Don't Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies

Sandy Campbell is a reference librarian in the Science and Technology Library at the University of Alberta.

The idea behind these two highly opinionated hiking guides is that no
one has the time to hike every trail, so you might as well spend your
time on the ones that are really worth it. Kathy and Craig Copeland have
decided that they’re just the people to tell you which ones are worth
your efforts. The presumption, of course, is that what they value in a
hike are the same things that everyone else values in a hike.

Of the trails marked “Don’t Do” in the Rockies book, the fault of
most is that they have too many trees and therefore are boring. If your
purpose in hiking is thrill-seeking and if a trail has to be spectacular
for you to enjoy it, then you’ll find this book useful. If, however,
you can appreciate the more subtle pleasures of a treed trail, take the
authors’ recommendations with a grain of salt. In the B.C. Coast
Mountains book, many of their complaints are more justified. Some of the
trails they describe are through heavily disturbed and spoiled areas and
would therefore probably not be the first choice of most hikers.

Although both volumes include factual information as well as opinions,
they function best as aids to choosing a hiking destination. On the
trail, most hikers will probably want to use a good factual guide and
form their own opinions as they hike. These interesting additions to the
trail-guide library are recommended for public libraries in the regions
covered.