Sharp End Publishing Favorite Hikes in and Around Zion National Park

Comments about Sharp End Publishing Favorite Hikes in and Around Zion National Park:

We are avid hikers of Zion National Park and are always on the hunt for new books with better trail descriptions, more detail and some hidden secrets too. Tanya and Bo did a wonderful job of culling the details into this book and sets a new bar for guide books of national parks. The hikes are wonderfully describe and makes you feel like you are right there hiking beside them. This has become one of our go-to hike guide books for the park and surrounding area and we have discovered so many new places because of it. I can't wait to get back to the park to explore more of this beautiful piece of earth. I highly recommend this to any outdoor adventurer!

Comments about Sharp End Publishing Favorite Hikes in and Around Zion National Park:

Edward Abbey wrote that "...you can't see anything from a car..." Having personally visited Zion from car and then later, on foot, I can confirm this is true. This guide will help you discover the same fact.

While the book focuses on the areas in and near Zion National Park, there are actually dozens of hikes described in the southern Utah area. It describes a wide range of hikes: from family-friendly day hikes on marked trails to technical slot canyons. The maps and descriptions are very good (I took two of the described hikes immediately after purchasing my copy) and include GPS coordinates for key locations.

The photography is very good and highlights the best features of each hike.

Comments about Sharp End Publishing Favorite Hikes in and Around Zion National Park:

Hiking books, for dedicated walkers, are like recipe books for serious cooks. A little reading produces a kind of fire in the mind: "I could do THAT!" We just need to assemble the ingredients and tools, clear some space in our schedule, and get to it. The prospect is enlivening, enticing, and almost irresistible.

But just as not all recipe books are created equal, so too with hiking books, of which I have a number. Some drone on like a catalog of plumbing parts, while others allow you to smell the air, to feel the brush on your arms, and to see the trees rising to the middle of the sky. Then, there are those that simply make you crazy. Milligan and Beck's "Favorite hikes..." is in that latter category.

This is simply the best hiking guide book of any kind I've ever seen, hands down. There are many reasons why I say this.

BOOK DESIGN: A remarkably beautiful book, this is a joy for the eyes. The book's color pallet is consistent and well chosen: earthy reds and yellows, low-intensity greens, and a darker slate blue that edges images and also appears in the shadows of some of the images. Low intensity colors indicating focal regions first appear in the table of contents, then are used to color-code page edges, so you always knows where you are in the book. Text layout uses numbered paragraphs and paragraph headers, both of which make access to page contents quick and clear. The maps offered are sharp, detailed, and well labeled. It's professional work, everywhere one looks.

IMAGE CHOICES: Photographs in the book, as other reviewers have commented, are simply outstanding. Few places in the world offer such visual variety as does this region, and these images make the case compellingly. At the same time, scale is well handled, for many images have people in them so one gets a good idea what it's like to be in a particular place. Often, double-page spreads feature both an image and a topographic map to provides context as well as trail routes. The implication is subtle but powerful: the image is explicit about the beauty to be found on a particular hike, but the map suggests that there is much, much more. Having done some of these hikes, I can attest that this suggestion is entirely accurate. You are offered enticing glimpses, but for the full experience you must get out on the land.

HIKE DESCRIPTIONS: I cannot recall ever having seen such thought-out and organized trail descriptions. Each begins with a terse summary of every imaginable relevant aspect of the hike, from best season to do the hike, to equipment needed (if any), to weather challenges likely to be encountered. Regarding the latter: this IS high desert country, and dramatic weather possibilities must always be kept in mind. Special attention is given to safety considerations, for reasons detailed below. In a following and separate section is a detailed itinerary of significant details of each hike.

HIKE SELECTIONS: In a book that by design is not encyclopedic, this has to be a difficult matter. Yet the choices made are delightful. The focus is on nine regions, from Zion to Bryce National Parks to the Paria and Grand Canyon areas, and beyond - all in under 200 pages. Many of the hikes are entirely or mostly merely walkable - without significant unusual challenges, even when offering the traveler extraordinary sights and experiences (see East Rim Trail, p. 44, for an example). But some of them are true adventures - not for the unwary or unskilled. Birch Hollow (p. 74) is fine example: an exceptional canyoneering adventure, requiring two hundred feet of rope, climbing harnesses, and other assorted technical equipment, it will be beyond the reach of most of the book's readers. But including it one is given a measure of the region's depth of outing possibilities in a way that simply cannot be made clear any other way. Whatever you can do, this hike says, there is yet more for you here (and reasons for repeat visits, as well).

EXPERT GUIDANCE: This is a country of cliffs, canyons, rough road, bone-chilling cold, and hot winds. You are told at the very beginning how to manage yourself here safely and comfortably. One of the authors is a housewife and mother, with no prior outdoor experience. The other is a member of the Zion National Park search and rescue team, and an experienced rock-climbing instructor. With that range of perspective, you can be assured that you will be told what you need to know, and that it will authoritative. It is also entertaining, for they do know how to tell a tale! One can only hope that this wonderful product of their efforts will have one or more sequels.

I live close-by the northern part of Zion National Park, yet have not seen much of it. This book makes the case that I would be foolish to stay indoors more than absolutely necessary. Wonders await. "Embrace tiger...return to mountain!"

Comments about Sharp End Publishing Favorite Hikes in and Around Zion National Park:

"Favorite Hikes..." is an incredible book by two folks who are great hikers/canyoneers. Lavishly illustrated, and with excellent, easy to follow information on accessing some of the most beautiful back-country locations. And these folks KNOW the back country, which I'm aware of from having had the good fortune to hike with them a couple of times. If you interested in southwestern Utah and want to see more than you can from your car, this is the reference for you.

Comments about Sharp End Publishing Favorite Hikes in and Around Zion National Park:

From decades of exploration, and a wonderful wealth of personal experience, the authors have given us a gem of a hiking guide. The rich variety of terrains explored will keep the casual hiker and hardened adventurer enriched and busy for many weekends!!!!