Lonely Planet Hiking in the Rocky Mountains

My husband and I used this book as the primary reference for three separate hiking & backbacking vacations over the past four years in the Rockies: Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park + Maroon Bells + Holy Cross + Mt Zirkel Wilderness in Colorado, Grand Teton Nat'l Park + Yellowstone in Wyoming, and Glacier Nat'l Park in Montana. The hikes covered in this book really are the cream of the crop for these areas. The table up front, together with the nice tabs throughout the book help find hikes by area, interest, and difficulty quickly. Doesn't swamp you with quantity, you know that each of these hikes is exceptional--perfect for those of us travelling into the area who have only a week or two to soak up whatever we can. There's even color pictures from some of the most scenic hiking spots in the book to help get you excited to go and give you a little taste of what to expect for that region. Each hike has a map and description with enough detail to almost ensure that you don't go wrong. There's also good information on nearby towns and facilities, local campgrounds, and some detail on permits and when to go. Only issues: failed to mention that a lot of trails in Glacier may not be accessible without ice ax and crampons until mid July due to snow (certainly we weren't prepared for the trips we really wanted to do when we were there in late June, and the Ptamigan tunnel doesn't open until it has been cleared using dynamite every year), and we did count on being able to buy fuel and other supplies in a town recommended by the book and turned out that the grocery store and camping goods store had almost nothing (this could have been that the book was 4 years old by this time). I still give the book 5 stars for its excellent coverage of the entire Rocky Mountain area which inspired us to travel to places we might not have otherwise, its usefulness in actually helping us figure out which hikes to do once we got there, and that I would pick it over any of the other books we used for our trips. I picked up Hiking in the Sierra Nevada also by Lonely Planet on the strength of this book, but haven't really tested it yet.

I first used the LP guide in 2005 to safely get me through a solo 6-day hike. (Highline Trail / Ptarmigan Tunnel Loop in Glacier National Park.) It is excellent. The best guide for the entire Rocky Mountain region. Once you decide on a specific hike, compare against the available local guidebooks. For Glacier National Park, for example, this is still the best option. Glacier-Waterton International Peace Park - Spring, 2003 is not bad. Hiking Glacier and Waterton Lakes National Parks - Erik Molvar, 1999 - the most widely available guide, is surprisingly weak. Lonely Planet has the best maps. And the succinct style makes it easy to find what you are looking for.