Just got back from a week on the Kenai Peninsula - this book was an absolute must. The author is very candid about places, good or bad. Saw a bunch of amazing stuff and did it all on a modest budget, thanks to this book. The history and flora/fauna sections are very accurate and very interesting. I read other sections of the book (places that I didn't go), and because of the descriptions, I am already aching to go explore more of the state. If you go to Alaska, all you need are the proper clothes and this book.

Along with "Off the Beaten Path" by Melissa DeVaughn, this book was indispensable during a 2001 and a 2002 trip to Alaska. I especially appreciated the candor in this book, for example tersely warning to stay away from a certain hotel in a certain town because it was "run-down." In the sections about Nome and Kotzebue, I appreciated the tip that these parts of Alaska aren't set up for independent travellers and are best reached via a tour group. Additionally, the sections for each region all follow the same format. And the book is just a good, chunky size and feels good in your hand!

After using Lonely Planet on my trip to Europe I purchased the Alaska one for my recent trip. This book was wonderful, it was the only guidebook that we needed. It was especially helpful in finding hostels, and allowed us to arrange lodging before we arrived. All the information contained was up to date, and pointed us to little treasures that we might not have discovered otherwise. As a result we really got to get taste of Alaska and keep our trip affordable and interesting. If you have a desire to really discover any place you go, turn to Lonely Planet I know that I always will.

This book was our bible on our 10 day excursion to Isle Royale (royal like a king, not like royale with cheese). Coupled with a good topo map, we were able to get around the island with ease. Was also great for planning our route before the trip. This book tells you everything you need to know for a backpacking/fishing trip to this beautiful place.

If you're considering a backcountry trip to Isle Royale, this is the book to have. It covers everything you need to know to plan a trip to IR: how to get there, campgrounds, trails, lakes, portages. Plan your trip with this book, and carry it along in your pack!

Visit the largest island in the largest lake in the largest island in the largest lake in the world. Isle Royale National Park: Foot Trails & Water Routes will tell you how to get there. See if it, too, has a lake with an island with ...

Isle Royale National Park has nice hand drawn maps. It rates the difficulty of hikes and it gives trail distances, elevations and hiking times.

3 mos. in Alaska and I used this book extensively! I plotted numerous trips from multi-day trips to long "all day" hikes with the aid of this book. I did about a 3rd of the trails in this book (maybe more) and the trail descriptions are accurate. Additional information regarding lodging was extremely useful....... If you are planning a backpacking trip in Alaska, buy this book! It would have been difficult finding backpacking information without it.

Jim Dufresne does a great job in outlining excellent hikes to take throughout Alaska. We used this book in a number of areas. He gives the backpacker's view of things, not the typical tourist's. Mr. Dufresne also wrote a great book on Glacier Bay. The only guidebook we used to kayak the area. We would have never done that area had we not come acrossed his book in Michigan where he is from.

If you are new to Michigan or new to hiking, hiking guru Jim Dufresne's "50 Hikes in Michigan" is required reading.

From the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore to the Ohio state line, "50 hikes" lists the wildest but easiest to find, easiest to hike trails.

"Wild" usually discourages the novice, however, rest assured these are all well traversed trails and usually well marked.

This is my second copy, and I bring it with me in the field. Having hiked nearly all of the trails in his book (including all of the North Country Trail segments, and all the others not in the book), I have learned to take this book with me on my hike.

A tip: keep it in a zip lock bag. Those of you who are familiar with Michigan's weather know--it may be sunny, but wait a few minutes, it could rain!

This book contains sections for each geographical area of Alaska. It gives background on the area, tells you what types of permits you will need to hike, what transportation is available, etc. It also suggests several trails in each area. The book also contains a 100 page section on Alaska in general - history, facts, wildlife, transportation, etc. A great book if you want to plan a trip to Alaska but need to figure out which part of the state to go to. Not as useful if you want a lot of detail about a specific region.

