Top Hiking Books & Guides

This is by no means a definitive guide to hiking books and guides – but is intended to summarise the most useful books I’ve found when researching hikes – and some which are just an entertaining read.

Fiction

A few of my favourite hiking stories…

Four different authors describe their experience of Mount Everest’s worst climbing season (1996). Each paints a very different picture of what went wrong, and who was to blame. Make up your own mind about whether the experienced mountaineer Anatoli Boukreev was a hero or a villian, and whether the tragedy could have been avoided.

• Dark Summit: The True Story of Everest’s Worst Disaster. Buy book.
• A Day to Die For: 1996: Everest’s Worst Disaster – One Survivor’s Personal Journey to Uncover the Truth. Buy book.
• Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster. Buy book.
• Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest. Buy book.

Around the World

Whether you’re after somes hiking ideas or a present for a hiking friend… they all provide ideas and inspiration (but most are better for the coffee table than actually planning a hike).

Australia

There are surprisingly few books that cover bushwalks across Australia – and many are no longer in print. Most books cover the same core set of “classic” walks, and there’s been a gradual evolution from very practical and comprehensive lists of walks, to focusing on the more popular bushwalks.

Australia – NSW

Some more region-specific books to add to your bookshelf…

• Take a Walk in the Blue Mountains (John & Lyn Daly). 5/5. Covers all the popular and less-known walks (including multi-day walks) with track notes and colour maps. Buy eBook.
• Take A Walk – Sydney to Port Macquarie (John & Lyn Daly). 5/5. eBook only. Huge range of walks with notes and maps. Mostly day-walks but some overnight options. Buy eBook
• Take A Walk in Kosciuszko National Park (John & Lyn Daly). 5.5. The best guide for hikes in this region. Quite a few multi-day hikes. Buy eBook.
• Best Walks of the Shoalhaven. 5/5. Over 23 diverse walks with maps, around the Shoalhaven, Jervis Bay and Kangaroo Valley. Buy book.
• Best Walks of NSW Mid North Coast (Yvonne Everett). 5/5. The definitive guide to bushwalks from south of Port Macquarie to Yamba, with detailed maps and track notes. Buy book.
• Best Bush & Coastal Walks of the Central Coast (Matt McClelland). 4/5. Covers 36 (mostly short) walks to the north of Sydney. Buy book.
• Take A Walk – Port Macquarie to Brisbane (John & Lyn Daly). 4/5. Comprehensive walks list but older format. Buy eBook.
• Best Walks of the Southern Highlands (John & Gillian Souter). 4/5. Good range of short & full day walks a few hours out of Sydney. Buy book.
• Bushwalking in the Budawangs (Ron Doughton). 4/5. An old but definitive guide to walks in the Budawangs. Very basic maps. Buy book.
• Discovering the Colo Wilderness on Foot (Anthony Dunk). 3/5. Basic sketch maps and walk descriptions – but you won’t find most of these walks anywhere else. Buy book.
• Sydney’s Best Harbour & Coastal Walks (Katrina O’Brien). 3/5. Lots of maps and photos; most of the 37 walks are fairly well known. Buy book.
• Discovering the Southern Highlands on Foot (Alan Fairley). 3/5. 22 walks with very basic maps – a number of them you won’t find elsewhere. Buy book.
• Great North Walk. (Matt McClelland). 3/5. Comprehensive guide to the Great North Walk. Worth getting if doing the full walk, as it covers all aspects of this multi-day walk. Buy book.
• The Blue Mountains on Foot (Bruce Williams). 3/5. Detailed notes on a 15 popular walks. Includes history & interesting facts on each walk. Buy book.

Almost every bushwalking or hiking book you can buy covers established tracks and trails – the range of books published by the Bush Explorers is unique in that they suggest hundreds of routes across the Wollemi National Park, Gardens of Stone and Mugii Murum-ban SCA which are off-track.

