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Rating: 
Summary: Good general guide to hiking Idaho
Review: Falcon's guides are consistently good references to the areas they cover, and this is no exception. Reading it will inform you about the many excellent wilderness hiking opportunities in this beautiful state. For more specifics on an area, like the Sawtooths, also consider one of Lynn Stone's books, like Hiking Idaho's Sawtooth Country.
Rating:
Summary: Great information, but not as helpful as it could be.
Review: The trail descriptions are great. The maps are great. The depth is great.BUT, there are two things this book is missing that any good hiking book has. Each and every trail description in this book has a 'quick glance' section which lists a quick description, general location, maps, special attractions, difficulty, season and contacts for more information - BUT not trail LENGTH or an estimated time to complete! You have to read the entire description to find the length and probably won't find an estimate of the time required. Sure, this is OK if your friend recommended hike 'X' and you want to look it up. But, it is terrible if you are looking for a hike of, say, 6 miles that you can complete in 3 hours. It's just not readily available - you'd have to read the whole book! Even better, many guides have an index of sorts where you can see this information (and the availablity of backcountry campsites) for all trails at a glance, then go to the specific trail(s) that interest you. This is what this otherwise great guide is missing. I returned mine and picked up 'Trails of Western Idaho' by Margaret Fuller instead - which does contain this information. Ms. Fuller's book is older (1992 vs. 1995 for this Falcon Guide), but not terribly so. She has some newer revisions for her other quides and I'm hoping this one will be reviced soon as well!
Rating:
Summary: Great information, but not as helpful as it could be.
Review: The trail descriptions are great. The maps are great. The depth is great. BUT, there are two things this book is missing that any good hiking book has. Each and every trail description in this book has a 'quick glance' section which lists a quick description, general location, maps, special attractions, difficulty, season and contacts for more information - BUT not trail LENGTH or an estimated time to complete! You have to read the entire description to find the length and probably won't find an estimate of the time required. Sure, this is OK if your friend recommended hike 'X' and you want to look it up. But, it is terrible if you are looking for a hike of, say, 6 miles that you can complete in 3 hours. It's just not readily available - you'd have to read the whole book! Even better, many guides have an index of sorts where you can see this information (and the availablity of backcountry campsites) for all trails at a glance, then go to the specific trail(s) that interest you. This is what this otherwise great guide is missing. I returned mine and picked up 'Trails of Western Idaho' by Margaret Fuller instead - which does contain this information. Ms. Fuller's book is older (1992 vs. 1995 for this Falcon Guide), but not terribly so. She has some newer revisions for her other quides and I'm hoping this one will be reviced soon as well!
Rating:
Summary: pretty good MTB guide for Idaho
Review: This is NOT A HIKING GUIDE. This is a MTB guide to Idaho, a
fact which eluded the previous two reviewers. THERE ARE time and
difficulty ratings for each trail. It is well done and worth
your time if you are into MTB and would be in Idaho. It also
has altitude changes for the rides. Very helpful. Enjoy.
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