Book Review: Base Camp Denver
Alpha Omega Family Adventures received a review copy from Smith Publicity Promotions and voluntarily provided an honest review. This does not affect the opinion of the book or the content of the review. All opinions are our own.
I don’t know about you, but for me, if the cover of a book isn’t appealing I won’t be opening it. When I first saw the cover of this book, I instantly wanted to not only open the book and find my next hike but also jump into the picture and hike the trail on the cover! Pete KJ is the author of this book, Base Camp Denver. He started exploring from a very young age and has hiked all over the world. Essentially this book is the ultimate guide to 101 of the best hikes in the Denver, Colorado area. I’ll admit, I don’t know much about Colorado since I’ve only been there twice. But, I’ve always been intrigued and I look forward to the day we can visit and hike some of these trails that Pete describes in this book. Base Camp Denver is a very useful book full of information, not only about the actual hike, but also includes any interesting facts or history tied to each hike.
Even the inside cover of this book includes a very detailed map and locates where each trail begins. Each trail marker is color coded by the seasons you can hike each trail. The book is divided into eight sections, different areas around the Denver area where the trail heads are located. KJ has hiked over 200 of the possible hiking trails to be included in this book, ultimately settling on just 101 of them. The average length of these hikes is 7 miles-some hikes as short as 2 miles while the longest is 16 miles.
The very first section of the book includes very helpful information, especially for someone who isn’t completely accustomed to hiking. KJ talks about how he rated each hike in detail, clothing and equipment, maps and navigation, personal safety (hydration, thunderstorms, altitude, sun, heat, and cold), general safety, wildlife safety, and hiking with kids. After reading this book, I felt so much more prepared for any type of hiking!
For each of the 101 hikes, he breaks it down with his hike ratings at the very beginning. This includes the difficulty, trail conditions, children rating, scenery, photo, solitude, distance and time, elevation, special features, best season to go, and any other information that might be useful to that hike. After the ratings box, he describes the hike and any special points of interest you need to see, as well as any pertinent information that might be important for a successful hike. He includes maps of each hike as well as a few gorgeous pictures! He ends each section of individual hikes with detailed driving instructions to make experiencing these hikes even easier on the readers.
Pete KJ has an easy hike search section in the back of the book. You can search for a hike by ease of hiking for children or adults with limited mobility, teen favorites, waterfalls, wildflowers, interesting geology, seasons, fall foliage, solitude/remote, strenuous, bird-watching, stargazing, historical interest, and wildlife.
When I first started looking at this book, I thought to myself that I’ll just pick out a hike or two that looked interesting and maybe we can start planning a Colorado trip. Of course I was picking hikes that had the highest ratings for children. Each hike I read about I wanted to hike! Even if we went to Colorado tomorrow, I still am not sure which hike I would choose! While reading this book, you can clearly see that the author is very experienced and has spent an incredible amount of time putting this book together.
The author, Pete KJ, has written other books as well. He has written a book documenting a specific father and son trip literally around the world. He also wrote another book that takes us with him on a father/daughter experience through different states and countries with his daughter. Pete KJ has also written some fiction books as well! Check out his work at www.petekj.com .
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys adventuring in new places!
