Hiking and Exploring Utah's San Rafael Swell: Including: a History of the San Rafael Swell and Geology of the San Rafael Swell

When it comes to hiking the desert areas of southern Utah, there is none better than Michael Kelsey. Even thought the type is small, each area is well researched with many interesting photos. The only recommendation I would have would be to have each item found on the maps had GPS coordinates. It is sort of hard to find some of these features when I use Google Earth, but this is a minor issue. Otherwise, the book is a treasure trove of history and a great resource.

I personally love Kelsey's guides. Be aware: if you like well-spaced type and simple formatting, his guides may give you a migraine. Kelsey packs more - and far more detailed - information onto every page than any other outdoor guide I am familiar with. He has been to where he describes, and describes it in great detail, along with many maps with clear depictions of roads, trails, etc. You will know more about that area, including every road, trail, parking spot, and hiking points of interest, than most folks who have been there. In addition, Kelsey also includes an extensive history - human and geological - of each area. The information packed into each of his guides is incredible. When I say 'packed', I mean it. Small, single-spaced type with very little white space is the only way to avoid making each of his guides 2,000 pages or so. You may need glasses or ibuprofen, but you will know about the area!

Excellent hiking book. If you headed to the Swell you might as well have this in your backpack. It is old and has not been updated, as far as I know, but mother earth hasn't changed the landscape all that much in 30 years and this book will help lead you to some of the finest scenery you will ever see.

I found the book to be hard to read at first. The maps have their good and bad points. Sometimes its hard to match them up with a map of the overall area. After getting used to the format I was able to glean a lot of the information that I was looking for and the price of the book was quickly offset by the huge amount of savings in time and gasoline. I'm very happy that I bought the book.

The book is full of good information and good photographs. Reasons that it isn't a 5 star. 1) I think half of the book is for technical canyoning requiring the use of ropes. This isn't what I wanted to know about and the book wasn't described as such. 2) The formatting and organization is terrible. It takes effort to use this book. 3) There is no index. It is hard to look something up in the book.

Good book with lots of information. I've only been to a couple places described here. I'm still not sure about the organization of the book- it's not intuitive to me at all, but again, I've only used it for 2 trips so far. I have noticed the maps are a little difficult to follow because there's lots of black lines that represent completely different things. Once I got used to it though, it's fine.

Even if you're not a canyoneer, or even a very ambitious hiker, this is a great guidebook. The local history sections are worth reading if you have any interest in the area at all, and make for some fun times when stuck in the tent in inclement weather.If you haven't experienced Kelsey's stuff before, make sure to check out some samples. The layout of the book, typography, and even idiosyncratic spelling (fotos?) would drive any fastidious copywriter, typographer or graphic artist nuts, but it is sorta a Thing. And even mentioning his name when around a campfire with locals or frequent visitors is bound to kick off a lively conversation. Every traveller in the area should have at least one Kelsey book and this is one of my faves.

I’ve been hiking for over 30 years and bought dozens of hiking books. This One takes the prize for being the most difficult hiking book I’ve ever tried to use. If the authors goal was to Give the person trying to plan a hike a brain cramp congratulations mission accomplished.