Pacific Northwest Camping Destinations RV and Car Camping Destinations in Oregon Washington and British Columbia Camping Destinations series
August 31, 2009 by camping Guide · Leave a Comment
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Great book
We live near Tacoma and have a motorhome that doesn’t fit in many of the state and federal campgrounds in the Northwest. This newest Church book is very good at helping to find the right places for our rig. In a month, using their advice, we found three wonderful RV campgrounds that we didn’t know about. One is next to a first class trout river and another is at an entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park. Maybe the best part is that this book is helping us re-discover where we can go without using a lot of fuel! This is a great book for those that have never been to the Northwest as well as those that live there. Buy it! You’ll like it!
5 Stars As a northwest “native” this book is the best !
I have traveled extensively throughout the Pacific Northwest and much of the U.S. This year travel will be limited to the Pacific Northwest. As a “native” Washingtonian and lifelong camper I’ve been looking for a new guidebook that combines travel info with the latest on campgrounds. There are new parks and new travel ideas - enough to generate enthusiasm and travel plans! Each listing has large icon keys that make it easy to find suitable camping spots, ie 50 amps, big rigs, activities and more. The book covers Washington, Oregon and British Columbia with everything from weekend to multi-week trip planning possibilities. Thank you to the authors for a great guidebook.
A Field Guide to the Grand Canyon 2nd Edition
August 30, 2009 by camping Guide · Leave a Comment
A Field Guide to the Grand Canyon 2nd Edition
The Mountaineers Books Field Gd To Grand Canyon 2N By The Mountaineers Books
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Great book to have on the canyon for river runners
Loads of detail. Really liked this book.
- River and Desert Plants of the Grand Canyon by Kristin Huisinga, Lori Makarick and Kate Watters published 2006 by Mountain Press Publishing Company Missoula, Montana PO Box 2399, Missoula, Montana 59806 (406) 728-1900 Great book!
- “Guidebook to the Colorado River Part 1 Lee’s Ferry to Phantom Ranch in the Grand Canyon National Park (and Part 2 Phantom Ranch in the Grand Canyon National Park to Lake Mead Arizona-Nevada) Two BYU Geology Professors W. Kenneth Hamblin and J. Keith Rigby. Indepth mile by mile with some pictures etc. They are only $5 a piece. A publication of the Department of Geology, Brigham Young University Provo, Utah 84602.
3 Stars Field Guide to Grand Canyon
Useful guide for visitors who are hiking, but limited use for river runners.
4 Stars nice intro to canyon flora and fauna
This book was a nice introduction to the geology, plant and animal life of the grand canyon. It is small enough to take in your pack and is fun to read once you’ve arrived at camp and try to identify the plants, animals and strata you saw. Not too much specific information about any one species, strata, etc., but good general intros to flora, cacti, etc. I’d recommend it if it’s your first hike in the canyon and you’re just looking for a simple book to become familiar with the names of thing. You can find it in the gift shops on both rims too.
5 Stars best available guide to plants and wildlife
Handy easy-to-use guide to birds, flowers, cacti, wildflowers, reptiles, mammals, geology of the grand canyon. Nothing like it anywhere.
5 Stars Concise, and yet thorough
I agree with everything the previous reviewer said, except that I really like the overviews of Canyon geology and so on, and don’t feel that those make to book too heavy to be useful as a field guide. This is probably the best and most informative guide for a hiker or visitor to the Grand Canyon to take along.
Bird Tracks and Sign A Guide to North American Species
August 28, 2009 by camping Guide · Leave a Comment
Bird Tracks and Sign A Guide to North American Species
A sighting in the field is just one way birders can identify bird species. Observant nature-lovers can discover what birds are where by examining tracks, trails, and a variety of bird sign: discarded feathers, feeding leftovers and caches, pellets, nests, droppings, and skulls and bones. This fully illustrated guide-the first of its kind for North American birds-presents thorough and straightforward instruction for identifying bird families or individual species by careful examination of the unique sign they leave behind. It also offers keys to the birds’ behavior in the wild. Includes songbirds, waterfowl, owls, shorebirds, warblers, woodpeckers, nightjars, and birds of prey. For trackers, birders, and nature-lovers.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars One of my main tracking books
When I first got this book I read it through like a novel . it is that interesting!! Then, as I used the book as a field guide I realized that birds make much more of a mess than we realize and that trackers can easily mistake bird sign for that of man or other animals without this knowledge. Lots of things that I thought were mystery disturbances in the woods were solved for me with this guide. No other bird book touches it for bird behavior.
