Foghorn Pacific Northwest Hiking: The Complete Guide to More Than 1,000 Hikes in Washington and Oregon

I have gone through three editions of this, one so battered it eventually was bound by rubber band. I have hiked dozens of trails out of it and never had a problem with accuracy (all in Washington, mostly in the north and central Cascades with some in the Goat Rocks area and Olympic Peninsula). The reason I love it is that I can flip to the region map, find the trails that are in the area I have in mind, flip to those, quickly find the ones rated highest for view, see how long the trails are, find decent short descriptions of the trail, figure out quickly how to get there, and plan my trip. Of course you take a separate map. You never rely on a guide book alone for trail directions. But this is a great overview of my area, the best one I know, and I've been using it for 10 years.

Readers who got lost need to remember roads and trails change faster than books can be printed. This is a wonderful directory of trails in Washington and Oregon -- much better than newest title from Foghorn which seems to replace this book (and which ignores Oregon completely).

Complete, accurate, comprehensive, and entertaining, to boot. Amazing inventory of trails for the money. Maps are only so-so, but functional. BTW: The review below is a joke: Most people would give up on an "unreliable" guidebook after about five hikes and skip the other 95.

I love this book. I've been in the Pacific NW for 3 years and have been impressed with all the hikes I've chosen in this book. It catalogs the hikes by location, so you can easily narrow down your list of choices based on how far you want to drive or what region you want to drive to. It also has a rating system for each hike, one for difficulty and the other for scenery. I've found both to be reasonably accurate. This is THE book to get if you want a comprehensive guide to hiking in the Pacific NW.

A few people determined this book has "less detail" than other guidebooks for narrower areas. To quote my 7-year-old: Duh! Most guidebooks on our shelf cover 50 hikes, 100 at the most. This one has more than 1,000 in two states. Do the math. I think this guide is designed to be a far-reaching reference work, giving all the info you need to pick a hike, whether you're in Blaine or Klamath Falls. It's a bummer it doesn't have pics and maps for each hike, but it does have everything you need to know, and better yet, tells you where to find out more. I've used two editions of this book for five years and can say it does have some things none of my other guides have: "User" categories for every trail, telling whether it's open to dogs, mountain bikes, horses or just hikers. Accurate contact and permit info (this guide is updated every couple years, it seems; most guides maybe every 4-5 years. And the name of each map (USGS and even Green Trails) for each and every trail. It also has a lot of trails you won't find in other guides, i.e., near cities and in the 'burbs. I've found the trailhead descriptions to be quite accurate and the trail notes very helpful, often entertaining. All things considered: We have lots of other guides with color pics, fancier graphics, etc. But when we're leaving the house for a couple weeks on the road, this it the ONE that comes with.