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Outdoors & Nature |
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Hiking Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Regional Hiking Series)
written by Kevin Adams
Studio : Falcon
by Falcon
Publisher : Falcon
Released : 2003-04-01
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780762711109
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 6 reviews)
List Price : $16.95
Our Price : $9.59
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Product Description |
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This guide features 82 hikes within Great Smoky Mountains National Park. With over 800 miles of maintained trails within the park, author Kevin Adams guides hikers through the rugged landscape and dense vegetation of the Great Smokies so they can have an intimate experience and see everything they would want to see, right from an official trail. Clear and concise trail descriptions and brilliant photography will make this guide a requirement when heading into the backcountry of America's most visited national park.
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A Great Hiking Guide |
My family and I just returned from our vacation in the Smoky Mts. This was one of the two guides we used during our stay and it was very helpful. As parents of two smaller children, ages 5 and 8, we needed a guide that included shorter day hikes and not just the overnight type. This guide did just that. Here's what I liked and didn't like about the book:
Things I liked: The way it broke down each hike with acurate descriptions of the trail, what you can expect to see while hiking it (the highlights), where to find the trail head, a topicgraphical-type picture showing where the hills are on the hike, personal information about the trail and its history as well as beautiful pictures. The trails are organized by location within the park so when you're at a particular part of the park, you can zero-in on those hikes in that area. There are also maps to show you where the trail meets up with other trails in the area.
Things I didn't like about the book: Though the maps are helpful for showing the specific location, I found myself having to check our park map to be able to pinpoint exactly where the trail was located. I wish the book would include a more "overview" park map as well. Also, since we were looking for trails which were around 6 miles round trip or less, the author had a habit of running two or more trails together to form one big hike. Many of these hikes were ten-plus miles long. He did this to form a loop rather then having to back-track, but it would have been nice if he could have given the shorter version as an option.
Overall, I would certainly recommend this book to anyone. For those seeking to take 8-10 mile hikes or some over night hikes, this book is ideal.
We also purchased at the park visitor center, two maps - Water Falls and Day Hikes ($1 each) - which were actually VERY helpful! The dayhikes were about 5 miles round trip or less with a very brief description. At the visitor center, we also purchased a book called Smokies Road Guide which gave some background information about each section of the park and has beautiful colored pictures. For those who like to plan ahead, the maps and book can be ordered off the internet at the park's website.
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Great Hiking Guide! |
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I found this to be a great hiking guide to a place I knew nothing about before arriving. It is very imformative on difficulty of the hikes and what the scenery will be like so you can plan your visit accordingly. I would recommend this book to any level of hikers wanting to leave their car and really see the Great Smokey Mountains from the trail. The guide is so thorough it made it hard to narrow my choices down for the five days of hiking I would be exploring. The only complaint (if you can call it that) would be to include a area map that showed the park in its entirety at the beginning of the book so you can begin to aclimate yourself to where trailheads are located, etc...The book does recommend picking up a map at the visitors center upon arrival, I am just a planner and want to know everything in advance. |
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good for day hikes |
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It's a great, very detailed book if you're local and want to experience all the great day hikes. The author does a wonderful job dividing them into categories - from couch potato to training to be a navy seal! However, none of them are longer than 1 nighters - he says you can split some of them up into two nights... but if you're out there to backpack for multiple nights, you're probably not interested in 6 mile days, right? I would suggest buying a good map of the park to go with this, if you're interested in multiple night outings in the Smokies. That way, you can plan a longer route, but use the book to reference details on the trails you'll be on. |
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Excellent Trail Guide! |
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Kevin Adams has written a succinct, yet thorough, guide book to the trails of the SMNP. Everything is here. Adams leaves out the platitudes and leaves in the practical. From advising on safety and comfort to equipment and nourishment, the author gives imminently usable information for these beautiful trails and makes them call the reader to the mountains. Great book! |
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A Smokies Essential |
This book made our trip! Adams' trail descriptions and ratings were spot on. We came to rely on this guide when planning our daily outings.
Reverence for the Park and those who work there came across clearly in his prose, but there was plenty of delightful humor as well (as in the list of Hikes for People Training to be Couch Potatoes!). |
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