by Jeff Mitchell
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Product Description
Pennsylvania has the most extensive system of backpacking trails of any state east of the Mississippi River. While most hiking guides to the state feature information on day-hikes, this valuable guide will give backpackers of all levels a resource for discovering and learning about longer trails for more rugged journeys by foot. Included are detailed descriptions of 37 trails as well as information on terrain, difficulty, precautions and contacts. Also includes directions to each trail and descriptions of features along the trek.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 good guide, but more research is needed, 2008-12-11
I used this book to guide me through my first 2-day hiking trail in PA. It was useful for the fact that I do't know much about Pennsylvania trails. It gives you a breakdown of the whole state, telling you everything about what you see on each trail down to the kind of plantlife you can expect to see. There's also helpful ratings about each trail so you can pick one that is suitable for your level of experience. Each description of the trails also have a rough sketch of what the trail is like...marking campgrounds and bodies of water. However, the trail description on the one that I chose said that there would be a park office where we could get a topographic map of the park. I might have missed it, but we never encountered such an office. I highly recommend just using this as a guide and buying your own topographic map on your destination.
Other than that, I am planning to buy his guides on some other states. It was very helpful.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Hiking in My own back yard, 2007-09-10
I did not know that PA had so many trails that can be day hiked or for weeks on end. This is a good place to start if you want to see if you can handle it before trying to hike th AT all the way.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A+ for Jeff, 2006-08-31
Backpacking Pennsylvania does exactly the job the title leads you to believe it will do. 37 major trails are described and made accessible to the the Pennsylvania Backpacker.
Each trail narrative is preceded by a chart summarizing 13 "want-to-know" items for the trail: its length, approximate time needed for the trip, a difficulty rating, typical terrain and trail conditions, blazes, water supply, area vegetation, trail highlights, maintaining organizations, sources of maps/guides/contact information, and trailhead directions.
The trails are divided into seven geographical regions, with a map for each region showing the counties and general layouts and locations of the trails there. For each of the 37 trails, another map shows the local roads, towns, creeks, parks, and potential campsites and vistas. The narratives are sufficiently detailed that backpacker armed with this book would be able to save the purchase of many individual trail guides and maps, though these would offer more in-depth information on the history, geology, or other particulars.
This book is a great guide for planning backpacking ventures of appropirate duration, difficulty, and location in the Keystone state. I most recently backpacked the Bucktail Path and found Jeff's summary to be quite on-target. It should be in every Pennsylvania backpacker's library.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
jmitch does it again!!!, 2005-03-15
Jeff Mitchell's dusty boots had already covered new ground when he wrote "Hiking the Endless Mountains" - the first hiking book to explore the beautiful forests and creeks of Pennsylvania's Endless Mountains. Written by the Pennsylvania native, "Backpacking Pennsylvania, 37 Great Hikes" has now established Mitchell's books as the most current and definitive guide series for hiking and backpacking throughout Pennsylvania. In "Backpacking Pennsylvania", Jeff travels beyond the Allegheny Plateaus to provide concise and well-written trail descriptions. Just enough information is provided for each trail system and Mitchell leaves it to the reader to put his book down and to just start hiking!
Jeff Mitchell's Preface in "Backpacking Pennsylvania" is a righteous testamony to those special places which are rapidly disappearing in the 21st Century. "By respectfully visiting and experiencing these places, we can appreciate and protect them" and "Backpacking reintroduces people not only to nature, but also to each other".
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent Intro to PA's Surprising Outdoor Opportunities, 2005-02-08
Yes it's possible, in "industrialized" Pennsylvania of all places, to hike for days without seeing a single other person, and outdoor enthusiasts from throughout the Northeast should be more familiar with the Pennsylvania backpacking experience. I'm a native of the state who has been seriously hiking and backpacking for years, and I'm still continually amazed by the variety and extensiveness of Pennsylvania's long-distance hiking trails. Amid the state's surprisingly remote and wild areas are dozens of trails that exceed 20 miles in length, and several that surpass 100 miles. There is far more to Pennsylvania backpacking than the famous Appalachian Trail, which Jeff Mitchell accurately describes as one of the least interesting trails in the state. This book is not meant to be a true guide for any of the trails described, but summarizes the long-distance hiking opportunities available. Therefore, unless you really know what you're doing, following trails with this book will be difficult given its abbreviated travelogues and very non-detailed maps, so don't try to do an extensive trip *only* with this book. Detailed trail guides and/or maps are usually available elsewhere.
What makes this book a real winner is an outstanding introduction concerning various backpacking issues and challenges, and excellent geographical info for each trail described, especially in terms of trail conditions, locations of trailheads, and contact information. I have completed several of Pennsylvania's long-distance trails, especially in the central and north-central regions of the state, and given Mitchell's knowledgeable and accurate writing I can attest that he has either hiked these trails himself or has talked extensively with people who have. For this reason I am confident about his descriptions of the trails I haven't yet tackled, and you should be too. So if you're in Pennsylvania but are unaware of the adventures in store, this book is an outstanding introduction to our vast backpacking opportunities. [~doomsdayer520~]
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