I did several hikes in the Bighorn Mountains recently, including 3-day and 1-day hikes in the Cloud Mountain Wilderness. I used this book to pick which hikes to go on, and got average results. There are several reasons (1) the Cloud Mountain Wilderness is part of Bighorn National Forest, but the book doesn't list any of the hikes in the rest of the national forest (why not?) (2) it gives poor maps (3) it gives poor descriptions of what to expect of the scenery (4) The author does not appear to be a local (why not?), but rather a travel writer of some sort.

I would give it a 3 star rating if it had the other lackings but listed other Bighorn national forest hikes (even only the good ones), but, as it was, this was ridiculous. It needs a major overhaul. On the other hand, it gets 2 stars rather than 1 star because it is the only thing out there, and I give the author credit for leading the way. A tip - if you buy the book, you won't want it once you're done with it - leave it at the trailhead in the registration boxes for the next person to come along.

I live in Wyoming within 40 miles of the Cloud Peak Wilderness Area, and have been hiking in it off and on for the past 20 years. On the hikes I've taken since purchasing the book, I found Mr. Molvar's guide useful. The trail descriptions and ratings are accurate for the hikes I've compared to the text, and the author has a clear easy to read style.

I recommend this book. It will not take the place of a detailed map or tell all that one may discover on a particular hike, but it is a useful tool.

I lived in the Buffalo, WY area for ten years and bought this book to help plan a "homecoming" backpacking trip from afar. Erik Molvar's book covers all the classic trails in the Cloud Peak Wilderness area. In addition, the last half of the book covers hikes in the Big Horn Mountains outside the interior wilderness area. Apparently one reviewer who is not from the area missed this fact. This book is an excellent introduction to the Big Horn Mountains and will guide you through the marvelous scenery of one the the West's least visited but truly unique mountain ranges.

Although this book certainly has artistic merit, I would not have called it the "Best of". We have visited the area many times and are well aware of the various terrains. In some cases, the photographer seemed to choose the "ugliest of" and in even more cases, the photos could have been taken anywhere - there was nothing to indicate a particular location. Examples would be an animal running across an empty field. Fine if you're looking for nature, not very useful if you are trying to identify "Best of"/beautiful spots to visit. This was a gift for my husband and he was not very impressed...

This book has very enchanting photography. If you love nature, but are locked up in city life; This is a very nice book to have just to linger in and daydream of the wide open spaces. Of course it may get addictive and make you leave the city in search of a peaceful homestead to call home...

I've become interested in local history of N.E. Pennsylvania. This does cover some of what I'm looking for, but the made-up dialogues and fictionalization were unexpected. They are mostly too cute by half. All in all, a few interesting tidbits here and there, but a lot of chaff.

This book gives an amazing insight into the beginnings of the Lackawanna Valley, and into the reasons why Scranton & Wilkes-Barre continue a "Mason-Dixon" line of thinking! I took the book with me while on-call for Jury Duty on a Tuesday morning and couldn't put it down until I finished it (and we were excused from duty!) on Wednesday afternoon. Granted, it is not a "history book" in the purest sense of the term, but it IS a good history of the reasons why a new county was necessary, and a glimpse into the lives of the people who struggled and literally fought to accomplish their goal. This book should be "Required Reading" for every high school student, and every borough, city and county office-holder, in Lackawanna County!

The book gives a good overview of the areas with many addresses. Anyhow I found it a bit too black and white. It gives useful maps, but no coloured pictures from the areas, which would make it a bit more pleasant to read.

I highly recommend this guide to anyone who will be traveling in the Northeast as well as Canada. This guide gives you everything from upcoming events for the year to where to stay & eat. The maps are easy to read and follow. I have been a reader of the Mobil Guide for many years and it is continuing to give the most accurate, up-to-date travel information. This is the MUST-HAVE for the Northeast traveler.

