By Michael Lanza

For Backpacker: The Magazine of Wilderness Travel

©2003 The Mountaineers Books, Seattle, WA

I have mentioned before that I am primarily a day hiker so it made sense to follow the “More Everyday Wisdom” trail advice book review with a look at information in the same series that is geared more toward people like me.

Lanza has a very different style than Karen Berger (More Everyday Wisdom). He uses much less humour and more fictional examples in his writing. The black and white photos are well-placed to illustrate his points.

Something jumped out at me after I had gotten through about half of this book and it remained true for the rest of the read; there are few hard and fast rules. There are many ways of getting the most out of your hike while respecting nature and other people at the same time and most of them come down to personal style and needs. Hiking is an expanded walk and we all want different things out of our walk. We also have different body shapes, nutritional requirements, ideas about what a hike is, fitness levels. So the whole thing comes down to customization.

The use of three fictional characters to give the reader an idea of how to use the information presented in a way that is useful to them works well. The characters are based on musicians that many of us can picture (Cher, Elvis and Madonna), giving us an immediate sense for the style that the fictional character has. We can then imagine our own style in a similar way and make adjustments accordingly. Thus, Lanza not only gives us all sorts of options that will work but also helps us figure out how to pick the options that will work best for us, based on stories. Storytelling can be a very effective way of communicating information, especially potentially boring information (the point of hiking for many is to appreciate some exercise and the great outdoors, not to appreciate the nuances of various water filtration systems), in a way that will be memorable.

The topics covered are: decide what kind of hikes you want (your hiking style), no trace hiking, noise and urination/defecation etiquette, gear, essential items, how to pack your bag, how to decipher a hike description in a hiking guide, water and food, hiking with babies and children, trail safety, how to use a compass and read a topographic map, crossing water, hiking at night, weather and seasons and how to avoid and deal with common trail injuries.

The section about how to use a topo map and compass is clearly written and I highly recommend it. Lanza stresses that it is possible to get lost on a day hike, even on a familiar trail if it gets foggy and a GPS, while fun and usually useful, may not receive enough satellite signals to function properly in hilly terrain and/or in cloudy weather. Just like in many situations, when the electronic part of your life malfunctions, as it inevitably will, old-school skills and preparation are still worthwhile.

by Karen Berger

for Backpacker: The Magazine of Wilderness Travel

©2002 The Mountaineers Books, Seattle, WA

206 pages

Karen Berger is a fun writer. Everything is light hearted yet gets to the important points quickly, without beating around the bush (sorry, had to put that in there). For most of her examples she focuses on the popular Appalachian Trail in the eastern United States of America. The trail runs from the lower state of Georgia all the way up to Maine. Most of the tips, however, are easily applicable to hikes anywhere, especially in North America and similar latitudes in Europe.

What makes this book stand out is that the author got the questions from other hikers. She has hiked many of the longest North American trails straight through and has hiked in numerous countries. She lectures, she writes articles and books and edits hiking magazines. Berger is a sought-after hiking guru and here in one place she gets through the answers to hundreds of questions asked of her over the years.

I really like her incredible bluntness tinged with humour. She covers as much ground in her writing as she does in her hiking: clothing advice (no blue jeans!), spotting and preparing for weather conditions, advice on leading hiking trips, how to pick and pack your bag, water and food, traveling to your starting point (what can I take on a plane?), animals and plants of the friendly and not-so friendly varieties, choosing the type of hiking suited to you, training for your hike and woman-specific advice (this advice is especially important for menstruating women hiking in bear country).

The photos that run throughout the book, by the author and her husband Daniel Smith, are black and white and well chosen to illustrate the points she discusses.

As a reformed runner, I am getting more into hiking as a slower and just as enjoyable form of outdoor recreation. Even through I am mostly a day-hiker with a few overnighters thrown in here and there (oddly enough they were almost all in the winter!) there are several tips in Berger’s book that I can use and some points that I already knew were explained in a way that made sense. Now I have a reason for doing what I do and I am less likely to do something else because I have a good reason not to.

If you are a casual day hiker interested in doing some longer day hikes and overnighters, this book is for you. If you are an experienced long-distance hiker then you may want to borrow it from the library and have a read anyway for some extra tips and maybe a laugh at the hiker humour.