Color Country: Touring the Colorado Plateau

by Susan M. Neider

Book Overview

The Colorado Plateau, a stunning region of the American Southwest, remains an unmatched destination for travelers worldwide. Color Country is a complete guide to the spectacular landscapes,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0762736461
• ISBN13: 9780762736461
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Falcon Press Publishing
• Length: 119 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 8.5" x 10.9"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

A beautiful and informative book

I took Susan Neider's wonderful Color Country on our family's recent trip out west. We had never been there before, and traveling with Ms. Neider's book was like having our own personal tour guide. She tells you where all the "not to be missed" spots are in each park, and even the best time to see them. Then she provides great maps that make it foolproof to get there. We were never lost even once. We particularly appreciated the scenic route she recommends for approaching Monument Valley, and the detour to Goosenecks State Park, a wonderful spot our other guidebooks didn't even mention. And there was just the right amount of information about the geology of each area to keep us informed, and so well explained that we were still interested. She gives each site a Child Rating for its interest to children, and we found these to be spot-on. For example, she rates Mesa Verde a "5" (the highest child rating), and we all loved it. And now that we're home, Color Country has become our favorite souvenir. The photos are just plain amazing. This book is worth the price just for the portfolio of photographs alone.

Solid Information and Beautiful Photography

[...] Color Country provides travelers to the Colorado Plateau of Utah with essential information to get the lay of the land, a concise explanation of the geology of each park, a list of highlights, and gorgeous, honest photographs of the places covered. Dirt and gravel roads are not the focus of this touring guide; those who want more detail about backcountry travel would be advised to read an expert such as Michael Kelsey. However, even remote places like Kolob and Needles are, in fact, mentioned in the copy I bought. For the traveler looking for a superb overview, this book cuts to the quick and captures the essence of each park with finely-conceived text and images. Rating this book with one star is like buying a Brooks Brothers suit and then complaining because it didn't hold up when you went rock climbing in it.

Good Guide almighty

The photography is art and I am looking forward to our trip. I feel as if I've already been there.

Very impressive

Go to any Barnes and Noble and head to the photography section and you'll find stacks of books with wonderful photographs from all over the world. I do this every so often just to see the kind of amazing work that photographers are doing out there. It's also a great way to get ideas for photo subjects and travel destinations. I love these books and can spend hours thumbing through them. Well, I just got my hands on a book about the Colorado Plateau that you should check out. Published by Globe Pequot Press, Susan Neider's Color Country is a visual feast of colorful images that will make you want to hop in the car with your new digital camera and spend some time photographing one of our nation's most photogenic regions. A professional photographer and fan o' the West, Neider traveled through Canyonlands, Arches, Bryce, the Grand Canyon and several lesser-known areas to capture some of the best photos I've seen of the region. The book also contains maps, travel tips, notes on photography and geology, and it all comes in a relatively inexpensive paperback package that would make both an excellent table top conversation piece and a superb gift. I recommend checking it out.

An unusually literary photographic guide

I'm rarely moved to comment on a guidebook, and certainly not in regard to the literary quality of a volume that I acquired initially for its souvenir value as a photographic guide, but this is an exception. I recently made a long-hoped-for solo trip to "color country," and found the experience awesome, in the genuine sense of that term. Susan Neider's verbal characterization of the area, its features, and how it makes her feel captured my own experience brilliantly and movingly. Personally I can't wait to go back to explore, because I only had a little taste of a region that I sense can be profound as well as beautiful. Neider has very effectively reinforced that notion, and provided a lovely and knowledgeable companion for the journey.