Judd Nelson Books

Readers who got lost need to remember roads and trails change faster than books can be printed. This is a wonderful directory of trails in Washington and Oregon -- much better than newest title from Foghorn which seems to replace this book (and which ignores Oregon completely).

Complete, accurate, comprehensive, and entertaining, to boot. Amazing inventory of trails for the money. Maps are only so-so, but functional. BTW: The review below is a joke: Most people would give up on an "unreliable" guidebook after about five hikes and skip the other 95.

Never had any problems with directions myself. I have come across a few trails in this guide that are hard to get to -- sometimes impossible. Reason: There are *1100 trails* in it. This is both the strength and weakness of these all-in-one gides. Some trails are bound to be washed out or in ill repair at any given time. That's why all the Foghorn books suggest -- in fact, urge -- that you call the contact number before you go. Prudent advice. No guide can be updated every 15 minutes. Anyone who's not a complete wilderness neophyte knows that. For me, the most frustrating thing about the book is the map grid system, which doesn't make much sense. But overall, it's a good NW trail inventory with a good index. Great for quick reference -- and contact info to check on the trail. Anybody who needs a search party on a road should consider staying home.

The previous review states that another recent review of the book by Reader From Lake Oswego must be a joke. However, I must agree with RLO. I have attempted 20 plus hikes using this book as a guide and found that several of the reviewed trails don't actually exist or that the driving directions are so incorrect that they are impossible to find. It is obvious that a number of the trails were not even visited by the authors - if they had been, they surely would not have made it into publication. For example, after spending hours searching for Bobsled Trail in the Umatilla National Forest I finally found an old weather beaten sign in the brush and the faint remains of a trail that had clearly not been used in a decade. Also following the book's "directions", I spent hours searching for Ninetop Trail in the Umatilla Heppner Ranger District. Not only did the trail not exist, but my SUV got stuck forcing me to walk seven miles to the nearest maintained road to obtain help. This could have been very dangerous situation for someone with a lack of supplies or outdoor knowledge. As a result, I have taken the previous reviewers advice and given up on this guidebook. If you decided to utilize the book, the pages may be used to build a fire (as Reader in Lake Oswego suggests). However I recommend saving them to spell out HELP on the ground to alert the rescue plane that will be searching for you.

I have attempted to do more than 100 hikes in this book -- 90% in Oregon. At least 30% of the trails do not exist or the driving directions were so poor you could not find the trailhead -- and some you simply could not get to in a standard vehicle. The descriptions were not accurate. It seems like the author wrote by using maps, not by visiting the trails. I ended up using a few of the pages to start a fire on one of the hikes. That was the best use I got out of the guide.

Some information was reasonable.

In The Transparent Life, Naomi Judd combines devotion-style writing, questions, personal notes, and Scripture to express a mind, body and spiritual connection. Knowing many do not understand why their life is going in the direction that it is, she provides her insight and understanding to the hurting.

Naomi has fully recovered from hepatitis C and credits her recovery, alongside her caring medical doctors, to making smarter life choices and greater peace of mind. As she was delving into understanding the being as a whole with emotions, lifestyle needs, and spiritual needs, she writes, "I learned how our lifestyles can cause all sorts of mental distress and disease...I was shocked to discover that 85 percent of all illnesses are related to stress." She also writes that "The World Health Organization has proclaimed stress to be the number one global epidemic."

If you are struggling with a health or other issue, this book may help you gain some understanding of what you can do to alleviate some of the stress and gain peace of mind. Although the book contains Scripture and clearly Naomi is a Christian, I thought a more effective connection would have been made between self and God. In a chapter titled "Quiet Rest Time with God," she spoke of meditation, creating a sense of self-mastery and listening to your inner witness, but passed over how God or the Holy Spirit may work in that quiet time. The strength of this book lies in her personal experiences and the questions she poses, but the greater weakness may be in leaving you with your eyes more on yourself and less on God. - Sheri Carlstrom, Christian Book Previews.com