Backpacker Hidden Gems

This is a fun book! The photos are gorgeous and the photography tips always welcome, the biggest plus for me was the inclusion of topographical maps because that is an absolute must. If you are a hardcore hiker who lives for multiday hikes in beautiful locations then give this a read. Sadly if you are a person who cannot do multi-day hikes for health reasons (like me)...well, the photos are very nice and you can hike vicariously through the descriptions.

Backpacker Hidden Gems is an excellent “unusual suspects” listing of great hikes throughout the US (including Hawaii and Alaska). It’s just as advertised, with hikes that you won’t usually find in the typical hiking guides and often as well in areas you won’t find in the typical tour guides.

In terms of logistics, the book breaks the US down into the eight regions listed below, along with their respective states and number of hikes in the region:

1. West (11 hikes) California Alaska Hawaii
2. Pacific Northwest (10) Oregon, Washington
3. Southwest (16) Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma
4. Mountain West (13) Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado
5. Midwest (17) North/South Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska
6. Mid-Atlantic (11) New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, W. Virginia, Kentucky
7. Southeast (14) Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South/North Carolina, Tennessee
8. Northeast (8) Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Mass., Connecticut, Rhode Island


Each hike has a brief description and several insets with important details:
• Trip Planner: the best season, permit requirements, contact information
• Do It: distance, estimated time to hike, difficulty rating on a five-point scale, the “payoff” (why you are doing this hike), and location of the trailhead (including GPS)
• All the Extras: best campsite, extensions, a highlighted sight or two
• A simple, featureless route map of the hike with miles and very basic directions

Sprinkled throughout are a few mini-essays, such as how to photograph sunsets or hike “smarter,” and “Insider Guides” which are more detailed, personal narrative descriptions of broader hiking in areas such as Lost Coast California or Grand Staircase-Escalante Utah.

As far as the hikes themselves, as one might expect for hikes personally vetted by Backpacker magazines, they tend toward the longish since most assume an overnight, though there is a range. Here is a rough breakdown of the number of hikes by mileage:
• 3-7 miles: 9 hikes
• 8-10 miles: 2 hikes
• 11-15 miles: 20 hikes
• 16-20 miles: 24 hikes
• Over 20: 33 hikes, ranging from 20 to 78 miles




The guide has a plethora of photos, which do exactly what they’re meant to do — whet your desire to hit these trails. I have been on a few (not many) and can attest to those particular choices. But I was pleased to see just how off-the-beaten-path this book is. I’ve hiked in many of these areas, including most of the National Parks and monuments, some multiple times, and read therefore a good number of hiking guides for those areas and don’t recall seeing these hikes listed in there (and we typically look for hikes of 8-24 miles for day and overnighting). Even better, I didn’t know several of the wilderness and refuge areas, a gap in my backpacking experience I’ll be rectifying thanks to this collection. It’s a concise, useful, inspiring grouping of hikes that covers the breadth of the country and includes all sorts of hikes, from mountains to deserts to canyons to forests and more. And even if you aren’t looking to do a 7-nighter, if you want to experience the wild without the jostle of crowds or the too-frequent sighting of yet another group of hikers, it’s a great purchase. Highly recommended.

Divided into regions of the United States, this guide to backpacking hikes, this book is full of gorgeous photography. Just looking at the pictures mad me want to lace up my hiking boots and hit the trail. Each entry includes information and history about the area and the hike as well as maps and other important information. Some hikes include personal hiking stories that read like mini travelogues. A beautiful addition to your library whether you’re a hiker or an armchair traveler

If you're a backpacker who likes to hike away from the typical trails or wants to explore trails around the US, you're going to want to check out this book. All trails are broken down by geographic region, so you can easily locate hidden gems in your area. Beautiful photography entices you to try out the trails while detailed descriptions tell you the best times of year to visit and everything you need to plan out your trip for a successful hike.

I really like the way this book is laid out, and it made me want to hit the trails. Each entry is filled with all of the information you need to plan for the trip and make sure you're really prepared for the hike. These are multi-day hikes meant for backpackers not day hikes.

