Basic Essentials Solo Hiking

Rating:
Summary: Excellent beginner's book
Review: This is an excellent introduction to solo hiking and backpacking. It's well-written, but doesn't lose the reader in minute, mind-boggling detail that is really relevant only to experienced hikers undertaking longer treks into real wilderness. She hits the target of helping the recreational, weekend hiker learn to travel alone. Her discussion of gear is particularly good. She covers the principles of gear (tarp vs. tent vs. bivy sack, or white gas vs. canister stove, for example) very well. She explains how to choose gear that fits your camping style, but she doesn't get bogged down in the endless variety of brands and models (which change about every other month.) She does a good job of covering skills that the solo hiker needs, but she does assume the reader has some basic knowledge of weekend-style backpacking and camping. That knowledge can be found in the excellent companion volume, Basic Essentials: Backpacking (which Adrienne Hall co-authored with Harry Roberts.) If you intend to backpack mostly on well-established trails in national parks and national forests, taking mostly weekend trips (and maybe a week-long trip every couple years), you may never need any other books to help you enjoy the sport.