Hiking the Grand Canyon: A Sierra Club Totebook

I bought this book based on the reviews I read and all I can say is, are they reading the same book as I am? This book has the basic information about the trails and other interesting information like who was the first to climb each of the formations. There are no actual illustrations of the trails in the book, only textual descriptions. It tells you how long you will live without water based on the temperature. Seems to me you should know that before you head out. It is a compact size which makes it easy to lug around all that useless information. It does have some interesting history about the Grand Canyon and contact information for hotels and rafting. Again, information that is not very useful once you are on the trail. It has a listing of water sources but any serious hiker will check with the back country office before hitting the trail, which for the records the book does recommend. It also came with a useless map which is suitable for coloring. If you are planning on...Read more

The first couple of chapters gave a very good overview of the canyon formation, good to know tourist information for the backpacker, and a map. Unfortunately, I found the map difficult to read because of the colors used to format it. I was also hoping for more depth and discussion about the various trails from the South Rim to the river. This is a well rounded book. It does give a quick (but vague)overview of what a backpacker needs to know. This "guide" lives up to its claim for being just that. I would recommend this book for the novice Canyon goer

I hike rim to rim to rim several times a year in the Grand Canyon, so I know the inner corridor trails pretty well. This book should now be considered the definitive guide for hiking in the Grand Canyon and the strong points of this book are worth noting. The maps are excellent, as are the descriptions of how to get to trail head. However, the book is incomplete in certain areas and outdated. The Grand Canyon has implemented a shuttle system to stem the horrific crowds (I don't see much improvement) and hikers now can't drive to the South Kaibab trail or Hermit's Rest trail. The directions in this book are therefore rendered confusing due to the new restrictions.

Most importantly, the authors neglect to stress that in order to successfully complete long hikes at the Grand Canyon, you must be physically prepared. Several times a year I hike rim to rim and then back the next day. This is 24 miles of hiking with some serious elevation gains. Oftentimes I pass many sick, debilitated and...Read more