Afoot & Afield Portland/Vancouver: A Comprehensive Hiking Guide

My husband loves this book, which is kind of amazing because he already has so many of them. He's finding a lot more trails to go on now.

This guide will be the basis of our family's future expeditions. Being new to this area of the state, we are not inclined to just head out unprepared - till now.

This book doesn't just have trails, it gives you trails that are close to, or connect with the trail you are on. Love it!

This was the most comprehensive hiking guide book for our area that I have purchased. I belong to a senior hiking group and we are always looking for short hikes that senior's can enjoy.

I have the 2003 version of this book, to which I will stubbornly cling until Mr. Lorain gives us another update. We're due; it's been 6 years, as of this writing, since the latest edition. Pretty please?Since 2003 (or 2008, for that matter), some access information has, unsurprisingly, gone out of date (and so many trails noted as "unsigned" in the book are no longer difficult to find), but I still use this book for most of my local hiking adventures, and you can tell how much I love it because it's waterlogged, scribbled in, and dirt-stained from regular use on the trail.It has nearly every trail around, from the city of Portland to the slopes of Mt. Hood to the north Coast Range, and LOTS of great trails in the ridiculously scenic Columbia River Gorge. The writing is solid, dense with detail and supplemented by not a few (b&w) photos. Lorain's obvious love for the wilderness is quietly evident in the text. The volume is satisfyingly weighty, with thick pages, but I never leave it behind in the car. It's a joy to read at home, too, vaguely planning my next excursion.Bottom line: I've purchased or borrowed a lot of hiking guides in 10 years exploring the Portland area and surrounding wild lands. This one gets BY FAR the most use. High marks in every department.

After 8 years of working thru Lorain's A Foot & A Field Portland/Vancouver hiking book (First Edition), I have finally completed all 148 hikes. I have written in this book as a journal, logging dates, weather, who I hiked with, and notes from each and every hike.As a new hiker back in 2004, the book was an excellent guide and got me out into areas I've never been in. My two good hiking buddies loved working thru the book with me. I fell in love with hiking and have since summited 11 peaks in the area.My first hike in the book was Herman Creek and my last hike was Huffman Peak Loop. My favorite hikes were Silver Star, Siouxon Creek and Central Gales Creek. The hikes in Lorain's book gave me some of the best lunch spots in the NW, fabulous huck and blueberry patches, spectacular wildflowers, awesome scenery and many miles of tromping.I want to thank Douglas Lorain for his book and the many great memories those hikes gave me. I want to thank him for the amazing adventures I was able to experience.~Lori Bennis

I was surprised to see no one had reviewed this book. I think that it is the most useful for this region next to Sullivan's Northwest Oregon volume, and in some respects is better. Lorain has more hikes than Sullivan's and tells you more about when the best time to go is. The descriptions are longer. I like Sullivan's maps a little better, but if you have both volumes, they can be complimentary to each other. I still prefer to print out a TOPO map of the hike region before going, and not just relying on the book's maps. The volume covers SW Washington, NW Oregon, including the Coast Range. I have hiked about 20% of the hikes in the book and have not found any glaring errors or hikes where it is apparent that the author never really went on the hike, unlike another unnamed hiking book on Oregon. I would encourage Lorain to produce more volumes covering the central Cascades and perhaps the Oregon coast.