Average customer rating:
- Great resource
- Best guide to trails in Michigan
- I wish there was a book like this for every state!
- One stop research
- the best trails in michigan all in one book
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Trail Atlas of Michigan: Nature, Mountain Biking, Hiking Cross Country Skiing (Maps & Atlases)
Dennis R. Hansen
Manufacturer: Hansen Pub. Co.
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0930098072 |
Customer Reviews:
Great resource.......2005-08-03
So far, every trail description and thedirections to get there have been right on.
Best guide to trails in Michigan.......2004-07-16
All you need is this book to find the perfect trails for you anywhere in Michigan. I recommend this to anyone who bikes, hikes, skis or enjoys nature. What a great gift!
I wish there was a book like this for every state!.......2002-05-31
This is an excellent book for anyone who lives in Michigan. We've used it for hiking and cross country skiing, and it provides excellent accurate information.
One stop research.......2001-09-07
Hansen's book is a staple in any adventurer's library whether you ski, hike or bike. He's to the point. With so many trails to cover in both peninsulas it's tough to stay current. He should update it yearly.
the best trails in michigan all in one book.......2000-04-01
This book has some of the best trails in Michigan and directions to all of them. It lets you know the level of difficulty for each one. I recommend this book for anyone interested in exploring the great outdoors.
Book Description
Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior offers a unique wilderness experience. Unlike many national parks where tourists spend only a few hours gazing at the sights, Isle Royale visitors stay in the park for an average of four days. Each year about 17,000 people journey to this magnificent landscape, drawn by its half-million acres of remote trails and its delightful chain of a dozen lakes. Animal sightings are plentiful; the island is home to everything from beavers to loons, moose to wolves.
Readers will find this book a key reference in planning a trip to the island. Individual route listings include terrain, distance, highlights of the route, input and output sites, and the amenities available at each destination. Introductory material covers the park's campgrounds and shelter, wildlife, fishing spots, portage system, history, access, and data.
Jim DuFresne first explored Isle Royale when he was nine years old and has more than five decades of experience on the island. While writing the third edition of this book, DuFresne chose to journey on foot, crossing many of the park's 165 miles of trails with just a backpack. An avid hiker who has trekked around the world, DuFresne has written more than 15 guidebooks, including titles for Alaska, New Zealand, Australia, and Nepal.
Customer Reviews:
good preparation.......2007-02-20
This book helped me prepare for my first backpacking experience at Isle Royale. I was able to plan my routes and camping areas and knew what to expect as far as climate conditions, wildlife, and overall options of the park. It gave me realistic expectations and advice that definitely helped me to enjoy my Isle Royale experience.
Great info for newbies to the island.......2007-01-05
I have never been to Isle Royale and this book did a fantastic job talking not only about the trails at the park, but also the history too. The author goes into detail about the 3 main trails and gives good descriptions about what you'll experience while hiking. He also rates the trails for difficulty which helped me in planning my trip.
This is a great book to pick up if you've never been there as it has a wealth of good information for you to plan your initial visit to Isle Royale. I know I can't wait!!!
Good trip planning resource.......2005-08-19
I used this book to plan my last trip to Isle Royale and found the author's descriptions to be very complete and accurate. I am planning to return to a different part of the island this year and have little doubt that this book will be right on the mark again.
The best guide to hiking Isle Royale.......2004-09-04
This seems to be the only guide dedicated to Isle Royale, so we are all lucky that it's a good one. He describes the hikes in some detail and describes the features of each hike well enough so that you can plan what you want to do.
Dufresne divides the book into long hikes, short hikes, and canoe trips and portages. The long hikes are multi-day backpacking trips, while the short hikes are day trips out of the two ranger stations (Rock Harbor and Windigo). The book also has some helpful background information about the park and NPS rules.
My only complaint is that the mileages listed for some long hikes don't capture the whole distance. For example, Dufresne counts the Feldtmann loop as 24 miles, starting at Windigo and ending at the junction of the Island Mine trail and the Greenstone Ridge trail. Sorry, but you have to get back to the boat, and it's another 7 miles to Windigo from that junction. This means that the loop is 31 miles long, not 24 miles.
To avoid surprises like that, pick up the Trails Illustrated map of Isle Royale, which has mileages on it, to supplement this book.
Wouldn't have gone without it.......2002-02-27
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.
Book Description
Describes fifty of the best hikes in Michigan's beautiful Upper Peninsula.
