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Best Hikes Near Pittsburgh
From a hike through Pymatuning State Park to see its famous spillway, to an old Indian path called the Warrior Trail, this book describes the best hikes in and around Pittsburgh, many of them never previously covered elsewhere.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 6, 2014
This is a good introduction to hiking in the area. The author is obviously very familiar with the subject and I have enjoyed his recommendations. I would give this book five stars, but a few of his trail descriptions are misleading. I am not certain if this is due to small editing mistakes or if it is simply a result of the book being outdated. I will try to update this review with errata as I discover errors. The best advice (as always!) is to just bring extra maps and check for other sources before you head off on the trail.
For starters: the Sugarloaf-Baughman loop described on page 150 can be confusing. Once you reach the halfway point, the guide instructs you to walk 0.9 miles and then come to a Y in the trail. Perhaps this was meant to be 0.09 miles? Either way, the Y comes up almost immediately, and you have to switch off from the orange-blazed trail to a red-blazed trail.
If you are unfamiliar with the area, this can cause you to continue mistakenly on the orange blazed trail, which will take you up for an interesting but tiring hike up to Sugarloaf Knob. This hike up to Sugarloaf Knob is also deceptive because you will eventually come to another Y in the trail (which could make you think you were going the correct way). It can add a major (but enjoyable) detour to your hike.
(There is also an additional trail detour that has been added early on, but this is easy to figure out.)
Advice in a nutshell: always grab an updated trail guide whenever possible. This book is good to show you the options in the area, but it should not be your only resource.
For starters: the Sugarloaf-Baughman loop described on page 150 can be confusing. Once you reach the halfway point, the guide instructs you to walk 0.9 miles and then come to a Y in the trail. Perhaps this was meant to be 0.09 miles? Either way, the Y comes up almost immediately, and you have to switch off from the orange-blazed trail to a red-blazed trail.
If you are unfamiliar with the area, this can cause you to continue mistakenly on the orange blazed trail, which will take you up for an interesting but tiring hike up to Sugarloaf Knob. This hike up to Sugarloaf Knob is also deceptive because you will eventually come to another Y in the trail (which could make you think you were going the correct way). It can add a major (but enjoyable) detour to your hike.
(There is also an additional trail detour that has been added early on, but this is easy to figure out.)
Advice in a nutshell: always grab an updated trail guide whenever possible. This book is good to show you the options in the area, but it should not be your only resource.
May 26, 2018
Out of the two trail guides I got from REI, this is my favorite. It has a nice variety of trails both near Pittsburgh as well as a few hours further, but these trails tend to be more serious than just some paved road that you can bring a trolley of kids on. There's a nice little chart that organizes the trails into catagories (good for solitary walks, good for streams and rivers, etc) and combined with the map, this is a fantastic little "recipe book" that is a bit easier to navigate and more reliable for a good trail than online searching. I also like the amount of detail on each trail.
March 7, 2011
I am officially excited for spring! This book gave me good ideas of where to hike at in the Pittsburgh area. I like the maps and detailed descriptions of hiking trails.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews