60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Portland, 2nd

Rating:
Summary: An excellent Hiking Guide for NW Oregon and SW Washington
Review: 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles : Portland (60 Hikes Within 60 Miles)
by Paul Gerald is incredibly well written and includes great maps and a rating system that is very useful. I just love my copy and strongly recomend this book to those looking to get out into the great outdoors.

Rating:
Summary: Well written and well researched
Review: An excellent guide for day trips around Portland. The author is an acqaintance of mine and on several occasions I witnessed the care with which he took in making book an accurate guide to Portland-area hiking. Gerald is a great writer and he not only gives you the details of the hike (like clear directions on how to get there, an art all too often lost in Portland hiking books), but puts the hike in a brief desciptive context of history, forestry and asthetics that is rare in a hiking book. The book helps the hiker know more about Oregon and its natural treasures.

Rating:
Summary: Fun collection of hikes, but the book itself is weak
Review: Great idea for a book- put together a list of hikes that makes it easy to decide what to do outdoors on a surprise sunny day off that are a short drive from a large urban area. Alas, the devil is in the details- the writing is adequate (you'd have to be a pretty poor writer to blow it in a three paragraph description) but the editing is atrocious. When compared to a Falcon Press, Nauvilus, or Mountaineers Book, it is obvious that the publisher has no clue about the subject matter. For example, it's organized strangely- hikes are organized by placename, not physical location. (Since the book's premise is based on a geographic organization, I would have assumed that it would have come naturally)

The real downfall of this book is that there are no descriptive maps to speak of and the driving directions aren't as clear they should be. While this book has plenty of other faults, it would have been nice to know details like which hikes need a high ground clearance vehicle to reach, or what seasons are appropriate for a given hike.

This book is dirt cheap, which is both a blessing and a curse- meaning that a limited run publisher isn't going to put much money into editing. The glaring lack of editorial direction seriously diminishes the utility of the book. I can't see how anyone who has actually used this book, aside from the author or his friends and family, could give this book five stars.

Rating:
Summary: These are enthusiastically recommended excursions
Review: Now in an updated and expanded second edition, 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles by hiking expert and travel writer Paul Gerald showcases a full sixty superbly developed trails within an hour's drive of Portland, Oregon. These are enthusiastically recommended excursions that offer mountain views, forest solitudes, magnificent waterfalls, and wonderful ocean beaches. From flower-filled meadows on Saddle Mountain to a spectacular view of Multnomah Falls (the highest in the state), 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles is additionally enhanced with a list of hikes appropriate for children, ideal for wildlife watching, impressive for multi-use, seclusion, and local history.

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Summary: A marvelous read, especially for a hiking guide
Review: Over the past 25 years I've bought dozens of Pacific Northwest hiking guides and this is just about the most enjoyable one I've ever owned. It is about the only hiking guide I've ever sat down and systematically read from cover to cover, simply because it was such a joy to read and because it contained so many treasures. The author isn't merely interested in telling you how to get there and how not to miss a turn in the trail, but he shows a genuine love for each of these hikes, pointing out what is amazing about each of them, often giving a little history about the trail or other anecdotes associated with a hike, including personal experiences which are genuinely amusing or informative. I especially enjoy his appreciation of trails through old growth forests, something you don't often see in hiking guides. Most hiking guides seem to get worked up only by big, expansive views, but this author sees beauty and magnificence on all scales. Although I was familiar with at least half of these hikes, I learned about a lot of new ones that I've already started exploring. For example, check out the old growth noble firs along the PCT from Barlow Pass to the overlooks at White River Canyon. These trees are absolutely mind-boggling, not because they're big around but because they grow so amazingly tall and straight. It stimulated me to read more about these trees and I learned that they can soar into such heights with so little girth because the wood is hard and light. No Douglas Fir could get this tall without putting six feet of girth on themselves. Here you see flawless, branchless trunks as straight as nature can make them, no more than three to four feet in diameter with no perceptible taper rising two hundred feet like the pillars in a cathedral before finally displaying a puff of foliage at the top no more than 15 feet wide and 30 feet tall. And then the emerald forest of moss-infested silver firs and mountain hemlocks that follow closer to timberline have the head shaking in wonder over such stunning beauty. Thanks to this author, I discovered this incredibly beautiful section of trail after hiking all over Mt. Hood for 25 years without having discovered it. There are lots of other new possibilities of this magnitude for me that I am eager to try out, thanks to the enthusiasm and attention to detail of this author.

Rating:
Summary: Fun collection of hikes, but the book itself is weak
Review: This is a fun idea for a book- the writing is adequate (you'd have to be a pretty poor writer to blow it in a three paragraph description) but the editing could use some work. When compared to a Falcon Press, Nauvilus, or Mountaineers Book, it is obvious that the publisher has no clue about the subject matter. For example, it's organized strangely- hikes are organized by placename, not physical location. Furthernore, there are no descriptive maps to speak of, and the driving directions aren't as clear they could be. This book has plenty of other faults, but it would have been nice to know that the hike to (fill in the blank) has an access road that's high ground clearance vehicles only. (That's only one example of an omission, there are dozens of others.)

This book is dirt cheap, meaning that a limited run publisher isn't going to put much money into editing. This glaring lack of editorial direction really sinks the utility of the book. I can't see how anyone aside from the author or his relatives could give this book five stars.