The book has some pretty pictures and a very basic overview of the park in winter, but is geared very much toward SUV-travelers with plenty of cash and credit cards. Most of the information in this book can be learned from the free pamphlets you get at the park (or they'll send them to you). If you're looking for a more in-depth and personal experience, this book won't help you much.

This and a good map of Yellowstone are all you need for visiting Yellowstone in the winter. The photographs are really gorgeous, too!

Perhaps the worst camping reference I own (make that owned). The book is full of repeated text. A half-hearted effort at best. Only the most basic information is provided for each campground. Not near enough for an out-of-towner or out-of-stater to confidently plan a trip. I ended up tossing it out in favor of multiple web sites (for detailed campground info) combined with the Montana Atlas and Gazeteer (for accurate mileage, elevation, etc.). There is absolutely zero information about the surroundings, forestation, landscape, or scenery at each campsite -- only general comments about the larger area or national forest in which each campground is located.

Readers who had prior editions of this series will be disappointed. The new author has very little commentary. It's now just a listing of campgrounds with facts. Is there shade, are the campsites private, how's the access road, is it busy ... who knows? Many of the campground notes are literally cut-and-pasted from the prior entry. Unfortunately Idaho wasn't covered in the older edition by Tom Stienstra. Very disappointing!

This book is ideal for anyone who has ever had trouble finding a camping spot. More than 1,200 campgrounds in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho are listed along with detailed information, as well as phone numbers and directions to get there. This is one book you will want to keep in your camper and use again and again. Perfect for planning that trip and hitting the road!

Thisis.the.very.first.book.by.her.that.I.had.a.hard.time.getting.thru,however.I.will.continue.reading.her.because.all.the.pastread.were.very.good.she.is.one.of.my.favorite.authors.

I found this book to be pretty good-not as great as the Seven Brides Series, but that's to be expected since it's one of his earlier books. Just to let y'all know, Leigh Greenwood is a man.

I like this book. I've read most of Leigh Greenwood's books and this is a little different from the others. It has good characters and a mystery that keeps you going until the end.

At times, I was actually embarrassed to be reading this book. But I got it at a used book sale for $1, and I think I got my money's worth! Yes, Ms. Steel needs a better editor for her commas and run on sentences and mindless repetition. And by the way, I had to check 5 times to see what year this book was written. Pink jeans? Turquoise boots? In 1997?

When i got hold of the book, i thought it will tell me something about a ranchers life. But i was wrong, it only tell few parts of a ranchers life. that is very dissapointing. Danielle Steel have wrote to much about Hollywood actors and actreses, ie, in star and secret. but the love between tanya and gordon(what a wierd name) was a succes. It really drove me crazy. and I should say tanya deserve it. Mary Stuart's decision to get back to her husband who she almost divorce was what i don't want it to happen but that's her choice. Unfortunately zoe's life with AIDS is not told completely. it seems here Zoe is only a background of everything. she met no one at the ranch,(except that two doc.) and yet when she got back, her love story with that doc. is not told. Unlike tanya's and Mary Stuart's love story, it was told from A 2 Z. well of course Zoe doesn't want to have a sosial live i could say but the love (her only love) to that doc. should at least be told it a lenght. Anyway it's a good job miss Steel but you could have done better. And can you write something about AIDS this time just concentrate on it, and about gay lifes. TQ.

I guess it depends on what your tastes are...but this is a story about friends. It's about love, life etc. I thought it was a very fun & interesting story. I enjoyed reading it.

This is a frustrating book to use although the meat of it---the trail descriptions and stats---is very detailed and well written. The lack of an index, or any way to use all the maps together, and the fact that the maps are very incomplete, make it very annoying to use. Add to this that there is an almost explicit LACK of information or routes for any of the peaks, and one wonders why one bought the book at all. There is no route to the top of Square Top Peak, nor over Dinwoody Pass, or up to Gannett. Even the non-technical peaks are omitted. There is also no "About the Author" section (although it says that there is one), and this is important when one is going to rely on him to guide you into the Wind River Range.

