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Rating: 
Summary: Nice Organization, Fuzzy on Details
Review: Nicely organized and categorized. However, the details provided in this book on the walks I've taken are rather vague in some spots. Based on this book, I've spent a few hours wandering around the woods searching for trails that aren't where they're supposed to be, landmarks I can't find and blazes that aren't there.I've spent a great deal of time in the woods, on my own, with others, with nothing but a water bottle on up to complete packs with GPS, compass, topos and anything else one could need. I've bushwacked cross-country and followed well-marked trails like the AT. But with this book as a guide, I was as lost as I've ever been. Which is to say I had a reasonable idea I could find my way around and get back home, but not entirely sure where the trail was. When you go into the woods on your own or on some public blazed trail - that's what you count on. When trying to follow some of these trails in the book, it's the book you count on - to see if you can replicate the path as laid out there. Yesterday, I was in Dogtown on Cape Ann in Massachusetts trying to follow the author's trail. Moses perhaps had a similar guide in wandering his way through the desert for 40 years. I got the feeling that Mr. Lanza wrote up this trail after reading some Chamber of Commerce guide or map to the area. In one section, the directions read "...the trail turns left and crosses the railroad tracks and reaches the rough dirt Old Rockport Road...". It doesn't. Straight across the tracks is a pond (a dried up marsh at this time of year). I tried crossing the marsh, tried going 100 yards left, and then finally found a way across 25 yards to the right, across a drainage culvert. This led to a series of interlocking paths that generally trended in what seemed the right direction. Based on other directions in the book, I think I ended up where I was supposed for the next landmark, but it made no sense because I was about 1/2 mile away from where I theoretically should have been. Most of the day was like that. I pretty much had to make up my own trail. By the way, that railroad you have to cross twice is an active AMTRAK commuter line, and those trains came by pretty fast. Watch out and don't linger on the track. The book is ok, and is reasonably classified, though it has no maps (another problem) - but bring at least a compass and a topo for backup and be prepared to navigate on your own.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a map replacement
Review: There's something wrong, and slightly frightening, about the review written just before mine. I guess this fellow decided it would be a good idea to travel into the woods with a book that contains no maps. BAD IDEA. Nothing can replace full page maps. To think someone with, or even without, experience would wander into the woods with a BOOK is completely assinine. Michael Lanza, an editor for Backpacker Magazine, has compiled a wonderful list of hikes here. If you don't want to go through the trouble of buying a trail guide for every place you'd like to hike, then here's your book. There are no little maps like those in the 50 Great Hikes in...series. Those are practically useless anyhow. You should always go through the trouble of picking up a USGS quad or 250,000 map if you're hiking in unfamiliar country. Everything else you need is here though - directions, park regulations, trail descriptions, camping spots. He even mentions where to get maps and where to register for your hikes. There's a lot of ground to cover in New England, and Lanza does it stylistically and thoughtfully.
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