One of the great things about Seattle is the availability of and access to outdoor recreation opportunities. If you like to hike, you'll find many wonderful trails with an hour or two of the city. Here are my recommendations for guide books that cover hikes and hiking trails located in and around Seattle, Washington.
Take a Hike Seattle: Hikes within Two Hours of the City
Part of the popular Moon Handbooks series, Take a Hike Seattle provides detailed information on over 85 different hikes. The book is organized by region and includes Puget Sound, Olympic Peninsula, Mountain Loop Highway, Highway 2, Interstate 90, and Mount Rainier. Take a Hike Seattle also lists a few of the best hikes by such categories as easy hikes, kid-friendly hikes, strenuous hikes, and waterfall hikes.
Beyond Mount Si: The Best Hikes within 85 Miles of Seattle
Beyond Mount Si: The Best Hikes within 85 Miles of Seattle, by John Zilly, provides detailed directions of 70 different hikes that are within a 1-2 hour drive of the city. The hiking guide makes it easy to choose hikes by location, level of difficulty, or season. In addition to clear and detailed maps, each hike description includes distance, elevation, hike time, and trail restrictions. Reference information for Green Trails maps, which Zilly recommends as a supplement to the guide's small maps, is also provided for each hike.Day Hiking: Snoqualmie Region
Mountaineers Books
Day Hiking: Snoqualmie Region is part of The Mountaineers Books' new series of Washington hiking guides. Designed and written with the needs of hikers in mind, this guide is small enough to tuck into your pack or big pocket, yet it's crammed full of useful trail information, maps, charts, and descriptions. Individual trail entries begin with a chart that summarizes the difficulty, round-trip mileage, elevation gain, high point, and best season details for each hike. "Quick Guide" charts, found near the beginning of each book, list best hikes for such categories as families, to lakes, along creeks and rivers, for waterfall viewing, and for solitude.
