Book reviews

The 52 With a View is a Peakbagging List that features some of the best views available from New Hampshire’s mountaintops. This new guidebook (New Hampshire’s 52 With a View) is the first definitive guidebook for the list that and written by my hiking friend Ken MacGray, who’s also a …

The Appalachian Mountain Club’s White Mountain Guide is the hiker’s bible for planning day hikes and backpacking trips in New Hampshire’s White Mountain National Forest. People come from all around the world to hike, backpack, climb and train for mountaineering expeditions in “The Whites” which are known for their rugged …

Thirst by Heather “Anish” Anderson is a wonderfully written memoir, rich in autobiographical detail, about her record-setting fastest known thru-hike (FKT) of the Pacific Crest Trail. The audible version (6 hrs) is also very well narrated and a real treat to listen to, even if you’re not a thru-hiker or …

I have been fascinated by the construction and development of the White Mountain Hiking Trail System, with its 1400+ miles of hiking trails, ever since I walked the Westside Trail on Mt Washington, an alpine trail where huge rocks from the surrounding boulder fields are precisely fit together like a …

I’ve never met Cam Honan in person, but I think we’d hit it off if our paths ever do cross. He’s an exceptionally well-travelled backpacker who’s walked across 56 countries and 6 continents, he can write well, and he visits a lot of off the beaten track places, which is probably …

While the White Mountains have a reputation for being very hardcore, they are in fact very accessible for hikers and adventurers of all levels of ability. If this is a region you’d like to learn about more for family adventures and recreational day hiking, I’d recommend the following resources, which …

Mountain climbers from around the world come to Mt Washington and the White Mountain’s Presidential Range to train for major expeditions to the great mountain ranges of the world. The steep terrain, cold temperatures, high winds, and abundant snowfall provide climbers with a perfect environment to test their skills. Climbing …

The Maine Mountain Guide is the hiker’s bible for the mountains and hiking trails of Maine. It provides detailed descriptions of more than 625 trails, on 300 mountains, totaling close to 1500 trail miles in length, ranging from easy woodland strolls to strenuous mountain traverses. Now in its 11 edition, …

Small stream fly fishing is not a glamorous sport and it’s difficult to brag about the bite-size 6″ trout that you catch at the company picnic. But the satisfaction that comes from fishing an undiscovered virgin trout stream that’s never been fished before is hard to describe. The Orvis Guide to …

Backpacking hammocks are a great alternative to camping in a tent in the right conditions but there’s a steep learning curve to gearing up and learning how to be comfortable across a wide range of temperatures. While you can educate yourself about all the different types of hammocks, top quilts, …

“Mountains make their own weather.” I’ll never forget hearing that from the friend who introduced me to trip planning and accident analysis. It’s a sobering and important lesson for anyone who climbs above timberline across exposed terrain on backpacking and mountaineering trips. Written by Jeff Renner, Mountain Weather explains how …

I keep several map books in my car for the different states that I hike and backpack in, called Gazetteers. They’re published by a company called Delorme (recently acquired by Garmin) and contain detailed maps of each state including all of the paved and unpaved roads, seasonal roads, gated fire roads, …

Simple Fly Fishing: Techniques for Tenkara and Rod and Reel is a beautiful coffee table book full of gorgeous trout photos, exotic fly fishing locations and anecdotal stories about fly fishing with the world’s greatest fishing guides. The authors, Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia Inc, Craig Mathews, Mauro Mazzo, and …

Contrary to its title, Andrew Skurka’s backpacking book, The Ultimate Hiker’s Gear Guide is not really a book about gear per se, as much as it is about the skills and knowledge that very experienced backpackers develop for planning trips and deciding what gear is appropriate and safe enough to …