This is a fine guide if you have never hiked before in a National Park, or if you merely dabble occasionally in the sport. The maps are excellent, as are the trail descriptions, elevation gains and driving directions to the trail heads. Most of these hikes can easily be completed by even the most unfit hiker, children, or eldery people.

However, this is *not* the guide to purchase if you are a serious hiker. I was bemused to see that this book doesn't even contain the quintessential Yosemite hike, Half Dome. Nor does it contain the second-best hike in the park, the Four-and-a-half-mile-trail. In fact, none of the hikes profiled in this Guide are lengthier than a few miles and none would be considered even semi-strenuous. Heed this advice if you're a serious hiker and consult a different guide. But if you're just a casual weekend athlete, or have children in tow, this is a well-written and adequate book for your needs.

If a short hike is what you're looking for, this is the right book for you! The hikes are short and accessible. You find all the information you need; the maps are good enough, the pictures exquisite... In short, a good book mainly for beginners. For more challenging hikes or longer backpacking trips, look somewhere else...

you are planning on going on hikes longer than an hour or two. In fact the title should be "Hour hikes in Sedona, Arizona". My wife and I recently visited Sedona with the intent of hiking for a couple days with some short hikes and some all day opportunities. Sadly this book lists only the short hikes and incredibally fails to even mention that many of the great short walks can be extended through other adjoining trails (not mentioned). Most of the information (maps, description of trails etc..) contained in the book, and much more, can be easily obtained through the Sedona visitor center for free!

I wanted to learn more about back country hiking in Sedona. Once I read this book, I knew what I needed to know quickly. This book is very helpful in reviewing many hikes in the area, with maps as well as distance and estimated time of hike. Very good reading and the best hikes are reviewed. I would highly recommend this book for anyone visiting this area.

I was disappointed when receiving the book. Despite of its title, all but one of the described hikes have an estimated hiking time of at most three hours which can hardly be considered a day hike. The shortest hike isn't a hike at all, followed by one lasting 10 to 30 minutes.

I used this book & found several wonderful hikes that weren't mentioned in any of the other Kauai guide books. The best was the Waiema Canyon hike -- it wasn't a super-easy hike, but four of us (ranging in age from 25 to 50) did it in half a day. We had lunch by a beautiful hidden waterfall, & during the hike we found spectacular views of the canyon. Recommended.

You simply do not find anything unique in the book that you could not find in other sources. Although I prefer the shorter hikes, less than 4 hours long, this book simply did not live up to my expectations.

This book lacks everything you would expect from a useful guidebook. The trail maps are completely useless in the field. Compounding the complete uselessness of this book are the vague and poorly written hike descriptions. Every hike sounds as boring as the next (even though they traverse some stunning scenery), almost as if this book was researched/written completely at a desk - instead of out in the field. I wonder if Mr. Stone even set foot on any of these trails. Don't waste your time / money.

This book may lack high quality info. for the experienced outdoorsman but for the common Missoula area Native this book supplies the perfect amount of pertinent information. Where it lacks in detail it excells in simple english.

Just to clarify - if you are cruise ship type or a resort compound type, this book is for you! For the rest of us that can find our way around a phone booth, forget this book.

Well, no wonder this book was panned by others. Have been to St Martin before, by the way. A mere 48 pages, canned information that probably is in every version of this series. Yes, it directs one to some places, but no suprises, information probably available at any hotel or by asking a local. Like so many travel guides, it glamorises everything. Phillipsburg is a large tourist trap/cruise ship town - tee shirt/jewelry sort of place. Yet this book calls it quaint - give me a break! Run from this book or resell it as soon as possible.

This is an un-ambitious guide book, but I found it useful on a return trip to this delightful island. Note to the editors: Why not print the driving directions accompanying Robert Stone's descriptions in a small font. Driving directions often take-up more space than the place descriptions. After all, St.Martin/St.Maarten is just thirty-seven square miles. Getting from one place to another is almost intuitive. One main road circles the island and the destination points are almost all on the perimeter. The map of the island on pages 8 and 9 is excellent and easy to refer to while caught in traffic slowdowns in the French city of Marigot or while waiting for the bridge to lower at Simpson Bay. PS: You didn't tell us about the traffic, the narrow roads, the goats, the quick turns on steep hills, and the uneven road quality. Note to the author: Your descriptions are skimpy. Why not give us a little more information, for example, about the flora and fauna. At Orient Beach I was surprised to find some beautiful cactus in bloom. And how about those different birds poking about the salt ponds and the frigate birds lazily circling high above. Your photographs are fine and relevant. You give us a list of taxi fares, but this information dates quickly. Most visitors using your book will rent cars. Maybe a list of annual celebrations such as the Heineken Regatta at Simpson Bay or Carnival in Marigot would be of greater value.

This book is fine for beginner climbers who want to hike the easiest and best known trails in the area.

Stone gives a brief (maybe too brief) description of over 40 hikes and good directions on how to get to each trailhead.

For those of you looking for longer, less well known, and more challenging hikes, I would recommend Hiking Grand Teton National Park by Bill Schneider. This book lists more hikes (easy, moderate, and hard) and gives more complete descriptions on what to expect on each hike.

most of the hikes listed are widely found in many other sources. thse that were unique, had vague descriptions and were very difficult to find (i.e. bad descrptions to trailheads). all in all, a dissappointment.