This is a great book for planning a tramping trip to New Zealand, although it's a bit too much to carry while actually hiking. The book contains good references and maps to the most popular tracks, and some of the lesser known tracks. If your tight on cash, I recommend going to the visitor centers in New Zealand and picking up the DOC pamphlets they supply. D.O.C. has detailed pamphlets on pretty much every track in New Zealand and they only charge about 50 cents (US) for each one. But if you want to plan a trip from home, this is the book to get, it's far easier to understand than the other New Zealand tramping books, and gives good information on what you need to bring. It also gives good info on the New Zealand back country hut system. Buy a hut pass, they're only 35 bucks (US) for a year. It even supplies some decent fly fishing tips for the rivers that border some of the tracks. But be warned that almost every other tourist hiker in New Zealand also has this book, so if you really want to get away from people, you'll have to do some bushwacking.

This edition is far better than the previous editions. It's new organization and additional information sections are a marked improvement. A new section on Flora and Fauna gives a highlight of any New Zealand tramp. This book acts as an excellent reference book while tramping. Of course, if the book contained every piece of required information, (i.e. highly detailed maps and every step of the way instructions) it would require 1000's of pages. The authors surmount that difficulty by including instructions on how to obtain additional necessary information. The book is perfect for those that are looking into or planning a backpacking trek to New Zealand.

Great historical and park activity information. I just wish it would have been more specfic ie; which sites are good, maps of park layouts etc. Still good guide.

I live 2 miles from one of the State parks reviewed - Bald Mountain. I have to say I learned more from this guidebook than I knew from living here and asking the locals. It contains maps and layouts of the parks, and gives lots of good information. If you live in MI or are planning to visit, it's worth it.

I take this book on camping trips. This is a list of just some of the things you can find in this book: number of sites, amenities available, size of lakes, fish found there, number of visitors per year, acreage of the park, likely times to be full, address, directions to, phone number, winter activities, description of aesthetics, maps of most parks. Mr. Dufresne's opinions of what beaches are beautiful, or what lakes are good fisheries, etcetera are accurate. The only drawback to this book is that it was published before the new phone reservation system was implemented and does not have that information. This book is great for planning your trip whether you use the reservation system or not.

The new edition of this book fails to deliver in every aspect. I've used Lonely Planet books in the past, and they've proved to be reliable and useful, but not this one. I live in Banff, and so the observations are from this region.

Firstly, the "new" edition is terribly out of date. I purchased it after seeing the publication date was October 2002. It's accepted and understandable that things change, but there is information that was wrong well over a year before the publication date. A hostel that burnt down in 2000 (Hilda Creek, page 701), and reference to Banff and Jasper as "townsites" (Banff was incorporated in 1991, Jasper in 2001) are examples.

The description of Banff is laughable. There is no possible way anyone could describe the town as a "small, alpine-style village that consists of essentially one main street" (page 686), as this book does. The following history section doesn't get better: "The Bow River forms a class-distinctive boundary that is still evident today." In the first instance, the side of the river that LP tells us "caters to the wealthy crowd" comprises mainly of subsidized housing. And "Many people complain that the townsite is too crowded and argue that more hotels and streets should be built." Aside from the fact a 12 year old could have written the sentence, it's just simply not correct. In an effort to include an environmental slant, the authors have touched on current issues. Readers are informed that a convention center at Lake Louise is controversial because it's "in grizzly bear habitat-good goin' guys" (page 696). Bad goin' I say-it's controversial due to water issues, not bears.

The book is riddled with inaccuacies. Not information that is out of date, but straightforward mistakes. Page 688 talks of canoe rentals at Banff's Central Park. There has never been a canoe rental place here. How could a trained writer even imagine there was? Golden is "just outside the park" (page 692) No, it's over an hour's drive away along a treacherous road. There are literally dozens of similar mistakes in just the few pages on Banff. This is also reflected in the maps: Banff has no "Mamoth St." (page 687). As all Banff streets are named for animals, I guess they meant "mammoth" street, but there is no street of this name either. The mapmakers can't even correctly spell an incorrect name, or something along those lines anyway.

Most surprising for me, the good, solid travel information these books were once renowned for has been replaced by useless, fluffy text that serves no purpose at all. For example, the restaurants listed are not recommendations as such, but simply listings. And where there is a description it does little to inform. Four lines are used to explain the source of the name of an Irish pub (page 694) that has absolutely no relevance to Banff or the mountains, including that the original Guinness Brewery is still open and that it was "founded by 34 year old Arthur Guinness in 1759." The next listing is for Bruno's, named for one of Banff's most famous and respected mountain men. This name isn't explained, just that the restaurant has a "wide-ranging menu." There is an excellent reason why renting a vehicle in Banff, as opposed to Calgary or Canmore, is a bad choice (no unlimited mileage is offered, even by the majors), yet, this important and useful information isn't included (page 696).

