Pacific Books

This is a great book filled with lots of great pictures and interesting information. The authors give you a real feel for the hikes and really get you in the mood for your trip. The map you get along with the book is very pretty vauge, so a more detailed map is required to really get down to planning. But a great book to start you on your way to a fun backpacking trip. Absolutely get this book if your'e taking a 'walkabout in the Sierras.

The collaborative effort of Thomas Winnet, Jason Winnett, Kathy Morey, and Lyn Haber, Sierra North: 100 Backcountry Trips In California's Sierra is an detailed and thoroughly "user friendly travel guide to planning a hike in California's wild, rugged, and beautiful mountains. Filled with topography maps, one hundred different trips with route descriptions, information on fishing, swimming, flora, fauna, geology, and history, and much, much more, Sierra North is a highly accessible and information-packed resource which is especially recommended for vacationing nature lovers.

I enjoy all of the Winnett books because they are accurate, fun to read and reliable. This book has little chapters on over 100 trips in the Sierra range, and the descriptions of each trek are a total delight. So often these hiking books neglect to tell you how to reach the trailhead and oftentimes they don't provide detailed instructions. Winnett never makes this mistake. You will not need a separate map to locate any of the trailheads, his maps and written instructions are first-rate. In fact, there is even a nifty fold-out map sewn into the rear pocket so you can tote it along on any of your journeys. Equally interesting is that this book doesn't merely give elevation gains, difficulty ratings and desriptions of the trail conditions. These are vital to know, but Winnett also includes little bits of information of what kinds of wild flowers you will encounter, birds, wildlife and other little nuggets neglected in other guides.

The book is supposed to be only for overnight backpacking trips, but there are many trails here that can be used for day hikes. These trips will be in the 10-16 mile range and any strong hiker can easily do these hikes in one day. If you do choose to go the multi-day backpacking route, Winnett describes water sources, camping sites and addresses whether bears or marmots might be a problem for you. Most importantly, he tells you where to find water and whether the water source is reliable throughout the whole year.

I can't recommend this guide highly enough. Even if you're an armchair hiker, you'll derive many hours of vicarious joy from this guide.

This is the essential book for planning backcountry trips in the Sierra. Details such as noting which trails are open earlier season help planning a trip that won't get cancelled because of snow on the trail. More detail on shade and forest would be nice.

I finally replaced my 1988 5th edition with the current 9th edition by Kathy Morey, Mike White and the usual Wilderness Press accomplices.

It is physically larger and heavier, but I have finally realized that it is ok to cut out just the trip I am doing and take it with me, so weight is not an issue.

There are a couple of big improvements. The most significant one for me is the organization by major highway. i. e. Interstate 80 trips, Highway 89 trips, Highway 50 trips, etc. Makes it much easier to select possible trips for a short amout of time off. The other improvement is the use of text on grey background to indicate such things as chapter tabs, Notes that are a supplement to the trail text and so forth. It makes the book more interesting to the eye.

The maps in my 5th edition were in a pocket at the back of the book. Now they are a full page in imbedded in the text with the associated trail description. They still have the trail elevation profiles that are still an important part of my trip planning. The bigger book size allows more and larger black and white photos.

On the trail descriptions themselves, I have recently hiked all the PCT segments, and reading after the fact, find the descriptions accurate. On all the Wilderness Press guides, I sometimes find myself puffing up a steep grade and thinking "why didn't they tell me about this?". Assume that the descriptions are done by an experienced, acclimated hiker and don't assume the first day or two will be easy

A friend just told me about a new hiking area where he had found a great view, so I looked up Thunder Mountain in Sierra North, and found out all about it.

They have GPS waypoints on the trailheads. I find that where I need them is on these obsure trail junctions - maybe something for the 10th edition.

Definitely a good book for your hiking shelf.

Planning a trip using another guide made me realize how good this book is. The first reason is the elevation profiles at the start of each trip that tell you how high and low you'll be--something good to know this summer when the temperatures at the lower sites (like Yosemite Valley) exceeds 100 degrees. Second, the authors tell you exactly what it is like to hike the trail, from one landmark to the next, without extraneous commentary. Seems like a simple enough formula but only these guys get it right.

