Utah's National Parks: Hiking Camping and Vacationing in Utah's Canyon Country

by Ron Adkison

Discover soaring sandstone cliffs, ancient rock-art, sun-baked desert, and open woodlands of pinyon and juniper. Up-to-date trail and campground information are featured in this second edition and 124 different hikes are detailed. Includes descriptions of desert geology, plants and animals, and a topographic map for each hike.

Genres: Travel

422 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Ron was a writer and naturalist. He is the author of 16 hiking guidebooks covering much of the western U.S. In his writing career, Ron logged in over 10,000 miles of trails to produce his books. He also wrote articles for such magazines as Backpacker and Outside Magazine. His knowledge and enthusiasm for the outdoors has carried on to both of his children.

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great in that as far as I can tell, it lists all of the main/named trails in Utah's five national parks. I also like that for each park it tells a little bit of the human history (discovery, known peoples who have traveled through hundreds of years ago, how it became a national park, as well as individual's stories who have left important markings on the lands). The author also talks about the plants and trees you'll see along each trail. The birds, lizards, and animals you might see and or that habitat in the area. A great book that I would highly recommend as it really gives you an idea of what you'll see and don't want to miss on each trail.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

There were well over 100 hikes listed in this book; but not only were they listed and traditional information like length, difficulty and elevation change, but there were specific directions to help one throughout the hike to make sure landmarks are seen so that one stays on the trail. Mr. Adkison has hiked each of these and uses his experience to guide the hiker through all sorts of hikes. Very impressive. If I ever go, I'd definitely take this book with me.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tenatively planning a trip to Capitol Reef.