Rating: 
Summary: A Great Way to Cut to the Chase!
Review: As an experienced hiker, I found this to be one of the best guides I've ever encountered. Trails are ranked as "premier," "outstanding," "worthwhile," and "don't do," and the book is organized by ranking, so it is easy to find the very best hikes right away. Also useful are the suggestions for rainy day hikes and shoulder season trips. Rough maps of each of the parks showing the general locations of the hikes are helpful for overal itinerary and base planning. The "fact" section for each hike, showing directions to the trailhead and general route finding directions in the field is right on, and the "opinion" section adds just the right amount of subjective commentary. Photos of key sights are also helpful in evaluating trails. Lacking are any maps of the hikes themselves, but serious hikers should have proper topographical maps anyway, and the book tells you exactly which ones you need to acquire for each hike. The difficulty ratings may be a bit optimistic (Kathy and Craig are in better shape than most of us), but the book also gives the hard facts on distances, altitudes and elevation gains, to allow an informed evaluation of the difficulty involved. The general sections of the book on the hazards and realities of hiking do a tremendous job in covering critical safety information (including bears) in a scant 27 pages - must reading for any beginner, and a good refresher even for verterans. If I have one criticism, it is the author's obvious bias against trails frequented by other hikers. As my my most frequent hiking companion (my wife) has often said, sometimes there's a REASON all those other people are on the trail! However, even considering the book's inordinate concern with solitude, it's still an outstanding reference. I used it on a recent hiking trip to the Canadian Rockies, I will use it the next time I go, and I am pleased to add it to my library.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Way to Cut to the Chase!
Review: As an experienced hiker, I found this to be one of the best guides I've ever encountered. Trails are ranked as "premier," "outstanding," "worthwhile," and "don't do," and the book is organized by ranking, so it is easy to find the very best hikes right away. Also useful are the suggestions for rainy day hikes and shoulder season trips. Rough maps of each of the parks showing the general locations of the hikes are helpful for overal itinerary and base planning. The "fact" section for each hike, showing directions to the trailhead and general route finding directions in the field is right on, and the "opinion" section adds just the right amount of subjective commentary. Photos of key sights are also helpful in evaluating trails. Lacking are any maps of the hikes themselves, but serious hikers should have proper topographical maps anyway, and the book tells you exactly which ones you need to acquire for each hike. The difficulty ratings may be a bit optimistic (Kathy and Craig are in better shape than most of us), but the book also gives the hard facts on distances, altitudes and elevation gains, to allow an informed evaluation of the difficulty involved. The general sections of the book on the hazards and realities of hiking do a tremendous job in covering critical safety information (including bears) in a scant 27 pages - must reading for any beginner, and a good refresher even for verterans. If I have one criticism, it is the author's obvious bias against trails frequented by other hikers. As my my most frequent hiking companion (my wife) has often said, sometimes there's a REASON all those other people are on the trail! However, even considering the book's inordinate concern with solitude, it's still an outstanding reference. I used it on a recent hiking trip to the Canadian Rockies, I will use it the next time I go, and I am pleased to add it to my library.
Rating: 
Summary: Pulls no punches, and that's refreshing
Review: For as long as I can remember, my reference to Canadian Rocky Mountain hiking trails has been the venerable Canadian Rockies Trail Guide by Patton and Robinson, which, while easily the standard reference and required reading for every hiker, tends to avoid the question of whether a trail is worth doing or not. Except for masochistic marvels like the notorious Carrot Creek trail (removed from the 7th edition), Patton and Robinson are rather trail-agnostic: some trails are good day hikes, others are backpacking adventures for "explorers" with good route-finding skills. To each his/her own.The Copelands' Don't Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies isn't like that. The authors have an opinion of what constitutes a good hike: jaw-dropping scenery throughout the hike, and preferably above treeline. They discard lengthy, scenery-poor hikes like Howse Pass and Jasper National Park's boundary trails and rank the rest. They pull no punches and, if you understand and agree with their point of view, you find yourself nodding in agreement. The trails I've hiked have earned the rankings in this book -- for example, Paradise Valley and Helen Lake as "premier", Citadel Pass and Eiffel Lake as "outstanding", Chephren Lake as "don't do" (had I but known ... ). The Copelands include a few ridge walks and scree scrambles not covered by the Patton/Robinson guide, which aren't my cup of tea. They are also more apt to point out trails that present a higher risk of a bear encounter (e.g. Maccarib Pass and Glacier Lake, and it's one of the reasons why they don't include Banff Front Range trails). On the other hand, there are no trail maps, and I find the descriptions more thorough in Patton and Robinson. As a result, you should get both guides, since each makes up for the shortcomings of the other: you need the raw data and authority of Patton and Robinson as much as you need the opinion of the Copelands.