Cutter's Sierra Trout Guide is more than just a how to catch fish book. It is a lovingly illustrated and highly readable narrative about the Sierras, the varieties of trout found there, where trout feed, and on what and when, how to know what the trout are eating and what best imitates today's insect selection. Equally important, Cutter provides a compelling history of each strain of Sierra trout and how man has done his best --luckily so far unsuccessfully-- to ruin this splendid fishery. Read this book and you'll weep at what our forefathers did to the once abundant Lahontan Cutthroat. But you'll also see the Sierras and their wild trout populations with a whole new appreciation for their magnificence.

Ralph Cutter has done a superb job with his revised edition of "Sierra Trout Guide". The book was originally published in a much smaller format with only a fraction of the information contained in this edition. The ten years between editions was well worth the wait.

Ralph introduces you to the various species of trout and char that you will find in the Sierra, along with valuable information on their preferred habitat and environmental preferences. His chapter describing the fishery will help you understand why the Sierra Nevada enjoys such a wide mix of trout, and will give the history buff a load of trivia to share at the evening campfire or while moon-watching from a granite bluff.

Backpacking is a minimalist's sport and yet fly fishers have a reputation for carrying everything with them but the kitchen sink. The chapter "Into the Backcountry" gives great guidelines on what to take, what to leave, and what to expect to run into on a fly-fishing/backpacking trip. The chapter on "Trout Foods" includes information on all the major insects on the Sierra trout's menu and includes a hatch chart with some general recommendations to compensate for elevation differences. Ralph again takes the well seasoned backpacker's approach to his recommended fly assortment. You really can imitate most of the available insects in the Sierra with just a handful of flies.

The chapter "Locating Productive Waters" will enable you to make an educated guess about where to find trout by analyzing the features of the 7 1/2 minute maps of the areas you wish to explore.

As if that was not enough, the book includes distribution charts (listed by county) of all the rivers and lakes found in the Sierra that hold trout. These charts also tell you which USGS map they can be found on, the watershed they belong to, the elevation, and even the species of fish you can expect to find in the area you're considering. For example, if you want to fish lakes in the EL Dorado County area of the Sierra for Golden Trout, you can use these charts to plan your trip. My brother and I used this information to find a lake a few years ago that contained golden trout at 8100 feet of elevation and only a 6 mile hike in. The full moon illuminating the granite cliffs over the lake that night, and a sparkling jewel of a 14" golden trout the next day, quickly made me forget any soreness from the effort it took to get there.

The book is printed on top quality glossy paper and the pictures alone make the book worth buying. The 8½" x 11" pages are easy to read and handle, and the softcover allows you to easily slip it into your backpack. Don't go into the Sierra without it.

As an author of a book that uses a fishing metaphor to illustrate how relationships work, I was approached by someone about this book. So I bought it and must say that it truly gives the more serious angler a better understanding about what fly fishing for trout is all about. Having read about a dozen books on trout fishing (in doing the research for my fishing analogy), I think this one is one of the very best. The pictures are beautiful and something that every California trout fisherman should have in his personal library.

This book, along with Serge Dedina's Saving the Gray Whale: People, Politics,and Conservation in Baja California, is required reading for anyone who plans a whale watching trip in Baja.

This splendid book is aptly named, for the powerful glimpses in these chapters, full of emotion and drama, carry the resonance and significance of a sighting of the heart-shaped breath plume and knuckled back of one of the largest, gentlest, and most enigmatic creatures on the planet.
Sightings is beautiful reading. Each of the short chapters is rich as a poem, and indeed, many read like song or poetry, each woman's distinctive voice blending and harmonizing with her co-author's.
This book is not the standard National Geographic fare--though the authors are skilled reporters and intrepid travellers, following the whales in kayaks, small planes, boats and ferries. Theirs are the sightings of writers who don't merely observe, but who feel their subjects and feel them deeply, who use their intuitions and emotions as well as their intellects to come to their powerful conclusion: that, in this era of mass extinction, to kill such a creature as the gray whale is "an act against creation."
How lucky are we that these talented, spirited women have written this compelling and important testament to that truth.

