utility of a good photo to help you get your bearings.)
This is a hiker's guidebook--thick paper and glossy covers ensure it can handle occasional moisture and repeated stuffings into packs. The book's strengths are is comprehensiveness and its detail. The focus is on the southwest canyon country--a large area indeed, but nearly every worthy hike is discussed and each with enough detail to ensure no highlights are missed.
Finally, the author provides a good summary of the archaeological finds--including the amazing, ancient petroglyphs and pictographs--you will see along the way. If you are going to be hiking in the canyon country of the southwest, this is the book to have.
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Summary:
An unusally good guidebook. Highly recommended.
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Comment:
This is an unusual guidebook, in that the author lays out a series of suggested itineraries for the Colorado Plateau country, sized for a 2-3 week vacation. This would be an ideal guidebook for a first-time hiker-visitor to the US Southwest. But old hands won't feel left out, or condescended to -- Hinchman writes clearly and directly, and knows her stuff. She notes that her guidebook is directed towards the "non-jock" reader.
I've been to many of the places and specific hikes that she recommends, and I saw no errors, though I haven't yet used her guidebook in the field. The cartography, by Hannah Hinchman, is unusually good for a small-format guidebook. About the only flaw I noted was that about half of the color photos are poorly reproduced. The text index is sketchy, but the index maps are excellent. Previous Mountaineers guidebooks have been sturdily-bound and hold up well in the field. Highly recommended.
Happy hiking--
Peter D. Tillman
Desert Rat
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