Bobby Brown . . . in the summer of 1975 Mr. Brown's book was 12 years old, yet the data was still accurate and relevant. The deregulation of Gold in 1974 made a prospector out of me and many others. I was driven to pan tailings ponds, sleuce boxes, and every creek nearby to any minig activity. ...
Every weekend I took my family tent camping to the great Colorado outdoors, using Brown's neat book. We found apothecary bottles, gold, and tons of fun.
Since then, many 4X4 books have been written about jeep trails and Ghost Towns and their info, trails and data are up-to-date and accurate to a fault.
After more than 39 years, how many trails are obliterated? How many ghost towns are gone and how much of the data, four decades old is even accurate, or on the map any longer.
Mr. Brown, his book . . . and me too, are all really old now.
There comes a time when the new must prevail. The old is put aside for up to the minute, on time info. It is, after all, the age of IT, isn't it?
In it's day, Mr. Brown's book was the cat's meow. Yikes! Did I really use that old cliche? See what I mean?
You young people run the world now. Us old timers live for our memories; and Jeep Trails to Colorado Ghost Towns is a really nice memory. (Sigh) Nostalgia, ain't it great?
East Tin Cup, Russleville, Glory Hole, and many more . . . thanks Robert Brown! We love ya.

"Jeep Trails to Colorado Ghost Towns" provides the reader with an exceptional look at Colorado's mining history. The book also gives the reader a chance to go view this history up close by providing maps and instructions on how to access these towns. After spending several summers in the high country of Colorado, I can say that this book is a must. Be prepared...those mountain jeep trails will give you a new meaning of acrophobia!

I bought this book while on vacation in Colorado. Other reviewers suggest that it is out of date and certainly there are more explicit trail guides to this State but it's a great piece of nostalgia. I love the pictures of flatfender CJs when they were almost new and ghost towns before the weather took away many of the buildings. It sits alongside other vintage Jeep books in my house.

This was the most irritatingly written novel I've ever read. Not being the type to easily give up on a book, I decided to give it 100 pages to see if it improved; I gave up on page 44, but before I did I scanned pages further along to make absolutley sure. Now, some would argue that I hadn't give the book enough time to develop, but to be frank, the writing was so bad, I had to stop for the sake of my sanity. I was going to put the book up for sale on Amazon.com, but there appears to be a glut of used copies of this book. I wonder how many others felt the way I did.

This book was terrible. I couldn't finish it. The dialoge was sophomoric. There wasnt any character development. A complete waste of time.

One can only hope the the Last Canyon is Mr. Vernon's last book. Flat characters; flat imagery; sophomoric dialogue; silly, forced, disconnected scenes: the genuis here is that one truly celebrates the end of Powell's journey becasue it also coincides with the end of Mr. Vernon's prose. One wishes Mr. Powell's journey had ended 300 hundred pages sooner.

A chance for a really interesting story becomes, in Irving's hands, a watery, weary and hackneyed piece of writing. Here was an opportunity to delve into an interesting subject, instead Irving throws characters and plot into a jumble of ultimately boring and disappointing reading.

That Clifford Irving's writing has become slack of belly with his last few books is clearly evident in this sorry novel. Irving certainly proved himself better as a hoaxer. And that a writer who had such promise has dropped to this sloppy level of writing is a shame. A trite book.

Clifford Irving can write better. This was an opportunity for a well-told story; instead it is the work of an amateur. Not up tp Irving's usual standard.

I was so excited when I heard about this book and ordered it immediatly. I wish, however, that I had read the reviews first. It is not only bad writing, but hokey at best. With no clear organization, no connecting ideas or prose, its highest and best use is firewood. Sorry in the Sangres.

I recommended this book for my book goup, based on reviews I'd read. Boy, was I embarrassed! Just reading the jacket copy made me cringe. First of all, it's not really a "book." Its short length is filled out with double-spaced type--because there's no real content! It's full of coy ramblings that reveal intimate details we don't want to know and leave out the soul-searching and nature observations the reader might expect from "a year living alone in the wilderness." (And here's another quibble: the author was hardly alone. She seemed to attract stray males like a...well, I won't go there.) The nature commentary consisted mostly of lists of birds. Did she get the lists out of a field guide, or did she actually see the birds? Hard to tell. The bear story was potentially interesting, but Nealson spoiled it by making it all about HER. One positive thing: we had many good laughs at our book group discussion! NOT recommended.

The author describes living alone and liking it with clear but poetic prose. She reveals thoughts and experiences which take great strength and courage. What must have taken many, many days to write, one can read in a day.

I was drawn to this book (Last Edition) because I read Utah and Montana in the series of Compass American Guides and loved those two. However, this one came out to be a big disappointment. It is not as well researched and written as others and borders on to be shallow and tasteless. By the way, how much did that international financier pay to have his picture taken in his so-called "palatial" home in the book? I just cannot see the connection between a man in his swimming short and the great state of Colorado. It did a disservice to publisher's reputation to include this title in the Compass series. I wish I could get back my hard-earned money I spent buying this book.

If you are looking for a good travel guide you should choose another book. In these book you will find a lot of background information about Colorado (history,...). I miss information that every traveler is expecting to find in a guide like this. For example where and for how much you can sleep. Where to eat. What interesting places to see? How can you travel around? At the end of the book there is a list of restaurants and accommodations. It is so short that resembles yellow pages.

Uros

This book depicts very few ghost towns and pertinent information is very much lacking. To much emphasis on trying to take a good picture rather than giving the reader a better description of the ghost towns themselves. Each narrative of the town leaves you hanging without learning much.

"Colorado's Scenic Ghost Towns" is a wonderful little book about some hidden treasures left in the Rockie moutains. The pictures are of high quality and the authors give enough history of each town to peak your curiosity. The book is shallow on details, though, and leaves you wanting more. If you can't visit these little gems, this may be the next best thing!

Yes, Bourneman and Lampert are good climbers. Too good! This is a text to consult after you have climbed your mountain. I suggest that you choose your route in "Colorado's Fourteeners: From Hikes to Climbs" by Gerry Roach. Bourneman often selects routes that are not appropriate for those who are not up to his ability. I have learned the hard way. After, 37 successful Colorado 14er climbs, I recommend Roach. You should also check Edrinn's "Grand Slam", and Ormes' "Guide to the Colorado Mountains". Bourneman and Lampert salvage two stars, but only because their historical information is interesting.

Interesting and well written, but unfortunately only elderly travelers will benefit fully. Writer omits all mentions of State Parks, and attractions for families with children. Nice travel checklist at the end. The book should have mentioned on the front page: Colorado, at your own pace, "for Seniors".

The maps in this publication are really great with all the details, suggested routes, full color, topographic. I used them in combination with National Geographic's Trails Illustrated topo maps and found them better in some respect then those Trails Illustrated. Actually, they complement each other, you can use them together if you want as many details as possible (name of mines, trails, etc.)

However, I had to return the CD. The software crashed every time after a few minutes of use. Maps are scanned in a kind of low quality. I installed the software to Win 2k Pro and Win XP Home, and it crashed all the time, looked like a Win 3.1 application. I even mailed to the tech support of the software publisher they responded fast (good job!). They let me know they don't support this software any more, there are no new versions or updates available.

The map package is available separately at some book stores. I definitely recommend that map only package but not this combination with the useless CD.

Considering the amazing scenery in Colorado this book is a disappointment. (...)Many great, hard to get to locations get missed. The shots are technically very good but lack any creativity, these are standard "stand by the track, click the shutter" type shots. Photo reproduction is excellent.