Moon USA National Parks: The Complete Guide to All 59 Parks (Travel Guide) Paperback – October 16, 2018

There were two guidebooks to all 59 the national parks worth owning: the venerable National Geographic guide, and the more recent "Your guide" by Michael Oswald. This new one (I'll call it "the Moon") offers a welcome combination of some the best features of each of those two, and in this review I'll compare it to them.The National Geographic guide consists mainly of point-by-point road itineraries geared to the motorist. This organization makes it difficult to plan your visit if you do not follow the itineraries. It is light on practical information and, more importantly, suggestions for outdoor activities such as hiking. The Moon provides plenty of that to help you get out of the pavement, with separate sections on sights, scenic drives, hiking and other outdoor recreation which are easy to reference. A list of top 3 activities, what to do in a day, best hike details, how to avoid crowds, and exhaustive listings of campground and lodges in the park provide useful planning information."Your guide" provides even more information than the Moon on the aforementioned topics, making it by far the most complete guide, especially for getting out of the pavement, and the best value for the dollar. With its larger trim, there is simply more room to provide details that are omitted in the Moon. However, the Moon's choices are better curated. For instance, instead of trying to list as many trails as possible, it lists only the best of them. However, enough of them are mentioned for a good sampling of the park. I haven't visited all the parks, but for those that I know well from repeated visits, I have found the Moon's selections to be spot on.Both of the Moon and "Your guide" use the National Park Service maps, which are considerably more detailed than the maps in the National Geographic, with an advantage here to "Your guide" whose larger maps are more legible. Both the Moon and National Geographic feature great photographs, with maybe an edge to the National Geographic (as expected) due to better printing on more glossy paper. On the other hand, "Your guide" uses crowdsourced/public domain photographs that are significantly lower quality than the professionally sourced photographs in the other two, compounded by inferior printing. The design of the Moon is also the most attractive of the three, making it a pleasure to thumb through for travel ideas.In conclusion, the Moon is a beautiful guidebook, which is sure to inspire you with its photos and highlight selections. At the same time it provides plenty of practical information and outdoor activities sufficient for any but the most extended visits.

I bought this book because we were going to Yellowstone and it was a great read.

This is not a table picture book. With that said it is a first class guide book to the parks, provides information, suggested sights and day trips, park information, maps, and gorgeous pictures. This is a must have book which we take with us on trips and plan our trips using the information in it. Great buy. Helpful for planning, and nice to just read and look at. A must for anyone planning a road trip and a book to take with you.

the book is nice, it has a lot of good info but its more of a summary of each state. if you want something more in-depth this is not the book. the nice thing is that if you are trying to hit the main highlights from a particular place then its easy to find, also the book is small-ish in size so you can take with you without taking up too much room.I wish it had more maps within each page to showcase the routes

This book will be a great tool for my upcoming cross country trip. I really like the map and will use the book as a journal for the rest of my life. I will make notes in it to where I have already been and when I get to other parks in the future. It will be my National Park memory treasure book. The photos are beautiful as well.

Great! I didn’t think it was possible to capture the beauty and essence of every National Park in the United States but you did it. It brings back exquisite memories of Parks I’ve already visited and makes want to me break out the calendar for the hiking and traveling seasons to come. A must for every lover of our park system and the natural/cultural wonders of this country.

This is a replacement copy for one I puchased many years ago. Information is simple to read and understand. The price was right and it shipped quickly. Thank you!

I bought a copy as a gifts...but had to peek in it before I got my own copy. I love the different lists: parks for animal viewing, fabulous roads for driving, Dark-Sky parks for star gazing. The book is packed with great photos, and it's easy to navigate the information. I was surprised by what I read about the early the history of the National Park Service described in the back.