SIGHTINGS is an incredible book to read on the plight of Gray Whales. Although I started reading SIGHTINGS the last day on a cruise ship in Cabos, (literally, moments after photographing a large pod of dolphins leaping out of the ship's wake)... my husband and I even skipped meals because I could not pull my head up from non-stop reading of this fine book. Linda Hogan's proses through a Native American's eyes were very beautiful and insightful... Brenda Peterson pucked my heartstrings with her naturalist perspective for this amazing mammal's plight and journeys through an OCEANPLANET, all the while a majority of humankind believes it owns it, yet refuses to accept responsibility for what befalls this watery world's consequence. I encourage all to read this book... its pages will open your eyes and one will not be dissappointed. Several years ago, I was one of many that wrote letters to the Mexican Government concerning St. Ignacia's breeding grounds of the great Gray Whale. The book finally told me of the outcome. When I am sailing on my boat named Rumbledoll in Neah Bay, WA this summer, or in Mexico next year, I will be searching for Gray Whales and their children... with a renewed hope of their perservation for many milleniums to come.

Jadia Ward/Bright Eyes Creations

We have the first edition of this cookbook and love it. We've given many copies away and are glad to see that it has been reissued. The recipes are delicious and simple and satisfy our love of international cuisine with a Vancouver flavour.

This cookbook is fabulous. My husband and I rely on it, and have yet to find a bad recipe. I've just taken my copy in to a print shop to have it ring bound because it's beginning to fall apart from years of use. I keep hoping that the Vancouver Sun Times will publish a sequel. If you like healthy, easy, excellent cooking, this is one not to miss.

_Six O'Clock Solutions_, a collection of main dish recipes, comes from the _Vancouver Sun_ test kitchen. To be included, a dish must take no longer than 30 minutes to prepare, from start to finish. The recipes are easy and forgiving,.. and draw on worldwide influences -- Italian-style pasta dishes, Asian-inspired chicken sauces, French seafood stews, etc. Assuming you have a reasonably well-stocked pantry (balsamic vinegar shouldn't be a stranger), you'll find that you can prepare most of the recipes with ingredients you already have on hand. Best so far? It's a tossup between Glazed Apricot-Walnut Chicken and Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Creamy Mustard Sauce.

A chart at the back of the book shows which recipes are low-fat, which are especially fast to prepare, which are good candidates for entertaining, and which have the highest KAF (kid acceptance factor). Each recipe is accompanied by suggested side dishes.

The _Vancouver Sun_ has also produced a cookbook called _Five Star Food_. I hope they continue the theme and write cookbooks featuring four, three, two, and one!

Well, Mr. Criscuolo has proven me wrong. Having growing up skiing other places like Idaho, Utah, and California I thought all skiing up in the Washington area was wet and marginal. I had no idea that there were all these different places to ski in the Seattle area (2 hour drive or less).

There are even more if you want to do some traveling but not make the hike all the way to Sun Valley or get on a plane to make it to Utah, Colorado, or California.

Thanks Mr. Criscuolo This is a resource that I needed to make my winters fun in Seattle!

Santo has done extensive research and this book is excellent! Santo writes very clearly and provides and all the pertinent information you'll need to enjoy any of these Northwest resorts to the fullest. Having grown up in the Northwest and skied many of these mountains, I found myself agreeing completely with what Santo wrote. His descriptions brought the resorts back to life in my memory. I especially like that he chose some out-of-the-way places that haven't been covered in other guide books. Santo gives press to some of the best-kept Northwest secrets, for which I suppose I can forgive him, and I applaud his honest enthusiasm for snow riding. This book makes me excited about the upcoming season and want to ride every single mountain he's reviewed! Get this book. Then get out there and make some turns!

Finally, a book about Pacific NW skiing that nails it!

Criscuolo obviously did his research, because the information is dead-on. While the book is meticulously detailed, it is easy to navigate and well-written.

Anyone who's serious about NW skiing & boarding needs to have this book.

I first heard RMP read at an outdoor conference in the late 1990s. Late that evening some of us shared single malt with him around a small table in a little trailer. I was hooked.

First I read his Sasquatch book, which is not about sasquatch, except for a little bit. Then there is his beautiful western butterfly book, a book to be studied and treasured. It opened my eyes to much I had never seen in my many years of wandering the hills.

Enough; this volume is near poetry.

