Customer comments on this Youngstown Ohio Book
 The Guide for a Glorious Hike
Hi. I am a native San Diegan, and ever since I read about this book in Venture magazine a while back, I've been more interested in exploring the natural beauty of San Diego.
After opening up this book at a local bookstore, I decided to buy it based upon its detailed maps, descriptions, and pictures that I saw while flipping through.
I found this book helpful every step of the way. For planning, a difficulty rating is included for each hike, along with a write-up that not only describes the hike but also the wonderment of what you will see. Once you get into the hike, the maps are very accurate. The landmarks are especially useful, and the author includes a lot of them.
What sets this hiking guide apart are the detailed maps, the mention of many upon many California native plants, and especially the rich imagery.
Here is one of my favorite excerpts: "As you hop from rock to rock, startled crabs scurry sideways into crevices. Schools of fish trapped in pools left by the receding tide swim to safety among fluttery pink and mauve sea plants. Take the time to stoop and get a closer look at what may seem at first just an empty pool. Often, you'll discover the collected water teems with life."
This was from the La Jolla Tide Pools Walk. After going there with my niece and nephew, it has become a fond memory. It is a special treat to have these artful words to read over; they recreate the experiences again and again and remind me how much I want to go back to these hikes.
I was surprised to find a hiking guide that had such a touching theme running through it. With the day to day busyness of the world today, we sometimes forget to take in the beauty of the earth around us. This book reminds us to take time to smell the fresh air, count the caterpillars on the trail, and spend time with our families including Mother Earth.
 all this book tells you is that you're on your own.
we were very excited about this book. however, let me share some of our specific experience so far:
the driving map to get to one of the hikes (sunset cliffs park) we took was completely incorrect, and contradicts the map on the facing page. being new to san diego, we could have easily gotten very lost had we not had a road map in the car with us. additionally, one of the hikes we took, the author noted as having a 'clearly marked trail' when in fact, many times we found ourselves at dead ends or barely tip toe-ing along a path literally no more than four inches wide, and at one point, the only clear pass across a canyon was through a baseball field! on the map itself of the hike, there are absolutely no landmarks with which to navigate from, so basically all she says is the general vicinity of a hiking terrain, a couple sentences on what 'treasures' we'll find (more about her descriptions of wildlife and plants below), and an impossible map.
i too was looking forward to reading about native plants and identifying them while we hiked, but the book lacks illustrations or photographs that clearly distinguish the various habitats, animals and plants. she'll mention a plant you may see on a hike, but gives little or no description of it - how to distinguish it from all the other plants?! additionally, the majority of the hikes in the book are closer to the "60 miles" from san diego end of things, meaning there are few places included that are immediately accessible to city-dwellers.
i don't think the author did her research thoroughly given the vast number of hiking terrains in san diego, and although there may be some great hikes in this book, incorrect maps and poor directives make for a lousy hiking book. i would not recommend this guide to anyone.
 Awesome!
Simply the coolest Hiking book I've seen. Has all the info you need and is very well organized (by distance etc). VERY GOOD VALUE!
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