Five-Star Trails: West Virginia's Monongahela National Forest: Your Guide to the Area's Most Beautiful Hikes

Took this on a weeklong trip heading from South to North. I am a lifelong hiker so I've gone through more guidebooks than I care to remember. It's hard to make a good guidebook and I really want to give this one 4.5 stars as it exceled where many others fail. No one book is going to do it for all aspects but this one comes close. I found it gave a good variety of hikes that were easy, moderate, but if you are really looking for difficult, look elsewhere as there aren't too many. We wanted easy to moderate so I was happy. I like the setup, that the hike numbers are on the inside of the front cover - not some random hidden page and overall the descriptions were accurate. A nice added feature was it added in nearby stuff not to be missed. Sucks when you leave an area and realize later you were a mile a way from a virgin stand of forest on a nature trail. Or a random waterfall. Just nice touches and sometimes we liked these more than the hike. Multiple overviews of each hike were appreciated. There really was a lot the Author did right.So why 4 stars? Two reasons. The big one. The lack of hikes in the middle. You would think there were only a smattering of trails there when in fact the area is rich and ended up being our favorite. It sucked not having more trail information as they were everywhere and we saw some pretty amazing stuff that I can't imagine was a one off. The book is rich in hikes for the more popular Glades and North sections, just kind of mute on the middle. The second reason, was the kid rating. We don't have kids but plenty of nieces and nephews so we had some laughs with trails having a 4/5 while there's boulders, mud, cliffs, root tangles, etc. I hike with kids so I know they can often do more than you think but if you are a parent, take the ratings with a grain of salt, particularly if kids are under 5. This was the only rating we found way off and took into account varying conditions.We used this book constantly and it looks worse than us after a week with no shower. Maybe even smells worse. I'd highly recommend it to anyone trying to familiarize themselves with this amazing, diverse gem.

I bought this to prepare for my first trip to Dolly Sods, but it also covers several other areas and makes me want to visit them, too. An excellent range of easy to hard hikes, and of several other important variables too. Very useful ratings for scenery, difficulty, etc, and suitability for kids, pets, etc. The hikes are laid out thoroughly so you know what to expect and what not to miss. Also a solid chapter of general advice on wilderness hiking. But it does not have anything about the best, most unique and characteristic part of Dolly Sods — its Northwest quadrant.

This book made all the difference to us in our trip to West Virginia’s Canaan Valley. Due to COVID we had to cancel our annual National Park trip out west and opt for a driving tour to this area, which was completely unfamiliar to us. Unfortunately I didn’t find the same info online for this area as I typically do for our trips out west. This author does a great job of locating great hikes and explaining everything a day hiker needs to determine whether it is the right trail for them. It is extremely well organized. We really enjoyed our trip — but only because I found this book. Highly recommend!

This guide provides good information for day-hiking in the Monongahela NF. It provides 40 different dayhikes in the area. But it you want to plan a weekend or multiday backpacking trip in the Monongahela NF, it is not much help.

Great reference for hiking trails in WV’s Monongahela Forest, which includes the Canaan Valley and Blackwater Falls State Park area. Easy to read and flip through due to the organization and font size, with useful maps. Best part is the star ratings for scenery, challenge, and suitability for children.

I've been reading this since I got it, trying to decide which trail would be most fun to try first. The descriptions of the trails seems fairly detailed. My local outdoor store also had another of his books on the shelf for sale and they don't really carry any books or maps that are not totally useful for hiking, so clearly they think well of his books too. I think he has another book with overnight hikes in the area that I should be gotten instead of this one (Maybe it's just a different edition. I didn't look closely enough) but this one will do.

Great book. Invaluable in choosing, locating, and navigating our hikes in the Monongahela National Forest for our first visit there. Like having notes from an experienced friend.I just wish there had been a little more additional non-hike info - like I guess I expected landmarks like nature centers and ranger stations to be on the maps. They aren’t, and there’s no cell phone service within the bounds of the forest, so be sure to look it up before you leave home.

This book provided info about the hikes and photos so I knew what I'd be seeing and that helped me decide which of hikes to chose. I narrowed it down from about a dozen to two and had a great hike to Seneca Rocks. My second hike was cut short because I ran into a deer hunter dressed in bright orange (it was the first week of rifle deer season, in Nov) and he thought I was crazy to be out in the woods wearing green. Something to keep in mind.