Customer Reviews:
Six for Six on hike descriptions vs. hike reality.......2007-05-31
I used Eric's book Memorial Day weekend 2007 to plan a series of day hikes in the U.P. The hikes he chose to highlight are indeed spectacular. The trail descriptions are helpful and accurate, to the point where I took one of the Norwich Bluff alternative routes and found the suggested, little traveled side trail with no problems. I also used this book for some route planning in the Porkies a year or so ago. Thanks for the great guide!
What a great guy.......2006-08-14
I met Eric randomnly while on a camping trip with some friends. We came upon him while he was fishing and he just struck right up about hiking and camping and ended up giving us a suggestion for finishing up our day in the area, casually mentioning later on that he had written a guide about hiking the UP. A girl and I took him up on the idea and it was easily one of the most magical things I have ever done. Don't know as if it's in the book or not, but as it turned out my mom had bought it that same day by coincidence. Just wanted to say thanks to Eric (and I'm going on the other trip too) and tell all you people out there that he really knows what he's talking about!!!
Good and Practical.......2006-07-30
Didn't refer to the book a whole lot, but what we did try was successful. Information was timely and our experience was better for it.
Worth waiting for! Worth the money! A great gift!.......2005-12-11
This is the book I've been waiting for ever since I saw Eric's article and photos on the undiscovered Trap Hills in the Western U.P. in an outdoors magazine. Eric, who lives in Milwaukee, combines the been-there trail notes with the perspective of someone widely familiar with what the Upper Great Lakes has to offer hikers.
The actual book chapters I read completely lived up to my expectations. Now, alas, I've mislaid my copy and must write my review from memory. My husband and I do a very wide-ranging guide to U.P. points of interest and history - www.hunts-upguide.com. We are always looking for good books that do certain subjects on a deeper level. Thank you, Eric, for taking the time to explore our beautiful, out-of-the-way corner of the world.
A great guide.......2005-10-10
I will say without a doubt that if you are looking to do anything off the beaten path in the UP (which is most things), then this book is absolutely crucial. There are hikes for all levels of hiking experience, each with a bit of background information and spot-on directions. The hikes are all personally recommended by the author and not just a re-hash of what you read in the Hunt's Guide or some other lesser peer (if I may use an oxymoron). A complete guide to hiking the UP would take a series of books this size, but fortunately for us Eric Hansen has done all the walking himself to find the fifty that cannot be missed. I live in the UP and I had frequented many of the places in this book before it came out, yet I still was never left without some fresh knowledge regarding each and every hike. Buy this and begin walking!
Book Description
Lifelong Michigan resident Jim DuFresne, the author of numerous books on Michigan and the outdoors, guides bikers through Michigan's unequaled system of state parks and natural and wilderness areas, where the scenery and trails are as varied as anywhere in the country. As DuFresne notes in his introduction, "From sand dunes without even a blade of grass, to the towering monarchs of Hartwick Pines' virgin forests, from miles of beach that turn gold with every Lake Michigan sunset to one of the eleven thousand inland lakes where on a still evening bass rise to the surface like trout--all these wonders of the Midwest can be reached by hiking foot trails." The hikes in this completely revised and expanded second edition range from 1.5 to 35 miles in length. Hikers will learn where to find the best trailside fishing, birding, and wildlife watching, as well as where to go to find fall color and undisturbed backcountry camping. Each hike description includes directions to the trailhead; a detailed map; trail distance, difficulty, and hiking time; explicit trail directions, and a description of natural and historic features along the way.
Customer Reviews:
MICHIGAN'S GREAT TREASURES.......2004-05-18
I recently had a friend of my wife comment on how I knew all the good and "secret" places to go in Michigan. This is not true, but I do often wonder at how people know of some of the truly great places to go in my home state.
Any knowledge that I might have comes from owning several books written by Jim Dufresne. Dufresne is among a handful of what I consider the best writers out there when it comes to the outdoors/travel. Happily, he lives in and writes about my home state.
I not only own this 50 hikes book, but I have books written by Dufresne on hiking with children in Michigan, Michigan's State Parks, the Porcupine Mountains, and the best campgrounds in Michigan. With the exception of the Porcupine Mountains book (which is of a narrower interest) all of these books are indispensable.
50 hikes in Michigan (there are actually 60 hikes listed) really does contain most of the best hikes in the lower peninsula of Michigan. From this book I learned of the Algonquin trail in beautiful and semi-remote Negwegon State Park (you won't find any brown signs on the main roads leading you there). This hike alone is worth the price of the book.
But why stop there?
You can also explore such places as the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, the Manistee River Trail and the plethora of shorter trails in Waterloo State Recreation area. These hikes and the others listed in this well-written and engaging book are some of the best to be found anywhere. I only wish there were an Upper Peninsula edition.
