Hiking Arizona's Cactus Country, 2nd

Rating:
Summary: The green desert
Review: I once ran into a Mauritanian from the Sahara who had been in Arizona. He scorned the Arizona desert. "It's not a real desert," said he, "there are plants." So there are. The Arizona desert is lush and diverse and, when the weather's not too hot, offers some of the best walking you will find anywhere. If it's too hot in the lowlands, go uphill and try some of the high-elevation hikes described in this book.

This hiking guide contains descriptions of 98 hikes in southern Arizona ranging in length from about 1 mile to 20 miles. For each hike there is a map and a description on how to get there, information on difficulty, availability of water, elevation, etc. Hikes are described in the Chricahua Mountains, the Border ranges, Huachuca Mountains, Aravaipa Country, Pinaleno Mountains, Saguaro National Park, Santa Catalina Mountains, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge.

I used the guide for hikes in Saguaro National Park and several other areas and found it reliable and informative. Unfortunately, as of 2004, several of the most interesting trails described in the book are closed because of a forest fire in the Santa Catalina Mountains near Tucson. Hopefully, they will be reopened soon.

Smallchief

Rating:
Summary: Good
Review: I used the book to find some trails in the Saguaro National Monument. One specific trail was the Yetman Trail. Erik described the access to it and the difficulty of the trail clearly. Look forward to using it more on my trips to Arizona.