Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Afoot and Afield: San Diego County: A Comprehensive Hiking Guide? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Afoot and Afield: San Diego County: A Comprehensive Hiking Guide. Check out the link below:
>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers
Afoot and Afield: San Diego County: A Comprehensive Hiking Guide ReviewJerry Schad is a remarkably prolific outdoor author. He has written extensively on hiking in southern California including the wildlands within Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. But San Diego is where Schad's heart truly lies and it shows in every edition of 'Afoot and Afield San Diego.' I have owned each one since the first in 1986 and this book just keeps getting better and better. The 4th edition (2007) features over 250 hikes and is sure to keep outdoor enthusiasts busy.Most of the 30 or so hikes new to this edition are in the chapters dealing with Beaches and Bays and the Coastal Strip/Foothills sections. In the last 20 years San Diego County has made remarkable progress at putting aside open space for recreation and this version of Afoot and Afield chronicles many new preserves that have appeared over the last decade. New hikes include the Hosp Grove, a walk among Eucalyptus Trees just south of Oceanside, the addition of three new routes in Mission Trails Regional Park (along with the banishment of one path up Cowles Mountain), and multiple new trails in the Alpine/Jamal area.
While urbanized areas have seen many changes, the mountain and desert portions of the book are similar to previous editions. In Rancho Cuyamaca State Park, only one new hike was added, a pleasant jaunt along Cuyamaca Reservoir. Sadly, although the book has not changed much, the surrounding mountain landscape has. The 2003 Cedar fires destroyed much of the park and Schad's assessment that it will recover in a decade or two seems highly unlikely. As an aside, I was disappointed that Schad repeated the park claim and attributed the fire to "a century of fire suppression." That was, of course, part of the problem. But rampant mismanagement by the state park also shares the blame. Thinning, controlled burns, and spraying for bark beetles would have done much to mitigate the 2003 catastrophe. Happily, Palomar Mountain State Park has learned from the disaster that overtook Rancho Cuyamaca and is returning to active management of its resources, beginning with clearing away brush and downed wood. Because of this careful management, the many beautiful trails and cross country routes Schad describes on Palomar will be safeguarded for generations to come.
In conclusion, this is a very good guidebook. It retains most of the best features of earlier guides and all of the best hikes. I miss the little icons that appeared in previous editions, but the heading for each hike provides all the information you need in a concise, readable format. The trail sketch maps are also for the most part adequate, but you will want to supplement these with more detailed recreational maps where available. Still, this is the most comprehensive guide to San Diego County, a four season outdoor wonderland. If you want to explore the region, you would do well to get this book.Afoot and Afield: San Diego County: A Comprehensive Hiking Guide Overview
Want to learn more information about Afoot and Afield: San Diego County: A Comprehensive Hiking Guide?
>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now