A lovely guide to all sorts of places that I will probably never visit because I cannot afford to do so. If you're into backpacking, or being eaten alive by bugs while camping, then this guide includes a lot of neat-looking out of the way places for you. If you can afford to travel and have vacation time.

Have you ever gone backpacking and your "get away from it all" trip became a "getting away from it all in a small crowd" trip? The United States has some terrific state parks, national parks, and other natural areas, but sometimes they're too popular. Maren Horjus of Backpacker magazine has the answers for backpackers and hikers who want a bit more alone time on the trail. Backpacker Hidden Gems: 100 Greatest Undiscovered Hikes Across America features routes that might be a bit less travelled than the popular ones (at least until this book gets wide circulation).


These have been featured in her Backpacker magazine articles, so they're not completely undiscovered, but they may take a little more effort and knowledge to get to, and are safe bet to be not as well known. The 100 hikes vary in length and cover every region of the country. No matter where you live, one of these is bound to be within a day's drive.


For each hike she covers basic route information and campsite descriptions, as well as the features you might enjoy in terms of flora, fauna, views, and water features. The descriptions range from a few sentences to a few pages and include a map and other basic information. You will probably want to dig into more detailed sources if you are planning a trip and the area is unfamiliar to you (like a 78 mile point-to-point hike in Utah), but you have enough here to whet your appetite.


Her description of a route at Yosemite is typical: "a secret trail, an unknown, heart-of-the-valley path that was dropped from the maps almost twenty years ago. . . complete with starry skies, staggering views, and crowd-free stream side campsites." Crowd-free campsites at Yosemite? I'm in. If nothing else, you will be convinced that Horjus has the best job in the world.


I do a lot more trail running than backpacking. I think trail runners will pick this up and say, "Oh, a 4.8 mile out-and-back, or a 13.8 mile loop, or a 18.8 mile lollipop-loop--sounds like a fun day of trail running to me!" No question, trail runners will enjoy this book and these routes as much as a backpacker.


Now clear your calendar, check the map, and get out there!


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

For the backpacker, kayaker, hiker, this is an invaluable resource for great trips. With a wide range (day hikes to week-long or longer hikes, from easy to very difficult), this book compiles a wonderful list. It's strength is its wonderful diversity of options.

There are the easy day hikes, perfect for beginners or those who just don't want to invest days into a hike. There are the difficult hikes or overnight ones. There are the multitude of different landscapes. These excursions are all over the map: from east to west, on land and on the water. While the book breaks them down into regions of the U.S., it's easy to see they could have been broken down into several different types of categories and it's clear that this set of hikes has something for everyone.

Most of the hikes have specific directions and maps along with some basic information about the hikes such as what you might see or experience and why it is in this list of 100. Some have longer pieces written about them, with stories and serious explanations. Reading the longer pieces was fascinating!

What drops this book from a 5 star to 4 is that it felt uneven. There seemed to be little rhyme or reason why one hike got a lengthy several page write-up and another barely got a paragraph and a map. Some had detailed information on what wildlife you may encounter and others had nothing. I would have liked to see a baseline that all hikes had (other than being named) that was a bit better.

Additionally, this was a good starting point for these hikes, but even with a map photo and directions, it was clear that anyone doing these hikes had to go elsewhere to get additional information. I would have preferred a more comprehensive view of many of these hikes, especially the overnight ones.

A number of these hikes caught my fancy and now that I know about them, there is a good chance I'll be embarking on a few. I'm really glad I found this book and Backpacker Magazine!

This book is great for the seasoned hiker. It is filled with beautiful pictures, tips, and full on descriptions of each hike. These hikes are all pretty long and you will want to make a couple days out of most of them if you choose to go the whole way, they are basically 20 to 40 mile hikes. You could however do it in spurts, or just go as far along the trail as you wish. There are also kayaking trips. The pictures are just stunning. The pictures alone could get the biggest couch potato up and moving.

The excursions are all in the US. Several states are covered. These hikes are more the hidden gems then the popular ones everyone has heard of.

I received this book from the Author or Publisher via Netgalley.com and chose to leave this review.