STANDING ABOVE THE CROWD GUIDEBOOK ON NATIONAL-PARK HIKES IS ONE OF THE GENRE'S BEST.Byline: Rich Martin Special to the Daily News Do we really need another guidebook for well-known, overhiked national parks and monuments National Parks and Monuments National Parks Name Type1 Location Year authorized Size acres (hectares) Description Acadia NP SE Maine 1919 48,419 (19,603) Mountain and coast scenery. in California? Can there be anything new after the volumes that have been written on the same subject? Yes. ``Day-Hiking California's National Parks This is a list of national parks ordered by nation. Africa
n. 1. Nautical A horn for sounding warning signals in fog or darkness, used especially on ships, buoys, and coastal installations. 2. A booming, insistent voice. Press, $18.95) is one of the best collections around. Brown has included hikes that are well-known to anyone who has spent time in places such as Yosemite (Cathedral Lakes The Cathedral Lakes are two lakes located near Cathedral Peak in California. They are at elevations between 9,000 and 10,000 feet above sea level. The lakes are beside the John Muir Trail and are a 7-mile round trip hike from Yosemite National Park's Tuolumne Meadows facilities. , Tenaya lake Tenaya Lake is a lake in Yosemite National Park, located between Yosemite Valley and Tuolumne Meadows. Tenaya Lake was created by the Tenaya branch of the Tuolumne Glacier as it passed through Tenaya Canyon. , Yosemite Falls Yosemite Falls Two waterfalls, Yosemite National Park, central California, U.S. Formed by creeks tumbling into the Yosemite River valley, the upper falls drop 1,430 ft (436 m) and the lower, 320 ft (98 m). , Vernal Falls) or lesser-known sites such as Devils Postpile and Pinnacles National monuments. Veteran hikers will notice that Brown's bias is toward hikes that are far away from tourist centers and trail crowds. These 250 hikes in 550 pages are a fine sampler. There are tough and easy walks and hikes in desert, forest, mountain and seashore. There is also plenty of trips for hardy souls with tough soles. Her format is excellent. She includes 10 ``can't miss'' trails for each park and where to hike if you have only one day. Directions, a trail description and a list of nearby lodging and campgrounds are also included. Further, she rates each hike - a unique and refreshing approach. This book offers one-stop shopping for novice hikers, and veterans can find trails in out-of-the-way places such as Lava Beds National Monument Lava Beds National Monument: see National Parks and Monuments (table). Lava Beds National Monument Region, northern California, U.S. It features recent lava flows and related volcanic formations, including deep chasms, chimneys, and cinder cones or Mojave National Preserve Mojave National Preserve: see Mojave Desert; National Parks and Monuments (table). . This is what a guidebook should be. Our rating: three and one half stars. Baja is not for everyone. Like beer, it's an acquired taste. It can be hot, the language forbidding and probably not for those with luxurious tastes. Greg Niemann's ``Baja Fever: Journeys Into Mexico's Intriguing Peninsula'' (Mountain N' Air Books, $19.50) is much like the Baja landscape - difficult to get into, but often enjoyable once you do. Niemann doesn't make it easy for the reader. This 351-page book is disorganized dis·or·gan·ize tr.v. dis·or·gan·ized, dis·or·gan·iz·ing, dis·or·gan·iz·es To destroy the organization, systematic arrangement, or unity of. , with each chapter focusing on a part of Baja and proceeds chronologically rather than by theme, which would seem more logical. To make it even more difficult, there's no index in case you're interested in a particular city, for example. This is not so much a book as a collection of true stories that happened to Niemann in Baja. The author knows Baja, and readers may have their interest piqued in the most surprising places: A short chapter on the filming of ``Titanic'' in a specially-built set in Ensenada; some good fishing stories and the colorful characters Niemann has met. Niemann's book is colorful, with plenty of interesting characters, lots of atmosphere - but no story line. This is a challenging book, but worthwhile for anyone interested in Baja. For anyone who isn't, forget it. Our rating: two stars. Jokes about hitting animals with baseball bats? Are you kidding? Better not tell any animal rights activists about ``Wildlife of the New Millennium - A Field Guide'' (Longstreet Press, $11.95). Or anyone else. This 152-page book is Buck Peterson's idea of a joke, but most readers will find the humor not worth getting. Most of the time, it's just plain silly. Here's one attempt at a joke: ``Park animals are not wild, they are tame and confused, and you should listen to what they say about you after the guards go home.'' And: ``A branch of the U.S. Revenue Service provides tax benefits to those who set up private `Save Me' foundations for the most photogenic photogenic /pho·to·gen·ic/ (-jen´ik) 1. produced by light, as photogenic epilepsy. 2. producing or emitting light. pho·to·gen·ic adj. 1. animals.'' The last time I laughed so hard was when I filled out my tax returns. He has occasional mildly humorous moments. Of being bitten by dogs, he writes, ``To put a stop to this, bite back. Hard. Human saliva has a much higher bacterial count bacterial count Public health The concentration of coliform bacteria in water, a quantity that loosely correlates with the level of contamination of drinking and recreational waters. See Public water. .'' But here's one of his frequent (and painfully bad) batting jokes: ``There is no reason to have a conflict with an animal that is smaller than you. None. Not since man invented the Louisville Slugger. Joe DiMaggio model.'' Peterson takes a swing at political correctness, and that's a worthwhile target. But you have to be funny as well as irreverent, and he fails. In Peterson's parlance, this book strikes out. Our rating: half star. CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- 2 -- color) no caption (covers of "Day-Hiking California's National Parks" and "Baja Fever") |
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