Banff, Glacier National Parks Book
Lonely Planet Guide Covers Banff, Jasper and Glacier National Parks
Mar 29, 2008
This new guide to the Banff, Jasper and Glacier National Parks (not to mention Waterton Lakes, Yoho and Kootena National Parks too) is one of a new series of excellent updated National Parks guidebooks published by Lonely Planet. The guides are all about 300 pages in length, and though compact enough to fit in the daypack they cram a lot in, including an opening 16-page spread of maps and color photos that, quite literally, set the scene.
The books are all to a similar format, and all include, for example, chapters on Kids & Pets, Environment, History, Activities and Itineraries. Each of the four reviews will focus on different aspects of the contents, so to get a fuller picture of what's in each of the guides, read all four reviews. The links will appear below as the reviews appear.
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"...information on how to deal with everything
from frostbite to heat exhaustion, from ticks to bears."
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INTERVIEWS
One of the most interesting features in all the National Parks guidebook is the series of short interviews with people who live and work in them. In this Bannf guide, for example, there are interviews with a mountain guide (Marc Klassen), bike store owner and cyclist Manabu Saito, and with Tom Boyd, a waiter at the Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse. They all give insights into life in the National Parks, and tips on where to go, which makes the books livelier reads than your average bog-standard guidebook.
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VOLUNTEERING
All the guidebooks have a short section on Volunteering in the National Parks. This is one way to not only make your own special contact with the park, but also to help make sure they survive. Examples in this book include banding birds, monitoring wildlife, helping with summer educational activities, leading full moon hikes, acting as campground hosts or even working on the park radio. Sounds cool!
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THE BORING BITS
Almost all guidebooks have 'the boring bits at the back', which guidebook writers usually hate writing as there's so much information to gather and check, and the fun bits of researching the book and writing the main chapters are over. (The authors put in 1600 hours of in-park research, according to the book cover, and hiked over 200 miles of trails.)
However, the boring bits are important, and in the case of these National Parks guides, vital. In fact some sections are a matter of life and death, which is why there are 7 pages on Health and Safety, including emergency phone numbers, medical assistance contacts, and information on how to deal with everything from frostbite to heat exhaustion, from ticks to bears.
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SUMMARY
Not just another guidebook series, this guide to Banff, Jasper and Glacier really does justice to these National Parks. The love of the writers for these most beautiful parts of North America shines through.
The Lonely Planet Guide to the Banff, Jasper and Glacier National Parks, 2nd edition, was published in April 2008 at $19.99 in the USA and £12.99 in the UK. For more information visit the Lonely Planet website.
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Other guides in the National Parks series are:
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