Hiking Shenandoah National Park

by Bert Gildart and Jane Gildart

Book Overview

Completely updated this edition provides detailed descriptions and maps of fifty-nine of the best hikes in the park From easy day hikes to strenuous backpacking trips this guide will provide readers... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0762734140
• ISBN13: 9780762734146
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Falcon Press Publishing
• Length: 189 Pages
• Weight: 3.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Very informative and useful information

I bought this book on a spotaneous day trip to SNP. I had planned to hike one of the few trails I knew about in the area and stopped at a wayside to look throught the books to get more info on the trail or even consider an alternative. I discovered this book in the store and was suprised to know that there are so many good trails in the park. I think most people are only aware of the most popular trails and this guides has many alternatives. So far I have tried 2 of the trails listed and the descriptions and maps were excellent and accurate. Most importantly this book has informed me of many new trails within 2 hours of where of live that I had not been aware of. The descriptions of the trails provide me with great information to decide which ones I want to try. I expect that this guide will be very useful for many years to come.

3rd edition review

NOTICE READERS OF THESE REVIEWS: seems the reviews for the 1998 edition is the same reviews for the 3rd edition (Jan'06), I'm sure there's been updates and corrections in the past 8 years. (different ISBN numbers) more comments added 9-27-2006: I'm beginning to appreciate this book the more I use it. Table of contents lists all the hikes in order of MilePost on Skyline Dr. Each Hike # has the Milepost at starting Trailhead, difficulty, traffic, and other useful info. Then a description of the hike, a graph chart of the Topo vertical change, and signicant 'encounters' broken down to .01 of a mile. and of course a "Trail Map" But wait there's more: Dont overlook the APPENDIX in the back, where each hike is categorized by difficulty (Easy, Moderate, Strenuous) and by type (Views and Waterfalls). SO, in my case, instead of reading every single hike in order, I jumped to the Appendix and planned all my Waterfalls hikes. Aug'06 I have the 3rd edition, and it helps fill-in the gaps to the waterfalls books of virgina I bought. I like hiking to waterfalls, and this book adds more hiking details, than the waterfalls books. Any one interested in hiking trails in SNP, can also access the National park service web page and choose Shenandoah and they have trail "maps".

Excellent guide with useful maps and elevation profiles

I have been day-hiking in Shenandoah NP for 4 years now, and I find this guide indispensable. I find one of previous reviewers' comments odd - this book provides very detailed TOPO maps plus elevation profiles for each hike, what more can one ask for? Also, what can one possibly want from "illustrations"? Sure, the pictures are not that great, but this is a hiking guide! You should actually use it on the trails ... unless one is an "armchair hiker". I know a book like this cannot cover every trail in the park, but some omissions I find hard to dismiss. For example, it has Mary's Rock, Buck Hollow and Hazel Falls trails (all on one map no less), but it omitted Meadow Spring trail, which starts from the same place as Buck Hollow and Hazel Falls trails, cuts to the AT, then leads to Mary's Rock summit. It is shorter and less steep than Mary's Rock trail in the book (which starts from Panorama). In my opinion this is one of the most delightful trails in the park, along the way you can see burnt tree trunks, apparently from previous forest fires and a ruin of a fireplace and chimney, most certainly remnants of the mountain men's dwellings, not to mention it also leads to the same breath-taking view of Mary's Rock. It being only 1.3 miles long and returns to the same place where the other two trails start leaves ample time for one to pick one of those to complete a day's hike. This trail is not found in the Best Easy Day Hikes either, while the other Mary's Rock trail appears in both books, this is just one of the omissions hard to dismiss. Overall though, I like this book and would highly recommend it to those who want to go out and hike the park.

Excellent and Informative

This book is a great companion for anyone hiking in Shenandoah. Each hike gives a very accurate description of the trail along with the degree of difficulty and elevation changes.

Excellent and succinct guide

The guide is excellent. It is very well organized and very clear. I've hiked atleast 15 hikes following the guides in this book. A very, very worthwhile investment for the serious to occasional hiker.