The Creaky Knees Guide Northern California: The 80 Best Easy Hikes

Ann Marie Brown's latest book continues a trend in outdoor publishing. As the active outdoors members of the boomer generation continue to age, they are less inclined to hike long distance trails, but prefer their hikes to be half day excursions that still offer spectacular scenery. Ms. Brown, however, has been writing guide books for all levels of hiking ability for years, and in this book she offers readers a collection of her favorite hikes, as well as a few new trails that have only recently been opened to the public. Covering Yosemite, Tahoe, the southern Cascades, Coastal Redwoods, and San Francisco Bay, this book offers a fine and balanced selection. Even the Sacramento Valley, which I have often overlooked, includes multiple hiking descriptions for off season treks.True to the title, all the hikes in this book can be hiked by most reasonably fit people in half a day or less. That does not mean that you will not get a workout on these trails. While some trails, like the loop around Burney Falls, are short (1 mile) leg stretchers, many others are in the 5 to 9 mile range. Those looking for exercise will find the many hikes rated as "Prepare to Perspire" worth their time. And as far as scenery is concerned, all these hikes are deserving of your time. Of the 80 routes in this book, I have personally hiked more than 50, often with a book by Ms. Brown as a guide. I have not regretted a single trip. I also appreciate the many sketch maps in this book that will help one stay on the trail. Driving directions are also accurate and detailed. In the final analysis then, if you want to enjoy some quality northern California hiking, The Creaky Knees Guide to Northern California should be your first choice among recent guidebooks. I will be using it on future trips to the northern part of the Golden State.

I’ve been skimming this trip guide from my recliner, and it has me itching to get out and explore. The author writes engagingly, making me want to read even the entries for hikes I’ve already found on my own. I kept wanting a larger scale map to better understand the hike location, but it was easy enough to look up based on the info provided. I’ll be ordering the Oregon version ASAP. Very clear about trail difficulty and possible extensions for good days or companions without creaky knees.

I got this book for hike ideas that I can do with my mom, who has a hard time with a lot of climbing or descending. It has a lot of great hike routes, most with options for longer hikes. It's well laid out in sections, so I'm able to search for hikes within my area. The only thing that would make it better (in my opinion) is if it had section maps so you could easily see where the various hikes were for an area. Each hike has a detail map of the hike, but I like to be able to see an overview map of an entire area. It makes it easier to plan hikes based on where I'll be traveling. Otherwise it seems to be very thorough with some of the best hikes in Northern California.

I am 48 and really have creaky knees. I thought my hiking days were over. I got this book before a trip to Northern California and I am so glad I did. I have been on 4 of the hikes so far.My first hike was at Burney Falls. I'd never heard of it and went out of my way because of the author's description. It was so spectacular I changed my vacation plans to include some of her other recommended hikes. I am now looking forward to returning to Northern California to do the ones I missed.I didn't try anything over 'moderate' and found them quite doable. Breathing hard now and then but my knees held out. And I saw truly wild and spectacular places I would have otherwise missed.I highly recommend this book.

This is a great guidebook for people with disabilities like me. The only drawback is the kindle version - the maps are very grainy and small. On the PC app there's no way to enlarge them either. So the maps are pretty much illegible - in a guidebook that's unacceptable. I'm guessing it's Amazon's fault, not the author or publisher, but I don't know.

I have returned this book. The book is useless for me because it is missing a reference map for the locations of ALL the trips. You do not have the option to instantly get an idea where the recommended trip is. Too bad!

Just what we needed for a great vacation to Northern California and Crater Lake, OR. We spent a great deal of time in Smith River and Trinidad, CA. We had some super hikes among the Redwoods around those places and Cresent City.

I enjoyed this book and it was very helpful. Content was great and just what I was looking for. Great book. Would recommend.