Best Guide Books

[GlennS]

The recent thread on the AMC survey got me thinking about guide books. I am very happy with the AMC's White Mountain Guide.... I use the book for trip planning and I like to read it for fun. I didn't find the 27th guide to be a big improvement over the 26th. The survey about the upcoming guide features they are considering is intriguiing The WMG's are like old boots; you hate to retire them. A hiking buddy insists on using his old WMG's even though in his guide, the Osseo starts at the Kanc and Eisenhower was named Mt. Pleasant.

I also like Steve Smith's 4,000 Footers of New Hampshire. The discussion of winter hikes for each peak is great.

Anyone else have any favorite guide books on the Whites, Long Trail, Maine peaks, Cat Skills or Daks (did I leave anything out)?

 

[dudley]

I still use my old AMC guide, 22nd edition, from 1979
As far as I know most of the mountains are in the same place.

 

[NewHampshire]

Dan Doans 50 hike series of books. Some great trips, good descriptions of the trails and hike itself. Worth every penny. I too am also A Steve Smith/Mike Dickerman book "4000 footers". It is the book I look to after Im done cruising the WMNF Guide book (heck, sometimes its the FIRST book I turn too.)

Brian

 

[Pete_Hickey]

I kind of think that people get used to a STYLE of guidebook. That may be the first one they were exposed to. You tend to become familiar with a style, a layout, kinds of information, etc. Once you get used to it, you won't like any that are not in that style.

Two basic styles: CLinical and 'human interest' Not always a clear distinction, and some try to get middle ground, but in general, this is the two styles one will find. The Human interest will have more history, rumors, rambling, etc, while the clinical will be, "Just the facts, Maam"

 

[audrey]

I like the "clinical" books as a "procedure manual" if they give lots of mileage waypoints, but I also enjoy the Daniel Doan-type books. "50 Hikes in New Hampshire" was my first guidebook and I carried it at all times for fear of getting lost. Lucky, since I recall it didn't have any maps and I had no idea that hiking maps existed.

The "Discover the Adirondacks" series are my favorites. They whet the appetite for exploration and come with excellent maps.

 

[roadtripper]

Some of my fav's for New England that are either directly focused on hiking or related to it...

~Waterfalls of the White Mountains
~100 Classic Hikes Of The Northeast
~Day Trips with a Splash: Northeastern Swimming Holes
~The Best In Tent Camping: New England
~Wandering Through The White Mountains
~New England Hiking
~Adventure New England (1996-ish)
~Explorer's Guide To Massachusetts
~Explorer's Guide to New Hampshire
~Explorer's Guide to Vermont
~Explorer's Guide to Maine, Cape Cod, Connecticut, etc.
~50 Hikes In New Hampshire, Massachusetts, etc.

 

[jjo]

I also like AMC guides and Steve Smith's books (4000 ftrs etc) as well as Doan and Pletcher but I bought a new (for me)late 05 from S. Smith's store online by m.Lanza NH Hiking and NE hiking. Trails are rated and appears current and accurate. Another source for detail. Haven't read totally but 1st impressions good. My 1st 2 choices are AMC guide and S Smith's books

 

[Amicus]

Want to know what the VFTT are exactly?

Scudder's View Guide to the White Mountains (2d. Ed. 2005). Nothing like it for the 54 peaks he diagrams and describes. Even his appendices hold one's interest. The Moses Sweetser of our day, as Steve Smith and Mike Dickerman praise him in their excellent NH 4,000-footer book, noted above.

Not a substitute for the AMC White Mountain or a similar trail guide, of course, but a nonpareil supplement if your destination is one of his 54.

 

[dentonfabrics]

Besides the AMC Guide, Steve Smith's White Mountains Ponds book is my favorite. Sometimes I dont feel the need to summit, so I'll pack up my fishin pole hike out to a pond and spend the afternoon there.

The Wauchipauka Pond/Webster Cliff hike is awesome on a summers day!


bob

 

[arghman]

"Exploring the Appalachian Trail: Hikes in Northern New England" by Kodas / Weegar / Condon / Scherer.

Covers the AT in NH and ME. I like the in-depth style very much, it gives me a better idea of what to expect than a "dense" guide like the AMC WMG which aims to be encyclopedic in breadth, but limited in depth.