Trails of the Angeles: 100 Hikes in the San Gabriels Paperback – July 2, 2013

This is probably the most thorough and well written hiking guide for the San Gabriel Mountains that you'll find. I can't compare this 9th edition with the previous versions as I don't have any of the previous editions, however, I can tell you that this book is rock solid. Although the author John W. Robinson is retired, he has turned over the reins to Dough Christiansen to keep the content updated and accurate. And the transition is seamless.Unlike some hiking guides that give you overview information about the hikes, John W. Robinson (and Doug Christiansen) get into the nitty gritty useful hike details without going overboard. And based on the hikes I'm familiar with, the hike descriptions are very accurate.Sure they might forget a detail here and there. Like forgetting to mention the famous "Echo Phone" at the top of Echo Mountain that everyone takes their picture with and shouts through. A curious omission for sure, but certainly not anything that would affect the quality of your hike.But the authors DO provide the key information that you need to know. For example, I did a pre-hike to Big Horn Mine for an upcoming group hike and found all the hike details spot on. Even down to trail details like, "The old wagon road is an easy walk except for a washout near the halfway point that may trouble beginners and young hikers."Along with the very thorough coverage of the hikes, TRAILS OF THE ANGELES also provides a lot of background information and history. Granted, some hikers may find this unnecessary and even consider it fluff, but I find it very useful, informative and enjoyable. All in all, this is superb hiking book. Along with  Afoot and Afield: Inland Empire: A Comprehensive Hiking Guide  and  San Bernardino Mountain Trails: 100 Hikes in Southern California , this book will be a valuable resource for many years to come.

I can't put into words adequately how much I owe John W. Robinson and now his co-authors for the joy he and they helped me find in the wildernesses of Southern California. I lived away from Southern California for many years and now am back. Naturally, I checked out these two beloved classics, *Trails of the Angeles* and *San Bernardino Mountain Trails*, to see if they'd been updated. Yes, they have been, and they've been given new, sturdier maps! How I look forward to renewing my love of both ranges again with Robinson & Co.'s help! *Trails of the Angeles* covers many of my favorite dayhikes, especially Mt. Lowe and Mt. Baden-Powell. *San Bernardino Mountain Trails* took me on many backpacks with friends plus my first solo backpacks, and the book covers my favorite Southern California wildernesses, San Gorgonio and San Jacinto. You can't go wrong with these two gems. See you on the trail! (I'll append this review to *San Bernardino Mountain Trails*, too.)

If you are the kind of person who enjoys exploring, physical activity and nature then you will enjoy this book. If you enjoy going to remote places and graffiting up the boulders then you will also like this book. That reminds me, stop tagging on boulders!! See you on the trail.

This looks like a very good trail book, but it arrived without the separate map that was intended to be included in a pocket on the back cover. It is unusable without the map - there are no maps in the pages of the book.Amazon was great about sending a replacement, which arrived in 2 days, but unfortunately also was missing the map. In both cases, the book was new not used.I plan to look elsewhere for the book at this point.

Such a bummer, but glad to have it. For the first several trails I embarked on, the directions were FLAT WRONG. He had me turning right for several miles up the wrong road, when Trail Canyon was right off the first road on the left. There were trails that were described poorly, the mileage was off, etc. That being said, at least this trail book has an idea of the breadth of magnificent trails available in So Cal.Without this book, I wouldn't have even known what was out there. So thank you John W. Robinson for setting the course, but please do all of your homework next time in getting the details right.

As with thousands of other hikers in Southern California, I use this book almost with every weekend hiking. It covers a large range of mountains from the LA coast to Inland Empire. Now having the electronic version allows for consulting it while on mountain hikes without cell service and without weight I wouldn't already have as my cell phone. It's been very handy. Given the choice I do prefer to view it on a larger table screen when making initial hiking plans. The book is usually fairly accurate but can't be spot-on since weather can change a mountain trail overnight.

These are the only maps I have that show locations of trail camps for backpackers. It does not show them all, but this feature makes these maps a nice complement to the Tom Harrison maps which provide more details of other types.The trail descriptions in the book are brief, but also complement other books I have on the same areas, containing different information. Directions to the trailheads have been useful.

A very good resource for hikes around Los Angeles, The book has an excellent map to cross reference the many hikes and allows for stringing these hikes together. Helpful for backpacking planning