My original purpose of buying this book was for travel around my own country, not so much to rely on every word in print but to get a feeling as how Canada is portrayed by these books. The litany of inaccuracies and uselessness seems to continue beyond the Rockies section. On page 34 readers are told brown bears are "actually a black bear but brown in color." I just wish I could ask the author how he came up with this unique theory.

I imagine picking a Lonely Planet book as the guide of choice is habit more than anything for many travelers. It's reflected in the attitude of those I meet on the road and the reviews I see here at Amazon. It seems somehow ironic that Lonely Planet has evolved from the likes of an Africa book I relied on for every word in the 80s, written by a guy whose biography had him living in a hut brewing mango wine somewhere I can't recall, to this worthless tome that relies on name rather than content to generate sales.

Lightbody, Huhti and Ver Berkmoes have produced the definitive travel guide on Canada. Up-front, this review is based on my trips to B.C. and Nova Scotia. To say that Canada is vast is an understatement, but, if these, to polarized Canadian provinces, are typical of the rest of the guide, this is a "must have" purchase.

Lightbody, Huhti and Ver Berkmoes' writing is both engaging and descriptive. "Lonely Planet Canada" has a solid introduction section that covers Norway's history, government, economy, ecology, climate etc. An informative practical travel section and, most important, a reliable and up-to-date listing of recommendations that each of the contributors has checked out (lodging, restaurants, entertainment, places to see and things to do). At the start of each section is a regional map, more maps, and a list of highlights or "must see" for that region. Great!

In my "must have" list to qualify a guide as "excellent", are easy to read maps. This book has the best maps found in a Canada travel guide. High marks go to the city maps that help the reader by numerically locating the recommended restaurants and accommodations on the maps.

The superb information and recommendations are reliable and though the publication date is 1999 (thus the information is pre '99), I did find some restaurants and inns closed or sold. As a whole, accommodations prices have increased an average of 15% to 20%.

A weak area, which I am sure will be corrected in the next edition, is the sparse use of email/web site addresses (Halifax, N.S. had no addresses out of the 20 accommodations listings). As computer users know, website and email addresses are very helpful, especially for hotel quotes and reservations.

Lonely Planet Canada is comprehensive enough to have even if you are just visiting one province and, with its excellent introduction and reliable accommodations and restaurants recommendations, you find that this may be the best buy in Canada Guides. Strongly recommended.

I used this guide while travelling on the east and west coast of Canada. It's most complete and accurate and also fun to read. The recommendations are all very reliable and good. If you don't want to carry around a handful of guide books, this book helps a lot. Even if it might not go as much into detail as a guide that zooms in on a particular city or region. But you'll find everything a backpacker's (and budget traveler's) eye is looking for. Highly recommended.

I'm from Michigan and I'm truly offended at this book...there are a lot of things to see in Michigan, everything from renting a cottage at one of Michigan's countless beautiful lakes both large and small, to hiking the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, to visiting it's many lighthouses. And that's just in the lower peninsula, I'm not too familiar with the U.P. Yet, the author mentions the attractions worth visiting as the 'bicycle spokes museum?', or the 'Be kind to your mother-in-law bridge?' I've never heard of either one and I've lived here all of my life? They make the state of Michigan and those who live here look foolish and backwards... If this is a book about locations that can be found 'off the beaten path', there is much to be said about Michigan. Some of the most beautiful attractions are located here, which do not appear to be in this book. If the sites described are the featured locations in the book, thanks but I'll pass. One would be better off picking up a free brochure from a travel agency...

As a native Michigander, and now a nearby Chicagoan, I found this book both amusing and helpful. I had no idea of some of the little sites and attractions of my native state and used the book on some car trips back home. Of course, the book assumes you are aware of the big tourist attractions so it concentrates on the hidden treasures. I have shared this with fellow Michigan natives and they loved it also.

Michigan is more than corn fields and auto factories. It has a rich heritage of literature, art, and frontier wildness that makes the wild west pale by comparison. Mr. Dufresne has collected the definitive book of must-see sights along the byways of the most beautiful state in the nation.