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Dan's Hiking Pages: Hikes in the San Gabriels and Beyond |
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John McKinney
Long-time columnist for the Los Angels Times, McKinney is the author of at least a dozen books about walking, hiking, and nature. He has written several books which cover the wider Southern California area, of which the San Gabriels are just a part. Some of his older books take new life in new books, and quite frankly, I've had a hard time keeping up with what's what. The two books below are McKinney's current works which apply most directly to hiking the San Gabriels:
In his Los Angeles County: A Day Hiker's Guide (The Trailmaster, Inc: Santa Barbara, 2006), he presents 161 hikes, with 46 in the San Gabriels Mountains. This book is a re-make of his Wild L.A.: A Day Hiker's Guide (Olympus Press, 2003). See Expanded Review below.
In his Southern California: A Day Hiker's Guide (The Trailmaster, Inc: Santa Barbara, 2006), he covers 151 hikes, 19 of which are in the San Gabriels. This latest book is a reincarnation of several earlier works. See Review below.
A book which does not relate to the San Gabriels, yet completes McKinney's trio of Southern California books is Orange County: A Day Hiker's Guide (The Trailmaster, Inc: Santa Barbara, 2006). He covers 100 hikes. View publisher write-up.
Most of McKinney's San Gabriel Mountains hikes are covered in Robinson and Schad. But he does have a few unique hikes, such as Mt. Bliss and Potato Mt. And McKinney and Schad have some hikes in common that Robinson overlooks, such as Eaton Canyon Falls, Monrovia Canyon Falls, Bailey Canyon, Stoddard Peak and Shoemaker Canyon Road (all of which I have write-ups for on my site).
Another John McKinney book worth noting is The Joy of Hiking: Hiking the Trailmaster Way (Wilderness Press: Berkley, 2005). Excellent Book. See Review below.
Expanded Review:
Los Angeles County: A Day Hiker's Guide
by John McKinney
(The Trailmaster, Inc: Santa Barbara, 2006)
Content:
He begins the book with 12 pages of introductory matter, including, Getting the Most from Hiking L.A. County, Best Hikes, a one-page plug for his website, and Inspiration for the Trail. Then he presents 161 hikes in 13 areas with a one paragraph introduction for each area: Downtown (9 hikes), Hollywood Hills (6), Griffith Park (8), Verdugo Mountains / San Rafael Hills (8), San Fernando Valley (5), Santa Clarita Valley (4), Santa Susana Mountains (9), Simi Hills (7), San Gabriel Valley (8), Whittier-Puente Hills (5), San Gabriel Mountains (46), Coast (13), and Santa Monica Mountains (33). He ends the book with 12 pages of information sources, points of interest index, book index, and credits.
Information for each trip is in four sections:
1. Hike name and stats
- Hike name (brief, usually just the destination but not the trailhead)
- Subhead (Usually name of specific trail)
- Hike length and elevation gain
2. Features
Gives an overview of the hike, often including some excellent historical background.
3. Directions to the trailhead
Provides specific driving directions.
4. The Hike
Provides a detailed description of the walking route. Lake Robinson's, his writes-up are usually detailed enough to give the reader confidence that he or she can successfully navigate the route. And his graphic description helps you to picture the hike before hand.
My observations and critique:
I like McKinney's writing style; he makes for enjoyable reading. And his trail descriptions are solid and reliable, for the most part. I greatly appreciate his approach of nudging people out into the parks and walking paths as first steps toward more challenging hiking experiences. And his passion for hiking and the outdoors is contagious.
For his hike descriptions, his top-of-the-page material is pretty bare bones compared to all the info that Schad provides, and more lean than Robinson. He doesn't include the best season, which he included in his earliest works. He briefly mentions seasonal issues buried in his 12-page introduction, but it may be easy for a hiker unfamiliar with the San Gabriels to select a front-range trail in the wrong season and be miserably roasted. He doesn't rate the hike with any classification of how easy or hard it is, which is fine by me, because I deduce that from the mileage and elevation gain. But the novice hiker might not as easily ascertain the difficulty of the hike.
McKinney's format is similar to Robinson's, first giving an overview of the hike, driving directions, and hike-description, in three sections. I greater prefer this practice in contrast to Schad who lumps the hike overview, driving directions, and hike description into one long narrative. And like Robinson, McKinney does not focus as much on the careful delineation of precise mileages as Schad does.
Even though McKinney makes a good effort in gathering updates regarding trail conditions, it's unfortunate that some of the write-ups slip through the editorial process. For example, the horrific Curve Fire of September 2002 incinerated most of the mountain slopes surrounding the Crystal Lake Basin, and the torrential storms of the next year scoured the topography. And the Crystal Lake Recreation area has been closed ever since with no reliable, official estimate of when it will ever be open. Yet there is no mention of this in McKinney's write-ups for trails in that area! Thus, in his Islip Ridge hike description he speaks of a pleasant trail ascending through pine, spruce and cedar forest — but that forest, for the most part, is no longer there! Yet on the other hand, he rightly points out the impact of the September 2002 Williams Fire on the Potato Mt. hike. McKinney's write-up for Mt. Bliss is still vague, outdated, and inaccurate. And his description of Mt. Wilson still wrongly places the round-trip mileage to Orchard Camp at 9 miles, when it is actually 7 miles.