5 Stars Excellent Book
This book is a much needed guide to bird sign and tracks. It complements Elbroch’s guide to Animal sign. It is well written and informative.
5 Stars Expand Your Birder Skills With This
I really got excited when I saw this reviewed in National Wildlife magazine. I often see bird tracks or even a nest when out walking but didn’t know how to translate that into useful information. This book clues me in on the bird that matches those signs.
The author, a renowned tracker, spent 14 months, 12 hours a day studying bird tracks, scats, nests, feeding signs and roosts plus collected information from museums for this book.
Users of this guide may also want to try:
-Flattened Fauna: A Field Guide to Common Animals of Roads, Streeets and Highways
-Scats and Tracks of the Southeast (also guides for other areas)
-A Field Guide to Desert Holes
-A Key-Guide to Mammal Skulls and Lower Jaws
-That Gunk on Your Car (insects)
Bird lovers now have another tool to identify birds.
5 Stars Great gift for that serious birder
This is a guide to identifying bird families or individual species by clues they leave behind of their presence. The title may appear, at first glance, to be a typo. It is not. As the authors explain on the first page: “Sign refers to all the possible signs of their passing: sign of feeding, gathering material for nesting, the nests or cavity holes themselves, pellets, droppings, feathers lost during molt, or kill sites.”
This book appears to be packed with too much information for a beginner to digest. But its actually quite good for anyone who is interested in birds and would use such a book more than once or twice. The information is organized by types of sign - tracks, feathers, feeding signs, droppings, nests and roosts, etc., rather than by species. This allows you to read about whichever subject you’re interested in and to take in the basics behind, say, interpreting signs of feeding, rather than getting bogged down by details specific to a certain species.
Due to the nature of the topic, the squeamish may not enjoy all the pictures. However, the pictures are certainly not as gruesome as they could have been.
In the introduction, one of the authors writes: “real tracking is bigger than one lifetime. Tracking, as our ancestors knew it, was a body of knowledge handed down from generation to generation. Each person added to this knowledge…” The authors clearly see themselves as a continuation if this process, referring to and giving credit to other excellent books, such a Rezendes’ “Tracking and the Art of Seeing”.
To my knowledge, this is the only book like this specific to birds. I feel this would be an excellent gift idea for that hard-to-buy-for bird watcher.
petervtamas@mail.com
5 Stars At Last! Something that actually contributes to the Field!
Call me cynical but in the last twenty years I have seen field guide publishers recylce the same old info over and over again, just adding a new tabulature or color photos. The text is minimal and always leaves me wanting more.
Not so with this book! Mark and Eleanor have created something that goes well beyond any field guide currently on the market concerning birds! This stuff is new and never before seen except for experienced birders in the field. It is easy to use, fun to use and it will help anyone learn more about birds, their habits and sign. The photography is stunning as well.
I cannot over-recommend this book. Go get it, now!
Ricardo Sierra
Long Distance Hiking Lessons from the Appalachian Trail
August 27, 2009 by camping Guide · Leave a Comment
Long Distance Hiking Lessons from the Appalachian Trail
Blending sage advice with personal experiences and anecdotes, this unconventional book is an unusually thoughtful account of long-distance trekking on the Appalachian Trail. Mueser draws upon interviews and questionnaire data gathered from over 100 long distance hikers hoofing it through the Applachian Mountains.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Very Helpful
I would think this is one of the must reads if you are thinking about thru hiking the AT.
4 Stars Filled With Facts
The book was filled with a lot of good information for someone looking to hike the Appalachain Trail.
I did have one problem with the book. I found it to be a slow read and I had trouble reading it for long periods of time. It reminded me a lot of my school text books. But if you can overcome this set back you will learn a lot from the book.
The most interesting fact I found was that it costs on average $1 / mile to hike the AT.
5 Stars Summary of Hiking Issues
This book, based on a number of surveys, provides a broad understanding of what hiking the AT is all about. It explores the motivations of thru-hikers along with answering lots of questions most of us have when planning to hike all or sections of the AT. Easy reading, well organized and lots of facts.