But in it, you will find RMP a bit whimsically professorial. For instance when RMP walks through thistles in his shorts, he remarks on itchy scratches.

Incidently, Gray's River is in SW Washington across the Columbia River northeast of Astoria, Oregon.

Of all Mr. Pyle's books this one is the most lyrical and delicious. Just read a page before you go to sleep and you will dream of lush forest and lovely creatures on land and in the sky. Every sentence is filled with wonderful images of nature. It would make a nature lover out of any reader.

An imapssioned life, observing and enjoying all around him. A great read for those interested in people and nature, the interconnected web of a rural world. We can all learn something from this book. Thanks Bob!

Being an expert sledder, I always scoffed at snowshoers as those hippy-skippys who couldn't afford a snowmobile. Until one fateful day, while waiting for the dentist to remove my first and last wisdom tooth, I browsed through this book by Andersen and became immediately enchanted. Not one to judge a book by its cover, I tried out three different routes as outlined by Andersen and found that he did a masterful job guiding me through the mountains, around the crags and over the criks. The route finding and subsequent snowshoe up (and sled down) of Tumulo mountain will always remain as one of the most special and beautiful day hikes I have done. I felt as if he were but a hundred yards ahead beating a trail through the wilderness for me, not too close but never too far. I loved this book enough to buy my six copies, give them out to fellow sledbums and return the other to the dentist. All told, a great inspirational and practical guidebook, would that there were more like it!

I found Snowshoe Routes of Oregon to be a great resource as my interest in snow shoeing has grown. The book offers a range of routes for varying levels of skill and/or physical fitness. THe author obviously knows the country he is writting about as well as he knows snowshoeing. The book is both an excellent guide and a great introduction to the budding snowshoe enthusiast.

Bountiful deep snow
With Shea's book on Cascade slopes
Snowshoe peace beckons...

In short (to the Haiku challenged), this book rocks! If you're a Cascadian geek who loves the winter, the book will undoubtedly treat you well.

I have flown commercial all my life but always wondered what it would be like in combat. It is difficult to expose the emotion of life and death experiences in the air. If I could rate the emotion here it would be a 12 on a scale of 10. Yes,I am biased and he is HEAVY but he IS my brother. Read it and enjoy.

Great page-turner! Thoreson does his research in this tremendous book as the juxtoposition of retrospect and reality guides the reader to many worlds, both internal and external. Take the journey...

An outstanding historical novel about Marine & Naval aviation early in WWII in South Pacific. One of the finest written on the subject. This book will one day be republished by U.S.Naval Institute Press as a Classic of Naval Literature. The characters are powerful; the story true throughout; the principal action scenes as exciting as one can find; the central thoughts are transcendental -- they are stunning. Warmest congratulations to the Mr. Thoreson on a great work.

I used this book for a wine class I conducted focusing on exclusively Sonoma County wines. The book contains some very good general information about Sonoma County as well as information about a number of wineries. Gorgeous photos really capture the feeling of the County. As a former resident of Sonoma County, it made me homesick!

As a winery employee, I would recommend this book to both serious and novice winery visitors. This book is loaded with beautiful glossy photographs and detailed information on each winery, organized by region. It focuses on wineries only, with brief referals to nearby food and farms of interest. Each winery has it's own page, with a helpful quick reference in the left margin of the necessary details on hours, fees, directions, wines etc. This is a plus when you have limited time, and don't want to spend half your day searching through a guidebook. There is also a section that classifies the wineries by specific features that may help narrow down your selection when touring. The winemaking calendar and grape glossary would be especially useful to first timers. The size makes it slightly awkward to carry around, but the photos will make a wonderful momento when you return home!

As a winery employee, I would recommend this book to both serious and novice winery visitors. This book is loaded with beautiful glossy photographs and detailed information on each winery, organized by region. It focuses on wineries only, with brief referals to nearby food and farms of interest. Each winery has it's own page, with a helpful quick reference in the left margin of the necessary details on hours, fees, directions, wines etc. This is a plus when you have limited time, and don't want to spend half your day searching through a guidebook. There is also a section that classifies the wineries by specific features that may help narrow down your selection when touring. The winemaking calendar and grape glossary would be especially useful to first timers. The size makes it slightly awkward to carry around, but the photos will make a wonderful momento when you return home!