McKinney presents simple line maps, similar to Schad's, but they are only for some of the hikes (16 maps for the 46 hikes in San Gabriel Mountains).
Comparison between Los Angeles County (2006) and
Wild L.A. (Sept. 2003)
I found the content changes between the two books are not significant. He removed four hikes and added twelve, for a net gain of eight hikes. He updated some hikes, such as Bailey Canyon, which was woefully out of date in the early book. He did a little re-ordering of hikes and reworked some sections. For example, he took five hikes that were formerly under San Gabriel Valley and rightly joined them with the San Gabriel Mountains. I was disappointed that he reduced the two-page section introductions to a single paragraph for each.
I think McKinney made a strategic publishing move by branding his "A Hiker's Guide" trio of South California books as a related family. The handsome, like-styled covers of the three books have a nice appeal. If he will now just stick with these three books in their current incarnation (with occasional updates, or course), they can all be in print for the next 30 years and rival the endurance of John Robinson's classic works.
There are several design elements which have changed. The book size went from 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 to a larger 6 x 9. The type font in the former book was real clean and easy to read, but the font in the new book is too stylized and impedes ease of reading. There are 50 percent less photos in the new book.
Summary:
Los Angeles County: A Day Hiker's Guide
(Replaces Wild L.A.: A Day Hiker's Guide)
- 161 hikes in Los Angeles area, 46 of them in the San Gabriels
- Good historical background on most hikes
- Simple line maps for many hikes (98)
- Some descriptions are regretfully out of date
- Covers a lot of short, casual walks, such as in parks
- 336 pages. 45 photos. Retail $16.95
My Recommendation:
If you will be hiking all over L.A. County, and you already have Schad's and Robinson's books, and if you have the extra cash, McKinney's book would be a good buy. If you are hiking primarily in the San Gabriels, Robinson is my top recommendation.
View publisher write-up
Review:
Southern California: A Day Hiker's Guide
by John McKinney
(The Trailmaster, Inc: Santa Barbara, 2006)
In Southern California: A Day Hiker's Guide, McKinney covers 151 hikes, 19 of which are in the San Gabriels. All but two of these (Placerita Canyon and San Gabriel Wilderness [Devils Canyon]) are covered in his Los Angeles County book. He excludes some of the ones he had in his earlier works, such as Stoddard Peak, Potato Mountain, Mount Bliss, Eaton Canyon, and Monrovia Canyon (but no worries, you can find these hikes right here on my website).
This book is a re-incarnated of his New Day Hiker's Guide to Southern California (Olympus Press, April 2004), which is a re-published and combined version of his original Day Hiker's Guide to Southern California volumes I and II. And somewhere in the evolution of book spinning was Walking Southern California: A Day Hiker's Guide (HarperCollinsWest: New York, 1994). Like I've said, it's been hard to keep up with McKinney's books.
McKinney's Southern California book is roughly comparable in geographic area to Schad's 101 Hikes in Southern California, with 49 more hikes.
Summary:
Southern California: A Day Hiker's Guide
- 150 hikes in southern California, 19 of them in the San Gabriels
- Good historical background on most hikes
- Simple line maps (nearly a 100) for many hikes
- Covers a lot of short, casual walks, such as in parks
- 336 pages. Many Photos. Retail $16.95
My Recommendation:
If you will be hiking all over Southern California, McKinney's book would be a good buy. If you are hiking primarily in the San Gabriels, Robinson is my top recommendation.
View publisher write-up
Review:
The Joy of Hiking: Hiking the Trailmaster Way
by John McKinney
(Wilderness Press: Berkley, 2005)
McKinney packs years of experience and practical wisdom into this treasure trove of hiking philosophy and how-to. Most everything that I've ever considered putting in print about hiking is here...and more! Here's a taste of the gazillion things he talks about: The benefits of hiking, gear, safety, art of trail building, trail courtesy, outdoor ethics, hygiene, mud, myths, canines, rain, deet, hay fever, hiking barefoot, hiking solo, wild things, national scenic trails, hiking Europe, hiking honeymoons, photo tips. And of particular note is an excellent chapter on hiking with children.
- 20 Chapters, appendix, and index
- Bullet-pointed sidebars and inspirational quotes featured throughout. Some photos.
- Well written. Enjoyable reading.
- 288 pages. Retail $17.95
My Recommendation:
This book is a winner for novices and experts alike.
View publisher write-up
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