This book is very detailed, a perfect hiking guide for the state of Washington, and fairly current.
Hikes are numbered, the table of contents tells you where to find them in the book, the index map shows where in the state to find them.

There is another aspect of this book. The author has a very pleasant casual upbeat conversational style which makes the trail guide pleasant to use.

There is a table in the front of the book which gives the basic information on each hike. This data includes not just the distance and elevation gain and loss, but a difficulty rating, and any special notes. This is handy when just beginning to sort though which hike might be for you. There are additional tables in the back of the book and an appendix with more useful information.

There are color photos here and there. Each hike has at east one representative photo with it. Each hike is on a separate shaded relief map with the hike, although too small to use on the trail. The author tells the reader which large map to use for the specific trail, and which land management agency has jurisdiction there.

Contacts for all the jurisdictions are given. The guide is thorough. There are usually unique teatures on each hike that the author explains, he seems to have personally travelled ach of the hikes himself.

I would rate the book a full 5 stars if just a few things were handled differently. I would have liked the index map not spread across two pages so that most of the hikes are lost in the binding portion of the book. I would like the black and white photos to be a little clearer, such as a little contrast improvement. There is no tonal scale, light areas are washed out and shadows are lost as well. But, Color photos are good, text is excellent and detailed.

This is a very good trail guide. A portion of the purchase price goes to trail maintenance. ( )