5 Stars Great book for the aspiring A.T. thru hiker.
If you only read one book before hiking the Appalachian Trail, this is the book. The book is very informative and really helping me prepare for my thru hike.
5 Stars Terrific Statistical Information
Roland Mueser has written a terrific book that contains the results of interviewing dozens of hikers. He chose to tackle the subjects of why thru-hike?, footwear, food, equipment, and much more. He also did some scientific testing of his own when it comes to fighting insects. Mueser did a 4-mile run in the woods with DEET and re-did the run without insect repellant so he could tally the bug bites and report his fingings.
Mueser has put together the results of over 100 surveys so that he could bring you some great information that pertains to the long distance hiker.
Finding Light Gear For Your Backpacking Trip
August 27, 2009 by camping Guide · Leave a Comment
Moon Pacific Northwest Camping The Complete Guide to Tent and RV Camping in Washington and Oregon Moon Outdoors
August 25, 2009 by camping Guide · Leave a Comment
“A smart new look provides just one more reason to travel with Moon Outdoors. Well written, thoroughly researched, and packed full of useful information and advice, these guides really do get you into the outdoors.”
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Pacific Northwest Camping
This book will be a great help to our summer camping plans, We looked at campground we have visited and the facts are very good
2 Stars Inconsistent and not enough information
This book is not for tent users even though it pretends to be. The focus is mostly on RV’s and fishing.
Also, it is frustrating how inconsistent the information is…for example on some campgrounds he mentions how much shade is available but on others he does not. So what am I to assume about the ones that he doesn’t mention the shade at all? Also, with some he comments that there are mountain views but others he doesn’t. How can the reader know if there are no mountain views or if he just didn’t care to mention it that time or didn’t have the space to do so in the book? I feel that editing for space has ruined this book.
Don’t trust this book! He gives “Rogue Elk Campground” a score of 8 out of 10 for the scenic rating and he doesn’t mention it’s proximity to a medium traffic highway. We drove all the way there to find that it is basically on the side of the highway. The highway dropped the scenic rating down to a 2. The highway gives Rogue Elk Campground a ton of light and sound pollution and makes it feel unsafe. Stienstra didn’t mention any of this.
Untrustworthy, inconsistent book!
The maps and lay out of the book are nice and user friendly though.
5 Stars A must have book by a quality writer
My husband enjoy going on camping adventures, and we use all of Tom Stienstra’s camping books like bibles. I have noted only one mistake on his California book, but on the whole they are useful and informative.
We plan a trip up the California coast to Oregon, then to Washington.
We plan to tent camp all the way using his books. We did it before a few years ago and it worked out great. I strongly recommend this book or any of his books to anyone who wants to have fun, cheap, exciting adventures camping!
5 Stars Pacific Northwest Camping guide review
This book arrived in A-1 condition, and in a timely manner. I recommend this seller.
5 Stars the book to have
If you camp this is the book to have, espcially if you tent camp and want to find all the small campgrounds. I love finding all the tent campgrounds, this is the definite book for the NW.
five stars is not enough for the work that went into thsi book.
Minus 148 Degrees The First Winter Ascent of Mount McKinley
August 23, 2009 by camping Guide · Leave a Comment
Minus 148 Degrees The First Winter Ascent of Mount McKinley
“This finely crafted adventure tale runs on adrenaline but also something else: brutal honesty.” — – Wall Street Journal
User Ratings and Reviews
2 Stars minus 148
Book was good but text was missing from maybe 20 pages of the last chapter.
4 Stars A book ahead of its time
I am not going to rehash the plot here, I’m sure others have done so and you can get that in some capacity from many sources. The author was on the expedition which this book is about, and it was a bold one to say the least; the first winter ascent of Mt Mckinley. He does a great job inviting us onto Mt McKinley (it was not Denali in 1967, at least not in the public mind) and this is a quick and pleasing read. However he does not interweave as deftly the history and personal story lines that have taken the genre to new places in the past decade or so. Granted Art wrote this in 1969 at which time he’d sworn off expeditions — largely as a result of holing up in snow cave in a hurricane at 18,000 plus feet for 8 days - so the books that I’m used to reading from adventure writers simply feel more modern. Regardless of this I would highly reccomend this read, and I would also pair it with Forever on the Mountain by James Tabor; about the Wilcox expedition on the same mountain a mere 3-4 months after the first winter ascent (which ended up changing the rules for how Mountains would be climbed in general - not from the mountaineering standpoint, but rather from the standpoint of how gov’t officials approved and approached expeditions). For any armchair expeditioner — such as myself — the literature on McKinley is essential. This is a mountain that can be every bit as evil and unforgiving as the nastiest Himalayian peak, the weather and the relief are actully in most cases at least equal. Donavan’s book is certainly a great read. I bought the paperback reprint, but if I had a do-over I’d look for an early edition as I suppose they must be out there.