Many bushwalking books are out of print, but worth keeping an eye on in second hand stores as they often include a more comprehensive and diverse set of bushwalks than what is currently available:

• Bushwalks in the Sydney Region (S Lord and G Daniel). Published by the National Parks Association of NSW in two volumes, there are almost 100 walks in each book, with maps and a useful summary of the walks.
• How to see the Blue Mountains (Jim Smith). The classic guidebook to the Blue Mountains; basic maps and no photos, but the definitive guide to the trails by a passionate bushwalker.

Australia – Tasmania

• Discovering Flinders Island (Ken Martin). 5/5. Comprehensive guide – over 50 walks with colour maps & useful notes. Essential if visiting Flinders Island! Buy book.
• South West Tasmania Guidebook (John Chapman). 5/5. Somewhat of an anomaly when most books are favouring easier bushwalks, this guide covers all the major walks in the South West and Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Parks including some fairly hardcore routes. Buy book.
• Overland Track (John Chapman). 5/5. Detailed day-by-day track notes and colour maps. Useful for doing the entire track or for the day walks at either end. Buy book.
• Hiking the Overland Track (Cicerone). 5/5. An alternate Overland Track guidebook, covering the main trail and side-trips. Buy book.

Australia – Victoria

There’s surprisingly few bushwalking guides to Victoria in print – at least one of the three books I refer to regularly has become hard to find.

• Discovering the Prom 5/5. A great resource for Wilsons Promontary National Park, covering all of the day and multi-day walks. Currently out of print.
• 120 Walk in Victoria (Tyrone Thomas). 4.5/5. Quite dated and hard to find, but has one of the most comprehensive list of bushwalks in Victoria.

Australia – Queensland

The Take a Walk book is the best of the bunch, covering a fairly large area around Brisbane. If you’re going further north, 50 Walks in North Queensland has a wide selection of walks.

• Fraser Island Atlas and Guide (Hema Maps). 5/5 Everything you need for visiting the island, including desciptions of many walks. 5/5. Out of print.
• Secrets of the Scenic Rim (Robert Rankin). 3/5. Detailed guide for walking & climbing; track notes are not very clear but has a comprehensive list of walks. Out of print

Australia – NT & WA

There’s not a lot of choice when it comes to bushwalking books covering the Northern Territory or WA, despite some fantastic long-distance trails…

Canada

There’s been lot more hiking books released over the last few years covering a country that has some spectacular trails, although most are region-specific.

Hong Kong

As with many Asian countries, there is a lack of good hiking books covering HK – despite the fact there are hundreds of kilometres of well-established hiking trails…

New Zealand

There’s a few really useful books on New Zealand hiking, or tramping… Lonely Planet covers all the well-known and many lesser-known overnight tramps. The Day Walks in NZ book is almost coffee-table quality, and has lots of short walk suggestions across the breadth (or length?) of NZ.

Norway

The Cicerone Guides are the pick of all the Norway hiking guides, especially if you are looking at some of the longer trails.

United States

As you’d expect of a country with hundreds of thousands of hiking trails across 50 states, there are not many books that span the entire USA – and those that do are more useful for inspiration than planning a hike.

US – Arizona

Lots of great hikes – and lots of useful books, from ones covering the entire state to useful guides on specific trails.

• Hiking Grand Canyon National Park (Falcon Guide) 5/5. The best hiking guide to the Grand Canyon, covering all the major trails on the North and South Rims with easy-to-use maps. Buy book.
• Grand Canyon Bright Angel Trail Guide (Grand Canyon Association). 5/5. Small but very useful guide to all facets of the trail, with detailed maps. Buy book.
• Grand Canyon South Kaibab Trail Guide (Grand Canyon Association). 5/5. Another useful guide, by the same publisher as the previous one. Buy book.

US – Texas

Texas is not exactly the first place you think of for hiking – but Big Bend is like the Yosemite of the South, and there are many other hiking trails across the state. The Falcon Guides are a great resource and easy to use.