The author does a very good jop at trail discriptions and gives a good feel for the lay of the land. How ever the guide would benifit greatly with better maps, specifically a much more detailed overview map which shows the major peaks and their relationship to the trials dicussed. An index with the trials and peaks that is cross referenced would make it much easier to plan trips. The author should take a look at the AMC White Mt guide book, the bench mark for all guide books. This book did not met my expectations and I am looking into others.

The most complete descriptions of Wind River trails are in this book. Each trail is characterized as to its length, difficulty, and traffic volume. An elevation profile for each trail is provided as well as brief descriptions of key points along the trail and their mileage points. There are detailed driving instructions to each trailhead. There is also a fairly lengthy narrative regarding the topography of each trail. Additionally, each trail is numbered and it is fairly easy to use the maps in the book to string trails together to design a multi-day backpacking trip. The book is 262 pages long and is one the Falcon guide series. Other features of the book include brief sections on the history, vegetation, wildlife, and geology of the Wind River Mountains. There is information about US Forest Service Wilderness Regulations, and since part of the Wind River Mountains are contained in the Wind River Indian Reservation, there is information about that, too. To round things out there is a backcountry checklist (what to take), information about hiking with children, and information on zero impact camping. Drawbacks include the lack of an index, the lack of a bibliography and little, if any, information about off-trail hiking.
If you plan to hike in the Wind Rivers on established trails and you don't mind the absence of an index, then this is book is excellent.

I am a fan of Susan Isaacs & have read all of her previous books, & loved them all, especially 'after all these years' & 'magic hour'. Unfortunately, this book was a big disappointment for me, although the first part was quite good. What I didn't like is the part where Charly & Lauren get together- so much time had been spent on past generations information, that the main characters were very superficially drawn. I still look forward to S. Isaac's next book, & I hope it's better.

Charlie Blair is a very bored FBI agent who is separated from his wife and is contemplating leaving the Service until he is assigned the job of infiltrating a paramilitary group in his old home town. Lauren Miller is a bright young reporter from a Jewish newspaper in New York, who is determined to make her mark by scooping a really big story.The two meet while Charlie is undercover, posing as a mechanic and a new recruit to the "Free America Cadre", a group which fire bombed a video store owned by a Jew and also a house,owned by movie director with a Jewish sounding name. The first section of the story delves into the backgrounds of Charlie and Lauren who are both descendants of Jewish immigrants and who are, unknowingly,distant cousins.Lauren is strangely drawn to this supposed racist, terrorist mechanic while loathing his connection to the group and an interesting story begins to form while they both, in their own ways, try to uncover the criminal activities within the group, to destroy it.

Susan Isaacs explores what it means to be American in her cross-genre novel, Red, White and Blue. Part thriller, part history, and part romance, Red, White and Blue is the story of two people investigating an anti-semitic terrorist group in Wyoming. Charlie Blair, a Special Agent for the FBI, is described as the product of what would happen if the Statue of Liberty and Uncle Sam had a one-night stand. He personifies the American West: he is independent, has strong character and integrity, and one could see him facing down a gunslinger in a dusty street of an old western town. Lauren Miller, however, personifies the East. She is a tough journalist for the Jewish News in New York, and the bombing of a video store in the Midwest could be her big story.

How Lauren and Charlie come together to break a group of white supremicists comprises most of the plot. Interestingly enough, however, they share a great-great-grandmother in common. Susan Isaacs spends a great deal of time showing how they became American by tracing the story of the generations between Dora Schottland, a 15 year old orphan from Budapest, and Charlie and Lauren.

Though there would seem to be a schism between the historical section and the mystery/romance, Susan Isaacs smooths over the transitions with a narrative voice strong in irony and humor. Her use of detail to quickly paint the portraits of people in the past is masterful. While not destined to be a classic, Red White and Blue could still be said to be a great American novel. Definitely worth the read.