4 Stars Pretty Good Description of Event
I’m not sure, but I may have been one of the pilots on the C-130 that helped to coordinate the rescue of the team off of Mt. McKinley. Rescue 489 sounds like one of the 17th Troop Carrier Squadron’s aircraft. And, I recall dropping (parachuting) a couple of radios on the emergency frequency to a climbing team that we helped rescue. The aircraft commander and I are discussing this particular rescue as “I speak.”
As I recall, the person from the expedition that was talking to me was very very reluctant to leave the climb, finally asking what it would cost. When the team was assured that there would be “no cost,” things did change… 
On the rescue that I’m describing, perhaps the one covered in this book, the Army Huey helicopter had difficulty landing at such a high elevation, and carrying out such a load. I watched as the helicopter lifted off, and it had to dive down toward the base of the mountain to get into more dense air, and to gain associated lift. On the way back to the airport, we slowed the C-130 down, and lowered the flaps, so the Huey helicopters could fly on each wing tip…
5 Stars great book
this is a fantastic read, if you have ever climbed any mountain this would probably interest you
5 Stars Amazing
I loved how suspenseful it is when they are trapped in the snow cave for a week. I would definetly recommend this book to anyone about the age of 12. It is kind of challenging.
The Best in Tent Camping New England A Guide for Car Campers Who Hate RVs Concrete Slabs and Loud Portable Stereos
August 22, 2009 by camping Guide · Leave a Comment
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars A great resource!
I’ve stayed at or “checked out” 3 of the campgrounds mentioned in this book, and so I’m sure that as I camp at some of the others I’ll be pleased, as the author seems very fair in the descriptions that I’ve personally witnessed! Car camping is rarely going to be a totally private or secluded experience, but there are wonderful campgrounds with certain sites that come close to meeting those criteria, and this book helps you figure out how to increase your chances of ending up at a site that will please!
Thanks for this book — I appreciate it! If you’re looking for a sequel, I’d love for you to cover a broad range of campgrounds and list the sites at each that come close to matching the “secluded” experience. For example, last year I stayed for three nights at Glen Ellis campground with my two kids, my friend, and her three kids. . . It’s not a “secluded” campground, but we just wanted to take the kids to Storyland, and it was close. . . Actually, though, we found some sites that were very, very nice, even in what was otherwise a large, somewhat crowded campground. . . and honestly, the kids had a blast with all of the play equipment, pool, etc. Generally, I avoid any campground with a pool because it just doesn’t seem “right”, but now I know which sites to reserve if I ever end up at that one again!
4 Stars A great tool for discovering New England
I bought this book last year, a few short weeks before our annual camping trip - this time to New England - because the free AAA campground “guides” we used the year prior were awful and featured mostly sites catering to RVs.
I must say, we found the reviews in the book very helpful, and it did lead us to some wonderful spots in campgrounds we might not have otherwised discovered. However, having only learned about these great destinations a month before our trip prevented us from securing some of the most beautiful spots. My recommendation, therefore, is to plan ahead, far, far in advance, if you want to experience the best sites New England has to offer. Otherwise, you will arrive only to find out the spot you want has been booked.
5 Stars review response
Greetings Dev33 and Natureboy,
I’m sorry you had a less than positive experience with the reviews and ratings in my book. I do realize that slapping a numeric rating on something as subjective as impressions of privacy or beauty can be problematic.
I did try to be as honest as possible about my impressions. Perhaps the campgrounds were less crowded when I was there doing my reserach.
