Canadian Rockies Trail Guide

Rating:
Summary: This book will lead you to incredible scenery
Review: I used this book while hiking for a week in Banff and Yoho National Parks in September '03. It thoroughly covers trails in Banff, Jasper, Yoho, Koontenay, Waterton Lakes, Mount Robson and several other areas with accurate descriptions so one knows when to take the fork in the trail and when to stay straight. The book is designed in a very clean manner.

It starts with a basic introduction on things you need to be aware of when hiking in the Rockies such as bears and weather. Then comes the listing of trails for each park. How it works is that they divide each park into smaller sections, and each section is preceded by a map showing all the trails in that area. Next to each trail is a trail number. So you look at the map and see a trail you are interested in, flip a few pages to the page titled with that trail number and you get all the details you need. Or vice-versa...Read the different trail descriptions until one captures your interest and then flip over to the map and look for the trail with that trail number to get an idea of the layout of your hike.

The trail descriptions also show elevation gain and loss, maximum elevation, distance, and approximate time it will take to complete the hike. It also details on how to reach the trail-head by car and good times of the year to do certain trails. Many trail descriptions are accompanied by photos taken on that trail so get an idea of what you will see.

The other book I got was Don't Waste Your Time in The Canadian Rockies. It is unnecessary and less useful. That book has no trail maps and is not as thorough as the Trail Guide. The Canadian Rockies Trail Guide is 450 pages of trails that will lead you to scenes that seem impossibly beautiful.

Rating:
Summary: Seventh edition better than ever!!
Review: This has been "The Hiker's Bible" for over 30 years and is now in its seventh edition still in print. The new edition has added trails in adjacent provincial parks making it the only trail guide to cover the five national mountain parks (Banff, Jasper, Yoho, Kootenay and Waterton Lakes) and five adjoining provincial parks (Mt. Robson, Mt. Assiniboine, Peter Lougheed / Kananaskis, Elk Lakes and Akamina-Kishinena.)

The trail descriptions are complete and accurate and the maps are adequate. There are references to government topo maps and GemTrek maps for those who want more detail. This is still the best of all the Canadian Rockies Books and is readily available through Canadian stores in the area.