The other day I went crazy on Amazon.com and bought a bunch of books about hiking with dogs and hiking in general in our region. The first group I will tell you about focuses on the Shenandoah National Park and are Falcon Guides.
The first book – Hiking Shenandoah National Park by Bert and Jane Gildart is a must have! While it is a general hiking guide, it will tell you if dogs are not allowed on a particular trail or if it is unsafe for dogs to drink the water – very important!
What I really appreciate about this guide is the detailed information about each trail, especially the elevation change information. Three miles is one thing, three miles with an 800 ft. elevation change and rock scrambles is something totally different. This is a must have if you are heading to SNP!
The second book, also by Bert and Jane, is Best Easy Day Hikes: Shenandoah National Park. As the name suggests, this is a subset of the previous book and as such is smaller and thinner – great for the daypack when you head out. The way we typically use the two books is to do “homework” and planning with the first book then carry this one in the pack when doing an easier hike. A nice to have.
Finally, I tried Shenandoah National Park Pocket Guide (Bert and Jane still). This one is a disappointment, so don’t fall for it. I was hoping it would be something even more compact that I could take in my pack but other than the fun pop-out maps in the beginning and end, it really doesn’t have much value. Skip this one.
Got a favorite book or guide? Tell us about it!
[...] scenery, configuration and more. If you have read other guides or even the ones I talked about last time, this is the type of book you are used [...]