by Gillian Scott, TimesUnion.com, link to original post
We were recently sent a copy of “Five-Star Trails in the Adirondacks: A Guide to the Most Beautiful Hikes,” by Tim Starmer. ($15.95, Menasha Ridge Press)
Starmer breaks the Adirondacks up into six sections (West-Central, Central, Easter, Southern, Northern and High Peaks) and picks out a handful of hikes in each. Length and difficulty vary, but the book’s most difficult hike is Pharaoh Mountain and it doesn’t include any of the High Peaks. We recognized a lot of the choices and had done quite a few, but the book did have some exciting new suggestions. We tried out one – the Floodwood trail – while camping at Rollins Pond. Loved it!
For each hike, the book offers a detailed description, trail maps, elevation profiles and trailhead coordinates. The maps are just line drawings and you’d do well to bring along a National Geographic map for more details. The elevation profiles, which show how much elevation you gain and lose along the hike, are a nice addition, though, and I wish more guides had them.
The book is by no means a comprehensive list of trails in the Adirondacks – it’s not meant to be. For that you need the ADK’s “Guide to Adirondack Trails” series or the “Discover the Adirondacks” books. But Starmer’s book offers a variety of nice hikes in each region and serves as a good reference for anyone overwhelmed by the choices in the more voluminous guides.
Starmer also co-authored The Best in Tent Camping: New York: A Guide for Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos, which sounds like it was written just for us.
