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- The Day Hiker’s Guide to Stanley, Idaho, by Scott Marchant: This guide book of 46 hikes within 30 miles of Stanley, Idaho, is one of my favorites for the area. The Stanley, Redfish, Sawtooth area is particularly picturesque, with great views of the mountain peaks from the valley floor, and, even greater up-close and personal views of the lakes, waterfalls, and peaks, from the hiking trails. Goat Falls, Hike 18 in the guide book, is one of many examples of the sights to be seen. This guide has several ways to select your hike: A general area-map showing the hike locations, a text listing of localized geographic areas, and a listing of hikes based upon preferences such as view hikes, wildflower hikes, trails by distance, and early season hikes. Each individual hike begins with easy to read summary trail and trailhead location, and description of the trail. Hike details then follow, with a contour/topo map of the trail. In addition of containing many of the most visited trails in the Sawtooths such as Alpine Creek, this guide also contains some lessor known, seldom visited hikes, that provide great solitude and views, such as Blue Bunch Mountain. This guide book beckons a “check off each hike” following.
- Hiking Hells Canyon and Idaho’s Seven Devils Mountains, by Fred Barstad: This Falcon Guide caught my attention when I discovered it had the Snake River National Recreation Trail #102 and it also covered part of the Primitive section of that trail….few others do. In addition, the High Water Route around the low spot on the Snake River near the mouth of Granite Creek is also in this book. While the book was written in 2001, I was able to use the High Water Route description (Hike 41 in the book) and find that old, seldom used, route, demonstrating the hike descriptions are detailed and thorough. And the coverage of the Seven Devils Trails appear very complete, even covering some cross country routes. In addition, this guide book covers trails on the Oregon side of the Hells Canyon. If/when hiking in Hells Canyon or Seven Devils, I highly recommend this book.
- Boise Backcountry Adventures, by Sandy Epeldi: There are so many good things about this book I don’t know where to start! But I know it is just fun to pick up this book, browse through it, and dream about trails to hike, most which are just a short drive from Boise. While this review is under Hiking books, it should be noted that some of the trails can be accessed by both ATV’s and motorcycles, and available for equestrian use. The books use icons clearly show the trail use type. And the layout make the individual trails easy to browse for features. The regional map locations make the general trail locations easy to find. The Introduction is particularly well written and covers many topics useful to beginning and experienced trail users.