Backpacking Pennsylvania: 37 Great Hikes

This is a very useful guide for people interested in backpacking in PA. I don't use this book as my sole guide for hiking individual trails -- the book does not include topo maps or anything like that, so you'll want to get a map as part of your planning process. I think that this book is intended more as an aid in planning a trip than as a trail guide, although it is pretty accurate in its mile-by-mile descriptions of the trails I've hiked so far.

The book is organized geographically, which is useful. Unfortunately, there is no index of trails by park area, so it makes it a bit annoying if you want to look for a trail in a specific state park or forest area -- you have to look through each trail's entry and see if anything goes through the place you're interested in. (This is bad for me because I hike with my dog, and I can only set up camp with him in a state forest, not a state park.) A lot of the information you will want to know is summarized in bullet points at the front of each chapter (trail length, difficulty, trail condition, availability of water, etc.), which is nice because you don't have to read through a whole entry to figure out that a trail is too easy or hard for what you want.

All in all, this book is a great asset in planning a backpacking trip and useful enough as a trail guide to be worth carrying around on shorter trips. It has information on trails that you aren't likely to find in many other books; however, if you're planning on hiking a more established trail, or in an area that's got a lot of trails, you might be able to find a more specific/detailed guide. Buy Backpacking Pennsylvania: 37 Great Hikes!