Canadian Rockies Access Guide

This guide hits the high points for places to visit and hike in the Canadian Rockies. The photos are good and the text is straightforward and informative. This book is not a detailed trail guide. It describes the main sights and attractions and provides a brief overview of the trails and how to get to them. A good read for those visiting the area for the first time wanting a quick and easy review of things to see and potential hikes to take. Canadian Rockies Access Guide

Having been to the Canadian Rockies and having read several other books (Lonely Planet, Frommers, etc) I can qualify this as the prettiest in terms of pictures and most accurate when it comes to trails. Some of the other books have small topo maps and or tables of hikes but this book gives fine descriptions along with gorgeous pics. A vacation up North wouldn't be complete without this guide.

We used this book on our recent visit to Banff and Jasper National Parks to find and detirmine which hikes we took. The book provided accurate information on the hike (elevation change and distance) and also provided enough info on "how to find the trail head parking location" The book is a hiking guide - it is NOT a general purpose tourist guide. If you are interested in hiking more then just short walks - looking for 2 to 4 hours hikes then we found this book to be very useful on our trip.

I have been to Banff twice and this time I had this guide with me and we used it almost daily. It doesn't have full detail for the longer more difficult hikes, but the easier short hikes and to views it was great. It gives good directions and info, we enjoyed knowing the elevation gains and the comments on what you got for views for your effort. With this book and a map you could stay busy for many weeks seeing everything that you wanted to see. Recommend it for all going to the area. WE referred to the park service for excellent maps to the larger hikes.

This book is primarily a hiking guide. For that, it's tops. It covers all the hiking trails you need to know about in Banff, Kootenay, Yoho, Jasper (including the Icefields), Kananaskis, and Waterton National Parks. Includes excellent color photographs, basic maps, trail descriptions and for each hike a summary indicating the distance, time, rating (easy, moderate, difficult), maximum elevation, elevation gain, what footwear to have on, and the best season for the hike (i.e. May through October or July and Aug. only). This book is also good for the general tourist since many of the attractions in the national parks (waterfalls, hot springs, canyons) are a 5 to 15 minute "hike" from their respective parking lots, and these sights are all covered in this book.There are a few pages of general information on each national park in the front of each chapter and a decent "detailed guide to outdoor activities" in the back. I used this book for my trip last year to Banff and Jasper National Parks and loved it. This year I forgot the book at home. Distressed, my first stop when I got off the plane in Canada was to a bookstore where I bought another copy!