By Ron C. Judd – The Mountaineers Books ISBN 978-1-59485-092-9
$18.95 U.S (listed price)
http://www.mountaineersbooks.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=1449
Review by Dave Wilkes (the turtle)
I was asked to review the book “Camping Washington” by Ron C. Judd from The Mountaineers Books. I have read a large number of books on camping, hiking and backpacking for the Pacific Northwest and Washington in particular and a few of them published by The Mountaineers Books. Quite frankly most of the older books left me wanting to say the least, but I have found some of the newer books to be quite good so I accepted the task of reviewing this one. However receiving this book in December (it had been unseasonably cold for the entire week leading up to the books arival) I was at a bit of a loss as to how to fully review this book.
The book starts with 7 pages containing 18 full color pictures of campsites, views, flora/fauna, etc from the various campgrounds covered by the book. From the first two paragraphs of the introduction two things were very clear; the book would be full of humor and primarily from the viewpoint of someone living in, or at least starting out from Seattle. The first being much more encouraging than the second. Despite having lived in Washington for the past 15 or so years I realized that I have been in quite a rut, hiking and camping in the same places over and over again, and reading just the introduction made me realize I must be missing quite a bit of what this state has to offer. I love his description of Washington being the “Disney Land of American camping.” I have to admit I often skip the introduction in books like this and jump directly to the parts that are of interest to me. I am glad I did not do that this time as I found the introduction quite entertaining. After the introduction there is a chapter entitled How To Use This Book. This section covers the rating system used in the book and how it was derived as well as some general information on the parks and campgrounds in Washington. This book like most others I have read use a ranking system, what I like about this one is that the author states right up front that this is a bit of an arbitrary system based upon the reviewers priorities and experiences and that individual visitors opinions may vary quite a bit. So the rating system is a starting point only, reading the details and further research is recommended.
The next chapter is titled Ron Judd’s Family Camping Guide. The entire chapter had me chuckling and nodding my head in agreement. His descriptions are poignant and right on the mark. From the subtle and some not so subtle comments he makes it is clear that he and I have had some of the same experiences, and while I would love to include some quotes here, I simply could not narrow the list of what I wanted to quote down short enough, so I will simply encourage you to read it yourself. Not only is it entertaining, it also provides some very useful information that you may not know and/or some things you have forgotten since your last camping trip (maybe intentionally blocked out is a better description?).
Like other similar books, this book is divided into geographical sections. Unlike most of the other books, it is neither painfully dry (fully of tedious details and stats) nor excessively flowery. I find many of these books to overhype the advantages and positive aspects of the various locations while downplaying the problems and issues in an attempt to avoid discouraging anyone. While this ‘playing it safe’ is a good way to avoid being criticized for speaking poorly of someone’s favorite location, it does a disservice to the primary audience – those who know little to nothing about the places and are in need of an accurate and informative guide. I found Camping Washing to contain the kind of accurate and not overhyped information I was looking for (at least in regards to the campgrounds in the book with which I am familiar).
Reviewing a book on campgrounds in winter at first seemed odd, but as it turns out it worked well for us. This year we decided to plan all of our summer family camping trips in January, and after reading this book it became our primary resource. We identified five locations we are interested in visiting this summer with two of them being ones we have stayed at before and one that I have visited but never stayed overnight at.
After reading the book and being somewhat familiar with the “Day Hiking” series of books, have decided my next step will be to identify one or more campgrounds, choosing the location entirely based upon the recommendation and description in this book and stay there to see how it compares to the books description (being winter I will need to give quite a bit of leeway). So part two of this review will be after I have visited at least one campground based upon the book. Part three will be delayed till sometime in the summer of 2010 after I have had the chance to visit one or more of the campgrounds during better weather and with my family.
A side note: It just so happens, photographer Alan Bauer will be presenting a program on Day Hiking – Central Cascades a book he co-wrote for The Mountaineers Books at the January Cascadian’s meeting (Jan 27). I am really looking forward to that meeting.
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