Hiking Indiana (America's Best Day Hiking Series)

Rating:
Summary: Wander Indiana with this great day hiking guide
Review: Hiking Indiana is an organized guide to finding your way around on foot. When I opened Hiking Indiana, the first surprise was its "workbook" format - the pages are perforated on the edge to be torn out and packed. It's really a book to be used and become as worn out as a hiker after a good day on the trails. The first pages include a Trail Finder chart and a state map with numbers matching the table of contents that is organized by North, Central and South regions of the state. There are 45 parks or cities as chapters that include several Trail Sites and Trails. Park Facilities are shown by key icons, miles listed and Trail Difficulty Rating that is shown by 1 boot for easiest and 5 for most difficult trails. The chart also shows Terrain/Landscape with checkmarks for hills, prairie/grass, forest, lake, wetlands, overlook and river/stream. I was also surprised to see historic trails and city trails such as Madison's Historic District Walking Tour, Columbus' Architecture Walk, and Indianapolis' Canal Walk and Eagle Creek Bird Sanctuary Loop. There's even a canoe trail for those, as they said, with extra hour to give feet a rest. There are maps of parks and trails, but you'll need your atlas or state road map to get to the site. The narrative is an easy read and informative. Sally McKinney includes cautions, such as the trail goes through remote, forested hill country and to let park officials know when you leave and expect to return, to check back in or park officials may go looking for you. Another caution is when you have to walk through shallow water - a creek without a bridge, and which trails to watch for plenty of droppings from waterfowl. Hiking Indiana throws in tidbits on the state's history. Ouabache State Park has a Wildlife Exhibit Loop with bison, and 'Did you know that a bison image decorates the Indiana state seal?' This is a book to leaf through and explore. I really liked Hiking Indiana since it is a good read, lets you explore places to go, and made it all interesting. I am ready and motivated to go from wannabe hiker to getting out the hiking boots.

Rating:
Summary: State park rehash
Review: I was disappointed. A large part of this book draws on the Indiana state park system. Granted, the parks have some wonderful trails, but trail maps are distributed when you enter the parks. This book gives you little of the adventurous or out-of-the-way.