Boulder Hiking Trails : The Best of the Plains, Foothills, and Mountains (3rd ed)

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good But Poor Maps
Review: I liked the variety of trails in this book, as I am interested in only the Boulder area right now. However, the maps in the book are fairly poor illustrations that aren't very helpful, and can be confusing at times. All in all, I'd give it a 3.5 if that was possible score here...

Rating:
Summary: The sweet taste of Boulder trail dust.
Review: Situated in the foothills of the Rockies, surrounded by lots of Open Space, and with miles of trails within fifteen minutes of the downtown, Pearl Street Mall area, Boulder is truly a hiker's paradise. Whenever Boulder tourists ask me to recommend a good hiking trail, I always refer them to this trail guide instead. Although it is "intended chiefly for newcomers and visitors to the Boulder area" (p. xi), as a resident and avid Boulder-hiker-dude, I have also relied upon it as a valuable reference for determining trail connections, distances, and elevation gains. Having hiked most of the seventy-five trails in this book mostly alone, I can say that the book's trail and map details are accurate.

This "best of" hiking guide is organized by trails found in the Boulder plains, foothills, and mountains, and offers hikers Boulder's most popular trail options, including the Boulder Creek Path (p. 25), the Mount Sanitas Loop (p. 68), and the Chautauqua Park Mesa Trail (p. 84), as well as many less-crowded trails, like my personal favorites, the Bear Peak trail via Fern Canyon (p. 104) and the Green Mountain trail via Gregory Canyon and Saddle Rock trails (pp. 77; 79; 81), and my favorite higher-elevation trails in the spectacular Indian Peaks Wilderness, 13,223-foot Mount Audubon (p. 139) and 12,541-foot Pawnee Pass (p. 143).

Although the authors obviously have Boulder trail dust in their blood like me, I have never met them. Ruth Cushman is a retired librarian and author of the COLORADO NATURE ALMANAC and BOULDER COUNTY NATURE ALMANAC. Glen Cushman has an aerospace engineer's eye for important details. Whereas they recommend that you don't hike these trails alone for safety reasons (p. 241), I say don't hike Boulder trails alone if you're afraid of encountering silence, wildlife, or yourself.

G. Merritt