Jim Dufresne himself, though not homegrown, is one of Michigan's great treasures. I recommend this book and others by him.
Get a copy today.
New to Michigan or new to hiking, this is a must read!.......2001-12-14
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!
Book Description
From the wilderness areas of the Upper Peninsula--including Isle Royale National Park and Porcupine Mountain--to the High Country Pathway through Pigeon River State Forest in the Lower Peninsula and to the 875-mile North Country Trail, this guide offers the spectrum of hiking adventures.
Customer Reviews:
Good book.......2007-01-10
This book has good reviews on trails and is very helpful. There are some trails it does not mention that I would have liked to learn more about but it does have a lot of good information.
Great book for the casual or beginning hiker........2002-06-07
I found this book to be very helpful on my first foray into the Northern Michigan wilderness. My wife and I walked the Herman Vogler trail and the Ocqueoc Falls trail while visiting friends on a vacation in Onaway, MI and found the book to be very accurate (maps and descriptions). Both trails are within a 30 minute drive of each other, and are must see's if you are in the area. I cannot speak of any other trails accuracy(s), but once we make another trip up north we will be sure to check out another trail or two and let you know! Good book, good price, I would (and have) recommend this book to anyone interested in hiking Michigan.
A meager hiking guide for a great state.......2000-11-27
The 'Hiking Michigan' guidebook was ok, but I expected more. The book is adequate for casual walking. Unfortunately, the maps were not well done. Both the trail maps and the directions to the trailheads lacked important detail. The guidebook did not have a summary matrix of trail information that would have been helpful in planning outings. On the positive side, the descriptions of the trails were accurate. In addition, the book includes introductory sections on clothing, equipment, and trail ethics. Therefore, 'Hiking Michigan' is a good starter-book for the novice, but it falls short compared to true hiking guides.
Book Description
Hiking Michigan is your complete guide to 103 of the best day hikes in the state. No matter what region you wish to explore or how easy or hard a trek you want, this handy book will lead you to the right trail and ensure that you don't miss a thing on your journey.
Featuring trails in the Upper and Lower Peninsulas, the book offers you a guided tour of trails in 55 featured areas.
Included in the book are these special features:
• Detailed descriptions of 103 trails, including the length of trail, estimated time to hike it, and a difficulty rating
• 151 easy-to-read park and trail maps
• A map of each featured trail, with points of interest and trail distances
• Practical information on how to get to the parks, the park hours, available facilities, permits and rules, and a contact address and phone number
• A convenient trail-finder grid, which provides a summary of each trail's features and location in the book
• A section on nearby points of interest, with contact phone numbers
Hiking Michigan brings to life the history, terrain, flora, and fauna of each area. And its descriptions of nearby recreational and sightseeing destinations ensure that you won't miss anything on your trip.
Hiking Michigan is part of America's Best Day Hiking Series from Human Kinetics.
Customer Reviews:
Very handy guide-- please write one for Lower Michigan.......2007-01-19
Great book -- I hope they write one for the upper part of Lower Michigan.
Average customer rating:
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Michigan's Best Outdoor Adventures With Children
Jim Dufresne
Manufacturer: Mountaineers Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0898862493 |
Customer Reviews:
Excellent!.......2006-07-13
This book is a must-have if you're visiting Michigan with small kids. It is better than expected. There is great variety -- different types of hikes for different ages and abilities, even backpacking. The maps are good, and each hiking adventure is well described with all the information you need. Much more than hiking -- also camping and backpacking, as well as fishing and boating options. Many of the hikes are great for adults, too, who are just beginning to hike or backpack.
Just right, and fills a real need........2003-08-15
Get your kids out-of-doors! Jim's books are all good - but this one fills an important niche, and does so just perfectly. It's really not comprehensive, as Michigan offers some excellent day-hiking, and much of it is appropriate for kids. But there's more than enough to keep you and young explorers busy, and Jim's excellent notes on each hike will help you decide which to try first. Kids over 9 or 10 (especially those already very out-doors oriented) might be bored with many of these. But that fact is part of what makes the book so valuable. These hikes are actually the harder ones to find - hikes that are especially appropriate for really young kids (and perhaps their weary or indoorsy parents). The trails are short, sweet, and especially entertaining.
Customer Reviews:
Porcuipine Mountains Wilderness State Park: A Backcountry Guide.......2007-08-31
Great book.It provides a detailed description of the entire park. All the information is very useful.
