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Best Wildflower Hikes Washington (Best Hikes)

Best Wildflower Hikes Washington (Best Hikes)

List Price: $18.95
Your Price: $12.89
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Best Wildflower Hikes in Washington (State)
Review: I looked forward to getting this book; after all, I've been an avid freelance nature photographer and hiker in this area for many years and had yet to see a title like this. Alas, after buying and reviewing it, I was a bit disappointed. Although it is well-organized (characteristic of "Mountaineers Books" publications) and has a thorough appearance, the photography and image-print quality, some incomplete or inadequate descriptions of locations listed, and the absence of any real photography advice was not up to what I felt could have been better standards. It feels like the Mountaineers took references from their other books, added (35 of 50) chapters written by Karen Sykes, (an avid hiker-journalist writing trail articles for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper and possible source material for the core of the book), used some older general location photographs (taken by Spring) and repackaged it under a new title / approach with enhanced text. See for yourself - wouldn't you expect the photography to be representative of the best wildflower areas being hiked ? Not so here. Instead, there are some general hiking trail shots, or photos of small flower patches, individual flower subjects, even critter portraits. But for most of it, nothing that visually justifies many locations being listed as the "Best Wildflower Hikes". Examples of choices I particularly question are the Rialto Beach, Burroughs Mountain chapters (these are largely barren of wildflowers, yet are listed among "Best Wildflower Hikes"?! and their representative photography leaves alot to the imagination). And why not "Skyline Divide" at Mount Baker? I also know of wonderful wildflower areas in Mount Rainier National Park not identified, even in chapters for those areas! It is sad thing, because although the book justly credits (the late) Ira Spring's historical contributions to other Mountaineers books, this book does not itself justify its own title. Nevertheless, the book is a decent reference to have.

For comparison, in Charles Gurche's book, "Washington's Best Wildflower Hikes" by Westcliffe Publishing, the representative photography is excellent and elegant throughout, the printing quality is superior to that of the Mountaineers Book. But Gurche's book lacks the specificity of wildflower locations coded with flower icons in the Mountaineers book; instead you read text to get an approximation of where the wildflowers are along the trail.

Not all chosen locations are shared by both books, which I found interesting. I'm biased towards the Gurche book - as he is a renowned photographer, whose critique is from a visually-sensitive perspective; and after all, that's what we're looking for: the Best wildflower scenes. I'd rate his book at 4 stars. There are strengths and weakness in each book - I'm glad I have both to supplement each other, but Gurche's book is far more visually satisfying - and I bought 2 extra copies of Gurche's book for a gift to fellow nature photographers.


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