Hiking Grand Teton National Park

Rating:
Summary: Hiking Grand Teton National Park
Review: Having read this book and just spent a week using it in hiking in the Tetons, I found it generally useful and accurate. The maps and directions for finding trailheads are good, and the mileage counter provided gives a good indication of progress on the walks. I would make several recommendations for changes, however. First, I disagree with the level of difficulty ranking for some of the trails. For instance, the Amphitheater Lake trail is clearly more strenuous and difficult than the Holly Lake trail. Second, there should be numerical figure giving the actual elevation gain in addition to the useful elevation profile graph. Finally, the book did not include the excellent Hanging Canyon trail, which though unmaintained, is still a great climb. I found the book Day Hiking Grand Teton National Park by Tom Carter to be equally useful and much more packable based on its small size.

Rating:
Summary: Hiking Grand Teton National Park
Review: Having read this book and just spent a week using it in hiking in the Tetons, I found it generally useful and accurate. The maps and directions for finding trailheads are good, and the mileage counter provided gives a good indication of progress on the walks. I would make several recommendations for changes, however. First, I disagree with the level of difficulty ranking for some of the trails. For instance, the Amphitheater Lake trail is clearly more strenuous and difficult than the Holly Lake trail. Second, there should be numerical figure giving the actual elevation gain in addition to the useful elevation profile graph. Finally, the book did not include the excellent Hanging Canyon trail, which though unmaintained, is still a great climb. I found the book Day Hiking Grand Teton National Park by Tom Carter to be equally useful and much more packable based on its small size.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good overview of the Teons
Review: This book gives a pretty good summary of the hiking trails in Grand Teton National Park. My one complaint would be regarding the trail for Granite Canyon/Rendevous mountains (Chapter 3). The elevation map showed the trail being flat at the end. You actually ascend a bit at the end. I wish I had known that before because I was pretty tired at the end. Other than that, I found the book accurate, and a a great guide to hiking in the area.

Rating:
Summary: Best all-around guide for hiking the Tetons
Review: This guide lists 35 trails, organized by region. Unlike (say) the Yellowstone guide it does not sort the trails into short, medium, and long hikes. Like other Falcon guides, it provides maps of each trail and valuable information about elevations and steepness. Each listing include elevation diagrams that are very useful for letting you know what you are getting yourself into.

This is probably the best all-around guide to hiking the Grand Tetons. It's especially useful for finding good hikes while sitting at home. Bill Schneider writes well and does a good job describing the hikes so that you can decide which ones are best for you. Like other Falcon guides it has a chart listing best flat terrain day hike, best wildlife viewing, most strenuous, best scenery, and so on.