The best - - and only - - guide to the Porkies, with room for improvement.......2006-09-15
The Porcupine Mountains (Porkies) are a beautiful place. Like other "mountainous" places in the Midwest, there's not much elevation here - - about 1000 feet in total - - but there's a lot of up and down, and I find that I work as hard there as on the Teton Crest. The forest is dense and soaring vistas are few, but the North Woods have their own charms. In addition, the crowds are small. I saw one party every two hours on Friday, about one party every hour on Saturday and Sunday. That's a far cry from the wildernesses in most national parks (this is a "state wilderness park")
Having been to the Upper Peninsula before, I expected bugs, and I went in mid-August to miss the worst of them. That worked out fine. I also knew that the UP was a pretty soggy place-it's basically all wetland-but I thought that the Porkies, being "mountains," would be well-drained. That was only half true. Even though it hadn't rained for several days, long stretches were pretty soggy. Bring the right boots, and also bring trekking poles and gaiters if they add to your comfort.
The park headquarters sells a nice topographic map for about ten dollars. It's suitable for framing because it comes all rolled up - - in an ideal world there would be a fold-up version for hiking. That map shows the campsites, as does a free pamphlet that comes with your backcountry permit. The pamphlet (but not the map) also shows which sites have bear poles.
None of these maps show you which sites have water and which ones do not. Did I mention that this is a soggy place? That means that most places do have water - - but three very pretty sites atop the escarpment do not. You can probably guess that fact from the map, as they are . . . well, on top of an escarpment, and there are no streams or springs nearby. Still, putting fresh water symbols on the map would be nice.
Well, that's a long introduction, and I haven't even talked about Dufresne's book yet. You can probably tell that maps are important to me. Dufresne's book has maps - - they are good enough for your planning, but only just. There's one map of the whole park in the front of the book, with some high-use sections bifurcated by the page seam. That map labels the trails and provides topographical information. The chapters on each trail come with a trail map, with more fine-grained topo lines shown only as they cross the trail. This means that you can't tell directly whether you're walking around a mountain or a valley or whatever - - only whether you're going up or down. His maps do show campgrounds but do not show bear poles or water sources. Also, Dufresne's maps show a shelter on the Superior Trail that is now a pile of lumber awaiting removal.
Like his book on Isle Royale, Dufresne organizes this book around trails and not around routes. He puts the long trails first, short trails last. I've never understood the logic of this. When I backpack, I hike routes - - and, more often than not, I have to hike a loop or a lollipop because I only have one car. (Apparently, there are some shuttle services available if you schedule them in advance - - call the park headquarters; Dufresne's book does not mention this possibility.) Planning your own route therefore requires that you flip back and forth between different chapters as you patch together a bit of this trail and a little of that. This is annoying but not a deal-breaker.
The trail descriptions are accurate for the trails that I hiked. He warned me about soggy stretches, and I used his guide to avoid the even soggier North Mirror Lake trail. He didn't tell me about how overgrown the Superior Trail was north of the Big Carp River, but that may just be a late-August thing. He provided enough information for me to plan my visit, and I got what I expected on the trail.
The book also includes other useful information for non-backpackers, including a discussion of the waterfalls, wildlife, backcountry cabins, fishing, and winter skiing. There are also a lot of pictures of his family hiking through the park, which is an acceptable indulgence. The park's hike-in cabins are an interesting idea, and seem to attract dog owners (doubtless because of the black bears in the park). The presence of cabins reminds you that this is a *state* wilderness area, not a federal wilderness in which "man is a visitor who does not remain."
Information about these things, which falls into the category of all-purpose tourism information, makes up about half of Dufresne's book. As far as I know, it's the only guide to the Porkies. For that reason, it's essential, and it does the job. But there is room for an even better guide yet to be written.
If you've gotten this far, GO. Bring this book - - and maybe write a better one.
A SOLID INTRO TO & OVERVIEW OF THE PORKIES..........2004-12-10
Jim DuFresne is a poet of the outdoors. It is disconncerting to find writing of this quality, this vitality, in what is essentially a travel book. The section in this book on his encounter with a black bear is just one example.
Is this the definitive guide to what are affectionately called "the Porkies?"
Not really, but this is a very useful tool in planning a trip there.
This book and a good hiking guide--like the Falcon guide to Hiking Michigan--along with some decent topo maps should do the trick. The hiking info is critical, because unless you're just gonna go take a gander at the Lake in the Clouds, you'll be doing some serious hiking in the Porcupine Mountains.
This book is great background for some of the things you will see there, but the Falcon guide and the maps really help you plan.
I give this book a solid recommendation--with a suggestion to get a good hiking guide & maps.
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