Non-Technical Canyon Hiking Guide to the Colorado Plateau, 6th Edition Perfect Paperback – April 11, 2011

I rarely review books, and I have bought countless guidebooks; it's not that I feel that I need the books, it's just an addiction and a fun way to plan for trips. It wasn't until I purchased Kelsey's book on the Paria Canyon that I finally realized what a truly good guidebook was: informative, thorough, exhaustive and unapologetically authentic. Yes, the font is small and cluttered. Yes, the maps are hand-drawn (but accurate). Yes, he likes to rail against BLM/NPS bureaucracy. Yes, there is almost as much history as trail description. And yes, no one knows Utah better than Mike Kelsey.If you enjoy planning trips, and getting immersed in a place that you've never been but want to explore, these are the books for you. This book doesn't give you "50 Hikes in 50 Days!!" a la Backpacker Magazine, Falcon Guides books (which are generally trash), etc. You have to actually READ the book. And if you READ the book, you'll find that Kelsey offers you, the reader, more than most authors could ever dream to provide. He avoids hyperbole, but you can see his passion for the Colorado Plateau in his committment to giving his readers a chance to visit places that most Utah guidebooks won't mention because you might sue them if you get lost. His road conditions updates are great, he always prefaces his expectations versus others, and for those who say that he makes things look too easy...again, read the WHOLE book, including the introduction. I recently purchased his recently updated book on the Canyonlands, and it is far and away the best Canyonlands resource I have ever seen.Again, give Kelsey a chance, and you won't regret it. When I first glanced at my first Kelsey purchase, I was admittedly skeptical, but once I visited the places that he directed me to, with his book in hand, I became a believer. I will cherish these guidebooks for years to come, and hope that my children will love them as much as I do twenty years from now.

It's perplexing to see so many poor reviews written towards Kelsey and his wonderful books. After some research I have come to the conclusion that most were written by elitist, selfish, environmental extremist hypocrites that seem to hate him because he opened up their personal playground to everyday people like the majority of us.His books are not perfect...but only an idiot would expect them to be. This book is a basic guide designed to point you in the right direction with some items of interest along the way. Just take his data subjectively and no big deal. So what if he spells some words different, I had no trouble understanding anything. I will admit, the metric system is a pain, but I simply convert all info before I go. I guess he does brag a little, big deal, if he wants to toot his own horn go for it. If I could do what he's done, I'd toot mine too.This book has an immense amount of information about a lifetime of hikes for the average person. Although this particular book doesn't include a lot of historical info, it looks like there just weren't enough pages (or smaller type). That's ok though, because I've read his other books that have it all. I do like the way he alerts the reader to the best trailheads and informs us whether or not we need to drive the Jeep or not.Like I said before, if you use his data subjectivly, hope for the best--prepare for the worst, know your limitations and let basic common sense be your guide; the average hiker will have an excellent time and can't wait to tell all their friends. As for the self absorbed fringe extremists (you know who you are)--sorry for the intrusion on "your land" and hope to see you out on the trail.Buy the book, the majority won't be dissapointed.Thank you Michael Kelsey and keep up the excellent work!

Pretty comprehensive guide. As other note, the author has some rather unusual styles and quirks. This is a guide for experienced hikers that are looking for e.g. trailheads and key information. I'd call it an 'old-style' guide; it's not well suited for e.g. casual tourists blowing through an area, but seems to be tailored for those looking for out-of-the way places. This is a great guide for its comprehensiveness, and for the experienced hiker will greatly facilitate trips to more out-of-the-way places. A wonderful guide for planning adventures.The author's hiking times are as you might expect from someone that writes a guidebook: they are reasonable for a very fit, very experienced hiker that's used to the terrain and moves very quickly, and doesn't stop much or long to look at scenery. This is not your average hiker, so most people will need to calibrate to these times, and I suspect most people will want to increase the times by 20-30% for a moderate pace and some water/snack stops. Trail runners will of course reduce times ... you get the idea- all times are estimates, but most guides err on what is (for me) a too long estimate. This book bucks that trend so be warned.

This book opens up a cornucopia of delights in one of the world's greatest hiking and adventure areas- the Colorado plateau in southern USA. This is a desert landscape embedded with beautiful snaking canyons, ancient cliff dwellings, rock art and much more.The guidebook itself pretty comprehensively covers the area across southern Utah, Arizona, some of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. It includes national parks of Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands as well as the wonderful Escalante National Monument and other lesser designated gems.The style is mildly eccentric. Kelsey is super-fit and experienced with canyon-country and does somewhat underplay the difficulties and times to cover the hikes. If in doubt start with the easier trips and work up or you could be getting yourself into an epic! Trips like Peek-a-boo /Spooky gulches as a day trip and Coyote/Escante Canyons for an overnight (both near escante town) would be ideal introductions. And in my opinion, hard to beat - anywhere in the world.Kelsey's love of the area comes across and the detail crammed into the guide is immense. His handrawn line maps and geological cross-sections are unique and add greatly to the hiker's enjoyment. We came to love this guidebook (I used the previous version 4th edition).Buy this book if you are at all interested in exploring the beauty of the red rock country.

Ouvrage très complet écrit par un spécialiste des lieux.Certainement un des meilleurs guide pour découvrir l'ouest américain.De nombreux conseils sont les bienvenus pour apprendre à connaître les désertset leur environnement bien spécifique.Seul petit regret: pas d'indications sur des coordonnées ou des points GPS...ce qui faciliterait les recherches lors de la préparation des explorations.Ceci dit, un complément type carte topographique locale est nécessaire pour certainsendroits.

Das Buch bietet eine Fülle von Anregungen und Hinweisen zur Erkundung der unterschiedlichen Landschaften des Colorado-Plateaus. Zahlreiche Farbfotos machen mächtig Appetit. Viele Tourenvorschläge sind jedoch extrem abgelegen und nur mit erheblichem Zeitaufwand für die Anreise und 4WD zu erreichen, was nicht immer eindeutig aus den Beschreibungen hervorgeht - deshalb keine 5 Sterne. Es empfiehlt sich die Visitor Centers vor Ort für detailliertere Informationen zu konsultieren. Alle Touren, die wir gemacht haben, waren aber die Anstrengungen wert.

Es sind zwar immer noch die Handzeichnungen der ersten Ausgabe aber immerhin gibt es mittlerweile sehr informative Farbfotos dazu. Die Wegbeschreibungen (inklusive Warnungen von gefährlichen Abschnitten) sind sehr präzise. Die Wanderzeiten des Autors vermutlich nur im Laufschritt nachvollziehbar.Zu jedem Ziel gibt der Autor die Main Attractions an, so dass man zusammen mit den Fotos schnell beurteilen kann ob einen die Tour interessiert.Iealerweise besorgt man sich aus dem Internet noch die entsprechenden GPS Koordinaten.

Das Buch habe ich mir für meinen USA-Wanderurlaub gekauft. Wer nicht alltägliche Wanderungen - auch mit Übernachtung in der "Wildnis" - plant sollte sich dieses Buch zulegen.