Reviews > Books > Trail Guides > Kananaskis Country Trail Guide, Volume 2 > Owner Review by Tyler Nagel

Review Date: April 20, 2005

Reviewer Information

Name: Tyler Nagel
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Height: 183 cm (6' 0")
Weight: 76 kg (168 lbs)
Email address: twsnagel [at] shaw [dot] ca
City: Calgary
Province: Alberta
Country: Canada

Backpacking background: I'm an avid hiker with many years of experience in the Canadian Rockies. I am experienced on many light, moderate, and difficult hikes as well as some scrambling. I am just getting into backpacking and am in the process of upgrading and selecting equipment. I tend towards a heavier load since I enjoy a tent over my head and cherish my creature comforts, but I'm searching for ways to lighten my pack.

Publisher: Rocky Mountain Books
Publisher Web Site: http://www.rmbooks.com
ISBN: 0-921102-48-8
Pages: 320
Dimensions: 13.9 cm x 21.4 cm (5.5" x 8.5")
Weight as measured: 453 g (16 oz)
Stock: Paper
Binding: Paperback
Illustrations: 250 b&w photos, 14 maps

Field and Test Information:
Location(s) of test: The Elbow Valley and Jumpingpound areas of Kananaskis Country, Alberta, Canada Terrain: Varied, ranging from below-treeline gravel fire roads, official trails and unofficial trails, to above-treeline slabs and scree. Weather Conditions: Varied weather -- sun, snow, rain, ice fog, and ice pellets. Temperature ranged from 35 C (95 F) to -15 C (5 F).

This trail guide covers the Highwood, Livingstone, Sheep River, Elbow River and Jumpingpound regions of Kananaskis Country. It is the companion to The Kananaskis Country Trail Guide, Volume 1, which covers the Ghost, the Bow Valley, Kananaskis Valley, the Spray Smith-Dorrien Area, and Peter Lougheed and Elk Lakes Provincial Parks.

Each hike is numbered, and topographic maps covering the entire area are located in the back of the book. There is a photograph for nearly every hike, along with information about difficulty level, length, and elevation gain is included with each hike.

I have gone on close to twenty hikes that are described in this book. I have only used this book for day hiking, but the organization of the hikes would make it easy to link them together into multi-day trips.

The descriptions of the hikes are detailed, and the instructions are accurate. I have yet to find a significant inaccuracy in any of the hike instructions. In addition, the guide details many unofficial trails in Kananaskis Country: trails that are not part of the official trail system. These trails often lead to beautiful, and sometimes deserted, vistas.

The topographic maps show the route of each hike, and provide some insight as to shortcuts and possible links between trails.

Because this is such an authoritative book, it is easy to get lulled into thinking that it details every single trail in Kananaskis Country. This is not the case – I’ve observed many trails that deviate from established trails, or are simply not listed in the guide. However, the book does an excellent job of outlining all the main trails, and many obscure ones.

I really enjoy the additional information that accompanies each hike. Not only does the book give instructions to Memorial Lakes, it also gives information about the plane crash that the lakes memorialize. In addition to excellent instructions about the trails on Moose Mountain, Daffern provides some guidelines for relating to the fire lookout on the top.

The photographs are also very helpful. Oftentimes, when deciding between hikes, photos can help a person visualize what the scenery will be like along the way.

My chief complaint with the book lies with the maps in the back. The maps are segmented into many pages, and there is no overlap between the pages. The divisions between the maps sometimes fall in very inconvenient locations. For example, Moose Mountain is divided between two sheets, and the popular Little Elbow area falls right on the junction between three sheets. Often the trails will snake between two adjacent map sheets several times during a hike, and it’s hard, as a result, to visualize the shape of the entire route.

I ended up photocopying the maps out of the back of the book and taping them together to make up a larger map, but I discovered that the trails marked on the topographic maps don’t always match up perfectly between sheets.

In addition, the maps don’t have any elevations marked on the isobars, and there is no scale. Backcountry campgrounds are not marked, either, but they are mentioned in the text of the books.

There are good topographic maps covering the area of Kananaskis Country – and these can be purchase separately from the book. What these all lack, however, is the trail numbering system in Daffern’s book. Ideally, the book would have been accompanied by a single-sheet fold-out map showing the entire area, in a pocket in the cover of the book. I would have gladly paid extra for this.

When I go on a hike in the book, I generally photocopy the relevant sections from the book and take my home-made composite map. This saves weight in my pack, and wear-and-tear on the book. When I’m done the hike, my photocopies are usually too worn to keep, and so I toss them out.

All things considered, Kananaskis Country Trail Guide, Volume 2, is the definitive trail guide for the areas that it covers. Gillean Daffern has done an amazing job of cataloguing the trails, clarifying the routes, and providing some history and interpretation. Were it not for the poor maps, this book would be perfect.

Things I liked:

1. The detailed instructions on nearly every hike in the area covered
2. The additional information about the geographic features and history in the area of the hike
3. The photographs

Things I didn’t like:

1. The lack of elevation labels, scale, and backcountry campgrounds on the maps
2. The location of the map sheet junctions

Reviews > Books > Trail Guides > Kananaskis Country Trail Guide, Volume 2 > Owner Review by Tyler Nagel