Foghorn Outdoors New England Hiking: The Complete Guide to More Than 380 Hikes

I have owned this guide for almost eight months and have already hiked many of the ones recommended in this book. I have never been disappointed, unlike last year when I tried to use 50 Hike in New Hampshire to find a good hike and was twice disappointed with vague driving directions and confusing hiking routes. New England Hiking is a great starting point for beginning hikers or people new to the area, but also terrific for locals searching for new adventures. While not as exhaustive as the AMC guides, this book has the benefit of being easier to read and choose hikes from than the AMC guides. The one downfall of this book is that there are no maps included, but I think that, given the scope of the book and the wide range of areas included, it would be nearly impossible to include maps. Many of the hikes I've been on have been rather complicated and would have been very tricky without maps, so you'll have to use the resources listed in the book to get maps because I wouldn't recommend hiking without them. This is an excellent resource for all New England explorers.

This is an excellent hiking guide to New England and pretty exhaustive as well, especially in the White Mountains region. The book is very well organized and Mr. Lanza has a simple but ingenious rating system for both the scenic beauty and trail difficulty, both rated 1 - 10. So, you can pick how much work you're willing to exert for the visual return on your effort. The trail descriptions are quite good and driving directions are included. No maps are included but each trail description references appropriate maps and other information sources. Mr. Lanza is well written in this field and is a regular contributor to Backpacker Magazine.

I live in CT and wanted to take up hiking.. I was pleasantly surprised with the range of hikes covered in this book. Especially areas I never would have thought had a decent hike, like my hometown of Waterbury! Because of the amount of hikes covered, the info for each is pretty short. It does suggest other places to get info though and is great for what it is- a survey of New England hikes, not in depth for any one area or type of hike.

There's something wrong, and slightly frightening, about the review written just before mine. I guess this fellow decided it would be a good idea to travel into the woods with a book that contains no maps. BAD IDEA. Nothing can replace full page maps. To think someone with, or even without, experience would wander into the woods with a BOOK is completely assinine. Michael Lanza, an editor for Backpacker Magazine, has compiled a wonderful list of hikes here. If you don't want to go through the trouble of buying a trail guide for every place you'd like to hike, then here's your book. There are no little maps like those in the 50 Great Hikes in...series. Those are practically useless anyhow. You should always go through the trouble of picking up a USGS quad or 250,000 map if you're hiking in unfamiliar country. Everything else you need is here though - directions, park regulations, trail descriptions, camping spots. He even mentions where to get maps and where to register for your hikes. There's a lot of ground to cover in New England, and Lanza does it stylistically and thoughtfully.