Rating:
Summary: Good but more opinions wanted
Review: I am about to travel to the Rockies with this book as my basic guide. It is great to have a book that actually gives an opinion on what's worthwhile or not. I did hope for more opinion and more geographic guidance, however. One trail is listed as one of the top five trails but the other four are not mentioned which is a shame. Of course, all opinions are subjective and i was surprised to see that Crypt Lake was only in the second class Outstanding category. I found this trail to be extraordinary; but am willing to accept that the Premier Trails listed are even better. Having never walked the Premier trails i found it very difficult to follow the verbal description of the trails. I am now in the process of ordering appropriate topo maps to go with the book.
Rating:
Summary: What They Observe Is What You Get, Most Of The Time. . .
Review: I am an "over 50" hiker with more than 30 years of hiking in the North Cascades and have been to the Canadian Rockies four times in the past five years. I have hiked 12 of the "Premier" and "Outstanding" day hikes and 3 of the backpack hikes including three perfect days at Berg Lake. (For someone who is interested in photography and scenery, their rating system is very fair.) However, the scenery is so spectacular that you would be hard pressed to make much distinction between the "Premier" and "Outstanding" hikes. Remember, the book is opinionated but you don't always have to agree. Don't always rely on the ratings. Often, they "downgrade" an area because of crowds rather than a lack of scenery or a long approach. (For example, Cavell Meadows, Parker Ridge, and the Beehives tend to be crowded but are worth "sharing" with others.) And thanks to this book, you had better get used to sharing ALL of the hikes and backpacks with others!!! (I would also highly recommend their book, Don't Waste Your Time In The North Cascades. It is the best single reference book for hikes in the Cascade Mountains.)
Rating:
Summary: What They Observe Is What You Get, Most Of The Time. . .
Review: I am an "over 50" hiker with more than 30 years of hiking in the North Cascades and have been to the Canadian Rockies four times in the past five years. I have hiked 12 of the "Premier" and "Outstanding" day hikes and 3 of the backpack hikes including three perfect days at Berg Lake. (For someone who is interested in photography and scenery, their rating system is very fair.) However, the scenery is so spectacular that you would be hard pressed to make much distinction between the "Premier" and "Outstanding" hikes. Remember, the book is opinionated but you don't always have to agree. Don't always rely on the ratings. Often, they "downgrade" an area because of crowds rather than a lack of scenery or a long approach. (For example, Cavell Meadows, Parker Ridge, and the Beehives tend to be crowded but are worth "sharing" with others.) And thanks to this book, you had better get used to sharing ALL of the hikes and backpacks with others!!! (I would also highly recommend their book, Don't Waste Your Time In The North Cascades. It is the best single reference book for hikes in the Cascade Mountains.)
Rating: 
Summary: Nice, but not necessary
Review: I bought this book and "The Candian Rockies Trail Guide" in preparation for two weeks for backpacking and dayhiking in the Mountain Parks, from which I just returned.
I went on many of the hikes described in the book and found that they mostly coincided with my personal impression, but most of the time I would have been able form that opinion from reading the more factual "Trail Guide" description only, together with the respective Gemtrek map, which you will need anyway. So, basically, this is a nice addition to the "Trail Guide", which itself is indespensable.
Rating:
Summary: Nice, but not necessary
Review: I bought this book and "The Candian Rockies Trail Guide" in preparation for two weeks for backpacking and dayhiking in the Mountain Parks, from which I just returned.
I went on many of the hikes described in the book and found that they mostly coincided with my personal impression, but most of the time I would have been able form that opinion from reading the more factual "Trail Guide" description only, together with the respective Gemtrek map, which you will need anyway. So, basically, this is a nice addition to the "Trail Guide", which itself is indespensable.
Rating:
Summary: As an experienced hiker I was disappointed
Review: I recently returned from a trip to the Canadian Rockies with other experienced hikers. We are all in very good shape, but we found the level reviews way off the mark. Hikes rated easy or moderate winded most of us. Hikes rated as 'missable' were at least as impressive as some of the top-rated hikes. While some of the opinions were valid, overall we were all disappointed in the mixed and inaccurate messages.
Rating:
Summary: Opinionated it us, and it is useful for the most part
Review: If you are planning to do much hiking in the area, this book is a valuable resource. Based on the several hikes we took (all but one in the "premier" categogy), we agreed with its evaluations of the scenic worth. Without this book, we would not have made reservations for the bus the Lake O'Hara in Yoho National Park where we found the best scenery and hiking of our trip. However, the authors seem to rate difficulty of the hikes based more on the distance rather than the steepness or elevation change. On several hikes we did not agree with these ratings. We (a couple in our 50s in reasonably good condition and experienced day hikers) found shorter hikes called easy in the book to be moderate to somewhat strenuous and a longer hike rated moderate to be fairly easy. The authors' second date was a 20 mile day hike, so they are almost certainly stronger hikers than most of the readers. Make your own evaluations based on the hikes' lengths, elevation changes, and descriptions.
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