Natureboy, regarding some of your comments about Beartown and Greylock, I was never bothered by traffic at night on the Greylock access road. Perhaps there was something going on that night you were there, but that was never a factor when I was there or I certainly would have mentioned it. Also, I did mention that the pondside sites at Beartown are open to each other, but the view of the pond and surrounding hillsides made up for it, at least in my view. I doubt the air traffic that bothered you was from Otis AFB, however, since that is over near Cape Cod. Again, I am sorry your experiences with those campgrounds were not as positive as mine. I wish you better luck and more pleasant camping experiences in the future.
If you would like to respond to me directly, my e-mail address is llow@redmondmag.com. I would like to hear from you and hear your concerns directly. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy some of the other spots mentioned in the book. If you’re ever in Maine, try the Mount Desert Campground. I’m certain you’ll like that place.
Cheers,
Lafe Low
2 Stars not so good tent camping
my husband and i have used this book twice for tent camping in Mass. I’m not sure what the author has in mind regarding his idea of privacy but the two different parks we’ve stayed at, 4 stars for privacy was way off. I don’t call 4 stars being able to talk to my neighbors from in front of my campfire less than 30 feet away with hardly any trees/bushes in between sites. His discriptions of the parks in general are accurate. We are very let down by the descriptions of the sites and privacy. We were suppsose to be “on the river” at Mohawk Trail State Forest but we had to walk through the next site to get to the river.
1 Star Ok, Not the worst, bad some bad experiences.
I checked out some of the ‘best’ sites in his book only to be disappointed several times. For example: Mr.Laff gives Mt. Greylock 5 stars for privacy and spaciousness. I even reserved what was supposedly one of the ‘best’ campsites there. These campsites were literally 30 feet from one another, on hard packed dirt with not even a separating tree between them. At night, the access road across the river was busy with traffic, lighting up my tent all night with highbeam lights. It was like camping in a undersized, cramped trailer park.
EDIT: Ok, let me say I was a bit mad after having some bad experiences. Let me stress the good things about this book: As a camping site reference this book is very handy for planning a trip as it has A LOT of information in one place (A very good listing of parks and amenities).
However, I think the review system could use some tweaking. This could be a much better book. Pictures would really sweeten this up. It would also be helpful to know what parks are family parks, or day parks or “rv crowd” parks, etc.. Not an easy task, but still on my wish list.
Also, I think the book is missing a better suited audience: the camping RV crowd (whom the book title seems to disparage a little). I think this book is almost an indispensable resource book for them, far more so than for the backpacker. Many of the parks in this book offer RV amenities which is something I didn’t think I’d see in this book considering the title.
Great Canadian Parks Wood Buffalo National Park
August 21, 2009 by camping Guide · Leave a Comment
Great Canadian Parks Wood Buffalo National Park
Wood Buffalo’s name reveals its greatest asset: Canada’s largest free-ranging bison herd. The park also protects the last natural nesting ground for the endangered whooping crane. The park has abundant natural features that led to its UNESCO status. Most of the 1700 square mile, internationally significant Peace-Athabasca Delta lies within park boundaries. The park also has some of the most extensive karst topography in North America.
SERIES SUMMARY: Great Canadian Parks celebrates the incredible diversity of Canada’s natural environments, by exploring the natural history and cultural heritage of its protected areas. From the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, with the great forests and plains in between, Great Canadian Parks discovers what makes each of these great parks unique, it’s topography, wildlife inhabitants and hidden treasures. We examine the elements that tie them together in one of the most comprehensive park systems in the world. Great Canadian Parks offers a stunningly beautiful collection of episodes characterized by abundant wildlife, stunning natural beauty and compelling stories. Host Peter Trueman asks the questions of the people who know their parks, and visits the people who love and use them. It is an exploration of Canada through its Great Canadian Parks.
Moon California Deserts Camping and Hiking Including Death Valley Mojave Joshua Tree and Anza Borrego Moon Spotlight
August 21, 2009 by camping Guide · Leave a Comment
Moon Spotlight guides are affordably-priced, lightweight guides covering a smaller geographic region than Moon Handbooks or Outdoors guidebook series. The travel content in a Spotlight guide is pulled directly from individual chapters of larger Handbooks or Outdoors titles, with no introductory information (such as When to Go or Planning Your Trip), and no indexes. The result is compact guides to popular destinations that provide travelers with what they need to explore a specific locale in depth with fewer pages of very focused information.
