Hiking the Southwest's Geology: Four Corners Region

For anyone who loves hiking in the southwest, this book is perfect for explaining the geology of the sights you're seeing. It's also a wonderful guide to geologically focused hikes; ie, hikes that aren't necessarily found in "Best 100 Hikes in ----."

I had recently visited the Four Corners area with some friends. Since I had not been able to research much before we arrived, we just made the Durango area our main focus for this trip. The Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad was a terrific outing, the first thing we did! The scenery was stunning!The rest of the time we just traveled around the Pagosa Springs/Durango area but found some really cool stuff in which to participate. On my last day there, we actually went to the Four Corners Monument - be sure to take some $$$ with you as no one tells you that the Navajo Indians are there selling their wares - some really beautiful stuff and actually quite reasonably priced. After I got home, I ordered this book because I plan to return to the area and do some hiking next time. The scenery in the book is absolutely breathtaking and gives specifics about various trails and the difficulty of those trails. It will be a good guide during my return visits, first of which I believe will be to Bryce Canyon.Definitely worth having this book to plan a trip to Four Corners!

I've traveled in the regions covered by HIKING THE SOUTHWEST'S GEOLOGY: FOUR CORNERS REGION all my life, but for years I was just a passenger on someone else's trip. Now I plot my own path through this magical region, but not without help, of course. The picture of Paria Canyon on the cover of this book first snagged my attention, but it was the author's knowledge of and passion for geology that got me to buy it and refer to it, again and again, as I plan trips in Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. This book is well-stocked with color photos, maps, diagrams, and explanations of the geology you will see when you visit each area. It's organized by region, so it's proven very helpful to me as I plot our course on the map. I'm a big fan of the ROADSIDE GEOLOGY series, but this book also tells you how to get to varous hikes in the area and what you can expect on the trail. It includes cautions about safety and permits. It's a Geology/Hiking nerd's dream. No guide can tell you everything worth seeing in a region as packed full of geological goodies as the Southwest, but this one does an admirable job of picking the highlights. It would take a lifetime of exploration to see everything -- thanks to this book, I have a guide that helps me chose a starting point. When it wears out, I won't hesitate to buy another copy, and another, and another . . .