Secrets of the National Parks – The Experts Guide to the Best Experiences Beyond the Tourist Trail Epub Free

Secrets of the National Parks – The Experts Guide to the Best Experiences Beyond the Tourist Trail
Author: ID: 1426210159

National Geographics’, ‘Secrets of the National Parks – The Experts Guide to the Best Experiences Beyond the Tourist Trail’ is a wonderful book for the National Park or armchair explorer. Find the best National Geographic picks in 32 amazing national parks including Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley, the Everglades’ Nine Mile Pond Canoe Trail, and Yosemite’s exquisite Snow Creek Trail. Discover that Lamar Valley is home to many of the park’s wolf packs; why the Everglades is the domain of the pink flamingo; and that astounding views of Yosemite’s Half Dome and Tenaya Canyon are accessible on an easy day hike. The majority of national park visitors often stick to the most celebrated trails and scenic overlooks, missing a whole world of stunning scenery in the process. Informed by park rangers, superintendents, and frequent park visitors, National Geographic Secrets of the National Parks provides all the inspiration and information you need to plan your visit beyond the well-trodden, touristy spots in these 32 great national parks. Stunning photographs, informative sidebars, and easy-to-use maps will help make your next national park adventure memorable.Detailed visitor information.Locations of year round Ranger Stations.Parks included are – East: Acadia, Shenandoah, Great Smoky Mountains, Biscayne, Everglades Southwest and Rockies: Big Bend, Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Capitol Reef, Mesa Verde, Canyonlands, Arches, Rocky Mountain, Wind Cave, Badlands, Theodore Roosevelt, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Glacier Pacific: Mount Rainier, Olympic, Crater Lake, Redwood, Yosemite, Channel Islands, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Hawaii Volcanoes, Haleakala Edited By – National Geographic.East: Acadia, Shenandoah, Great Smoky Mountains, Biscayne, Everglades.Southwest and Rockies: Big Bend, Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Capitol Reef, Mesa Verde, Canyonlands, Arches, Rocky Mountain, Wind Cave, Badlands, Theodore Rooseve…

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I was looking forward to this book as I love visiting National Parks. But once I received it, I was horribly disappointed. First off, there are no secrets. They talk about the main trails in the parks that everyone hikes and are available on every map and in every trail guide. Second, the information I read was very inaccurate. They were off on the distance of some hikes by over a mile. Their trail descriptions were also way off the mark. I was reading about one trail in Capitol Reef National Park that they likened to the Narrows in Zion. They are in no way similar except they are both in Utah. They also mentioned picking up free guides that are in no way free. The guide they talked about is only available for purchase through a non-profit organization that runs bookstores in National Parks.

I should have known better since their Trails Illustrated maps are also very inaccurate, but I was hoping they would have caught on and researched a little better.

Since my wife and I retired a number of years ago, we’ve been to sixteen of our national parks, most of them in the West. Over the years, we’ve accumulated a huge stack of guidebooks and maps which we’ve relied on to help get the most out of our park visits. I was a bit skeptical about another "secrets" or "insider’s" guidebook adding anything to our library of park information, but I was pleasantly surprised by the new NatGeo book. The NatGeo editors called on experienced travelers to visit 32 of the most popular national parks to find hidden gems and lesser known experiences that can make a trip to a national park a more memorable experience. There’s also a chapter that gives brief half-page highlights of 26 lesser known parks.

In my opinion, they succeeded in their mission. In our case, my wife and I have been to Yellowstone and Grand Teton four times, with a fifth trip coming up in two months. As much park lore as we’ve picked up over the years, I still found some new ideas for exploring both parks. Perusing the book for other national parks that we’ve been to, I had several "oh shoot" moments when I read about park features we had missed.

The book’s format for most parks begins with some brief background information and history of the park, follows with descriptions of "undiscovered" park features and how to reach them, and includes maps and stunning color photography. There are also tips about seasonal experiences and best time of day for landscape views and wildlife sightings.

The book is not intended to replace other park guidebooks, which are more comprehensive. For example, it doesn’t include information about lodging, restaurants, or how to get to the park. Instead, this book focuses on lesser known or off-the-beaten-path features that many guidebooks overlook.

Highly recommended for anyone planning a visit to one of our national parks.

Although the book is beautifully produced (as National Geographic publications tend to be), my biggest complaint it that the title should have been "Secrets of Some of the National Parks". I ordered the book sight unseen, and was very disappointed when I read it. I recommend that potential buyers flip through a copy before purchIDg because there’s a strong chance the park you’re interested in is not covered. Nearly one-half of the national parks only get brief mention at the back of the book, including all of Alaska’s parks, Saguaro, North Cascades, Lassen, and Great BID. What are left are national parks that are so popular that the information provided is only a "secret" to folks who have never visited any national park.

The book is fairly inexpensive, and a convenient size, so some people may find it worth owning a copy, but there are many other publications that are still reasonable priced and cover all of the parks, with much more comprehensive coverage.
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