Backpacking Washington: Overnight and Multi-Day Routes Paperback – June 1, 2011

Craig's books are considered to be among the best of the Northwest--and for good reason. He has a true understanding of the areas he goes to and provides all of the pertinent information for each hike with impeccable detail. This translates into transporting you as though you're along for the trek. Because the hikes are longer, there's much more to write about--and Craig's passion for Washington shines through these pages. He's not merely reporting facts, he's invested in these place. This makes a huge difference between a good book and a great book--this is a great book.The Preface is wonderfully written and beautifully captures the essence of this majestic state. His story about his first hike through High Divide says it all. In other words: he gets it. I was caught off guard (in a good way) by this. It made the rest of the book that much more special.I own several of his books (as well as other Washington hiking/backpacking books) and have to say this is the creme de la creme of them all. If you're even considering buying this, hesitate no further. Buy it now, then hit the trails!

I'm always looking for quick get away ideas. Whether it's backpacking or camping, I like to know what's available.This book offers 70 overnight and multiday hikes. The reason I gave it only 4 stars was because out of those 70, only 6 were in Eastern WA. We DO have a lot more to offer than 8-1/2% of the hikes.Not having taken any suggested hikes, I cannot vouch for the information accuracy. I will say it was nicely laid out with directions to trailhead, permits required (if any), points of contact, special features and special concerns addressed before the write-up instead of that information being buried in the text.I look forward to crossing off a few of these hikes this summer, hopefully.

Used to hike up to Snoqualmie Lake a few weeks ago. The directions were spot on to the trailhead and the description of the trail really helped to know exactly how far in I was. I'm excited to go on a couple more trips with this book before the end of the summer.If you're a newbie like me, I would also recommend the Day Hiking series made by the same company. There are several different regions to choose from and lots of them are good for overnights as well - they're just shorter hikes.

Very detailed. Has maps, and pretty much everything you would want to know. What kind of animals their are, if its good for photography, animal friendly, camp sites, how hard it is to complete, how high it gets, during what seasons it is open, distance, round trip, if its super full, and a detailed description, as if you were walking through it.I wish I had gotten the hard copy, which is why I took a star, not that the book had anything wrong. it keeps freezing and its hard to manage which trails I like.the trails are divided by area in the table of contents, so you can choose an area then see all the trails in that area.

I purchased this book after browsing through it in the store. I saw that it had broken down long trips into shorter segments, so you could hike 5 miles on a trail and camp for the night in stead of 25 miles. It even had suggestions for some saying, "this would be a great place to stop for a first timer or younger kids." I must have looked at just the right few trips in the store though because the intro to the book actually says that this book is specifically for long multi day hikes. And only some of the hikes are suitable for short distances. Still the book is a good resource, and very informative. I won't knock the author for my lack of research.

We purchased this book on backpacking trips in Washington State at the beginning of the summer in hopes that we could do a few this summer. We indeed did find time for two of the trips detailed in this book. We used the "overview" section to determine which trips were in our desired mileage and elevation gain range. We found the descriptions accurate and helpful. The map provided an overview of the trail and campsite locations while the "trip planner" gave us an idea of distances between landmarks. We especially liked the "Extending Your Trip" section that gives ideas for side trips.We also purchased two of Craig Romano's day-hiking books which are written in a similar format. We went on many of the day-hikes detailed in these other two books and found them very useful. We look forward to enjoying many more backpacking and day-hiking trips described in these books. They are the perfect resource for year-around hiking in Washington State.

As a new resident of Washington state, this book provides exactly the type of hiking information I was seeking. Concise descriptions of each hike along with the pros and cons, route reccomendations, permits/fees, campsites and water availability, and directions to the trailhead. Rudimentary maps are also provided but strongly encourage buying applicable USGS or Green Trails maps. I cannot speak to the accuarcy of hike descriptions as of yet but looking foward to the upcoming hiking season to experience several of the hikes Romano details and will update this review accordingly.

I can't put the book down. It has 70 backpacking trips with ALL the elements you need to make a decision for a multi-day trip in the different regions of Washington State.

Great to have a pretty good list of backpacking/ overnight trails in Washington. My only gripes are that the print is very small and the topo on the maps is very faint. Well written with good descriptions and an index of hikes rated on season, distance, difficulty etc..

Was a gift. They loved it.