Ranger's Guide to Yellowstone Day Hikes

As a veteran of more than 35 years of wilderness backpacking in all kinds of weather and every season of the year my brother-in-law and I decided to shoot HD video in Yellowstone. We did not want to do a wilderness trek on the first time out with all new video gear so decided day hikes were best. We did 20 of 29 of the hikes in "A Ranger's Guide to Yellowstone Day Hikes" in 7 days and covered 70 miles on foot. This is a great book, one of the best I have seen in my years of hiking and backpacking. Each trail is unique and amazing. Some are tough but even the steepest trail was not so bad for a 54 year old with 35 pounds of video gear on his back. Trail ratings are true, so you will NOT be surprised by a gargantuan climb that is rated as moderate. Strenuous ratings wisely reflect both length and elevation change. If you have room for only one day hike book in your travel gear this IS the book. If you are a seasoned backcountry expert or a beginner you will not be dissapointed.

The twenty-five years of cumulative ranger experience of the authors really shows. Yellowstone hiking guides by Bill Schneider and Robert Stone contain more hikes (with much briefer descriptions) and guides by Tom Carter and Mark Marschall are fine books rich in description but the Andersons' book of 29 hikes is the "gold standard." It combines accuracy, useful topographic maps, interesting naturalist information, and excellent color photographs at a great price. It even makes a good souvenir to keep after you've hiked.

Having just returned from Yellowstone, I have to say what a great help this book was to us. I bought 4 books with me, but this one was The Book. It was helpful planning the hikes, then while on the hike was a great asset. I recommend it highly!

This guide includes 29 day hikes, well organized by park region. Its 28 pictures also provide a nice glimpse into some of the terrain you'll see on those hikes. It's small and easy to carry in your pack, but it covers a relatively small number of hikes in the park. Each hike listing provides the usual driving and hiking directions found in guide books. Unlike the other guidebooks here, each hike also includes a topographical map of the hike. (The Falcon Guide includes elevation information on a separate chart but I still find the topo easier to use.) This makes the book very useful for armchair planners who haven't yet taken my advice to buy the Trails Illustrated map. In addition, each hike includes a brief "special attention" section that is surprisingly helpful. For example, if a given trail is closed in early summer for bear management, you'll see that fact highlighted here instead of being hidden in the text. The best part of the book is the "naturalist notes," however. The selling point of this book is that it is written by two rangers who are used to sharing their knowledge along a trail. That's exactly what they do here. As a result, it is easier to visualize the trail experience from this book than from any of the other guides I've seen.

This guide was an invaluable resource for making the best of a week at Yellowstone. It was like carrying a park ranger in your pocket (just much less weight). First of all, the first few pages have trails listed by both (1) location in the park (Yellowstone is LARGE) and by difficulty. These lists include highlights of each trail. Approximately 30 trails are described in detail. For each trail, roundtrip distance, elevation change, difficulty level, and expected duration (hours) is listed along with a brief description, potential hazards, direction to the trailhead, and best times of year to hike. Subsequently, a detailed naturalist's description of the trail is provided. These notes are perfect for planning your hikes of using as a step-by-step guide for reading as you hike. The authors provide details about wildlife, flora & fauna, geology, history, and scenery along each trail. Each trails has a full-page easy-to-read contour map that provides the hiker with information on elevation changes and other useful details. As if the trail descriptions didn't already make you want to hike every trail, the guide provides a color photo from each trail making me wish I had time to hike the entire guide. The Anderson book also provides lists of what to bring on day hikes as well as tips for hiking in grizzly country. If a day hike for you is 15-20 miles or more, consider the Marschall book on Yellowstone trails (keep in mind, the first description of a trail often comes 5-10 miles into it). Trails you don't want to miss: Mt. Washburn, Storm Point, Avalanche Peak, Yellowstone Grand Canyon Rim (either or both), Pelican Creek, Trout Lake. We had the pleasure of meeting Ranger Carol Anderson (co-author) at the Lake Visitor Center - she spent an hour reviewing hikes with us. These folks know their stuff - I highly recommend this book for the average day hiker.