Hike on......
All of Randy Johnson's books are very informative. The maps and driving directions are excellent and also the trail descriptions.

99.5/100
This is an excellent resource and planning guide. I have nothing to add to the earlier reviews, most of which are 5 stars.

The lack of GPS coordinates of the trailheads is the one glaring deficiency and the reliance on another map resource is no substitute. The copy edit staff should have done their homework and inserted this information, since it could be done from their desks. It appears instead that they put their efforts into misleading advertising -

"Detailed trail descriptions, and GPS-compatible trail maps"

Nevertheless, I have since purchased extra copies for gifts.

A Hiking Guide for Hikers by a Hiker
Mr. Johnson's "Hiking North Carolina" is a guide for hikers by a lifelong hiker in the North Carolina High Country. North Carolina has hundreds of miles of hiking trail, and Randy has hiked most of them himself. The one risk of writing a guide about something you love so much, is to ruin the sense of adventure by including too much information. On the other hand, I have been hiking long enough to remember guides that would allow you to barely find the trailhead, much less give you good information about the trail and what you will encounter. There is a fine balance between a guide that tells too much, like the Appalachian Trail guides, and a guide that says too little, like some I see in popular magazines. I believe that Mr. Johnson's guide strikes a good balance between the two; telling you what you need to know while preserving the sense of adventure in the experience. It's the adventure that draws us into the woods after all. I recommend this guide for anyone who is interested in hiking in the state. His maps are quite detailed and well drawn, and his trail descriptions are enough to get you where you want to go without spoiling the fun of discovery. It is an excellent work and well worth including in your outdoor library.

Robert Branch
Burnsville, NC

A good starting point...
This was a good book for a general description of several trails in North Carolina, but didn't give many details. I think I was looking for something that would give me enough information to pick one trail out of them all to visit, but the brief descriptions didn't give me enough to go on. If you already know which trail you want to trek and it is one of the trails covered in the book, you're pretty well set. You will, however, need another map to know exactly how to get to that particular trail...the book has a map with a general location but no specific driving information.

A Visitor's Guide
Any traveler to North Carolina will be able to use this helpful guide to the state. It's full of information on numerous trails, including educational ones perfect for the family.