Lassen Volcanic National Park and Vicinity: A Natural History Guide to Lassen Volcanic National Park, Caribou Wilderness, Thousand Lakes Wilderness,

Rating:
Summary: What a disappointment
Review: I can't believe others are reviewing this book so highly. It is an OK natural-history guide, with a decent general overview of the area. But don't try to get anywhere with this book or look for specific information. For example, although it has individual chapters for each region (e.g. Caribou wilderness, Thousand Lakes, etc.), they don't contain any information on geology, fishing, zoology, etc. Instead, these topics are lumped into their own general chapters in the front of the book. With the notable exception of the wildflowers section, these chapters seem somewhat topical and weak. In the case of fishing, the "chapter" is one page. Likewise with resorts and campgrounds, which are lumped into a three-page list in a separate chapter, rather than discussed by region.

Although it contains one nice topo for the entire Lassen area, the 1:62500 scale and lack of detailed maps for any of the sections makes finding trailheads or following trails nearly impossible. I guess it's just not clear what this book is trying to be -- if it is a natural-history guide, as the back cover proclaims, why so much space describing trails(half the book or more)? If it is a trail guide, why no decent maps to make it usable?

Rating:
Summary: Not a book for backpackers
Review: I was very disappointed in the overall format and descriptive narrative of this book. If you are a rock hound or a naturalist that is concerned with all of the Latin names of every plant species in the Lassen area, this review may not apply. However, if you plan on using this book to help plan a multi-day backpacking/hiking trip through Lassen you should look elsewhere.

No doubt the author is very knowledgeable about the area, but the format is not for trip planning, but more for reference to read as you are walking the trails. The trails are not linked in loops, or connected for round-trip hikes in any discernable way which is a necessity for trip planning in my opinion. Overall, this book is great if you want to catalogue volcanic rock and plants, but if you are planning a backcountry trek look for another hiking guide.

Rating:
Summary: The best value in hiking books
Review: The Lassen book is great with good trail descriptons. I recomend Schaffer's books to any one who enjoys hikeing. Most of his books come with a map.

Rating:
Summary: Nice guide - more than just trails, too
Review: This book is an encyclopedic guide to the Lassen Volcanic National Park area, including Lassen itself, the Caribou and Thousand Lakes Wildernesses, Hat Creek Valley, and McArthur-Burney Falls State Park.

While the book covers its main focus - hiking trails - more than adequately, it also includes more than one hundred pages about the natural history of the area, road logs for driving in the National Park, descriptions of nature trails, and a decent, removable map of the area. Although the main text is somewhat dated (1981), a helpful six-page update from 1999 is included. All this information does make the book a little bulky for hiking or backpacking, so photocopy the pages you'll need before you hit the trail. (And remember that big guidebooks with lots of information are better than those that don't have enough!)

The only criticism I have to offer is that Schaffer tends to ramble off-track in some of his trail descriptions, but this is a minor complaint. All in all, a good, comprehensive guidebook to the area.