Canyoneering 2: Technical Loop Hikes in Southern Utah

I've been enjoying the backcountry of Utah for 25+ years. It's always nice to read new guide books like those of Steve Allen & Michael Kelsey to garner new ideas for our next Utah trip. However, I wouldn't pay $100+ for any guidebook. I currently have Canyoneering 2 checked out from the local library. It appears to have seen little use. I've read through much of it finding that I've done sections of most of the hikes described. I agree with the early poster that many of these hikes can be broken up into smaller, more manageable sections. Unfortunately, few of us have a week at a time to spend in the wilderness. If you have enjoyed the other guidebooks from Steve or Michael you should also enjoy this one. However, it's certainly not worth more than $20-$30 even if it is out of print! There must be some greedy and/or poor hikers out there trying to save enough for one of Steve's week-long excursions! Here are the loop hikes described in Canyoneering 2: Muddy Creek area of the San Rafael Swell (The Chute) The Northern Dirty Devil area (The Robbers Roost, Larry Canyon, & No Mans Canyon) The Southern Dirty Devil area (Happy Canyon) Dark Canyon/Bowdie Canyon White Canyon (Long & Gravel Canyons) Escalante Eastern area (The Gulch, Wolverine & Little Death Hollow Canyons, & Silver Falls Creek Canyon) Escalante Southern area (Coyote Gulch & Stevens Canyons)

This is an excellent book for the more hardcore backpackers out there. The loops described are a lot of fun, and provide access to spectacular views plus a chance to explore true wilderness. As for bringing too many people... after going on several of the hikes, I must admit we were hard pressed to find footprints less than a year or two old along the tracks, if any at all. Enjoy!

The guide is a good one. I have hiked the Long and Gravel Canyon area for over 20 years with friends and family. It can be amazingly fun but also amazingly dangerous country. My main feeling about guide books like the one Steve has written is negative, however. I am used to hiking in areas with only a topo map and a compass, as this provides much more of a wilderness experience. Hikes with a guide book destroy this aspect. Also, the land is very delicate in these riparian areas, and cannot tolerate large influxes of hikers without destruction of the resource. As guide books like this proliferate, the influx of hikers will more certainly destroy the wilderness experience as well as the physical viability of the resource much more surely than mining or cattle ranching could ever do. This in view of the fact that hikers seek out the best part of a limited resource and tend to overuse it. Mr. Allen makes a point of his love for the canyon country and yet ironically may be responsible for more degredation of the resource than almost anyone else because of the publication of books like this. I am not anti-hiker. In fact I am a member of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. But please, Mr. Allen, let us hikers "roam free", and leave us some unspoiled territory!!