Best mountain ecology books according to redditors

That one should be required reading for winter hikers (hikers in general). Not everyone dies but some do (tragically and needlessly), others escape with a few missing extremities, and yet others unscathed only due to pure luck.

Another good one, that's focused on the Adirondacks, is Peter Bronski's At the Mercy of the Mountains. If you found 'Not Without Peril' engrossing, you'll like 'At the Mercy' as well.

FWIW, check out chapter 8 about Steven Thomas. That one strikes a chord because I still recall seeing his "Lost" posters. They were nailed to trail-registers back when I started hiking in the High Peaks (in the Paleozoic Era). Talk about a sobering sight for a budding new hiker!

Unlike the recent Whiteface skier, who showed up in Sacramento, Steven Thomas was never found (not even a trace). However, I recall some people theorizing that he "disappeared himself" to start anew elsewhere. However, that theory is unproven and certainly doesn't give his family any comfort.

Notes

• Most of these trails are quote rocky, and during the winter months can be quite icy/slick. Please be careful of your footing and if it's your first time on a particular hike, bring a buddy along for safety.
  
  
• Take out what you carry in. Nothing's worse than a disgusting trail or a spoiled river or a ruined overlook. Clean up after yourself and leave only footsteps.
  
  
• Little cars can get you to all of these trailheads. I drove my old '95 Honda Accord (RIP) to all of them. So . . . it's not like you need a quad bike for them.
  
  
• DNR and Forestry cops are crawling around these areas. Please be careful and know that if you're doing anything weird, they will bust you (I've seen it happen once, they thought some dudes were smoking dope).
  
  
• If you fish in many of these areas, you are required to have a fishing license, and a Nat'l Forest Stamp. My roommates were once busted for this.
  
  
• A lot of these little towns are speed traps, so drive carefully.
  
  
• Most of these trips can be completed in as little as an afternoon. Most of the time I didn't bring anything, although a pack with some water and a snack/meal would be fine/is kinda recommended.
  
  
• For footwear, I recommend Merrell hiking shoes with Gore Tex. They're expensive yet, they were awesome and my feet were kept very dry, even when walking through mud.
  
  
• If you've done some of these hikes and want to know more, I strongly recommend the book by Leaonard M. Adkins 50 Hikes in Southern Virginia: From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. It was my hiker's bible during my time at Tech. When it comes to maps, these National Geographic maps are incredible. I used the Mount Rogers one quite a bit. As I recall the Blacksburg one was kind of meh. Also, if you'd like to know a bit more about the AT, a good start is David Miller's AWOL on the Appalachian Trail.
  
  
• AT thru hikers are . . . interesting people. Feel free to ask them questions. They'll probably ask you a few, also (how far to __? what day is it? etc).
  
  
• Stay safe and happy hiking!

If you've never gone to Lake Louise and the Valley of the Ten peaks, I'd definitely head there first. Moraine lake as well, it's always busy out there but it's so beautiful, it's definitely worth it. If you haven't ever seriously been hiking, I'd start out with some of the more popular trails. This book is worth the investment for sure, especially if you want less well-known hikes. I've been hiking my whole life, if you have any questions feel free to ask me or PM me. :) enjoy yourself.

For planning, I recommend this book. It's pricey, but worth it. It's not too helpful on the survival side of planning, but it'll help you pick out which trails to do and what to expect.

Check out this book. https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/dont-waste-your-time-in/9781927462027-item.html Or https://www.amazon.ca/Dont-Waste-Your-Canadian-Rockies/dp/0968941974 for the regular book

Lol, you'd like to avoid crowds in Banff, that's like saying I don't really want to see people when visiting New York City.

Where are you staying? Here's the thing about Banff, it's super close to Kananaskis and Kootenay National Park.

Other good options are to google blogs about hiking in Banff, you'll get really good info and current info as well, wildfires have done some serious damage here the last 3 out of 4 years.

Of course there's Mt. Temple, Sunshine, Bourgeau Lake, etc...

Here's a dude with a passionate blog about hiking: http://hikingwithbarry.com/category/banff-national-park

i picked up At The Mercy of the Mountains at the excellent ithaca book sale a few months ago. it covers the stories of a variety of misadventures, accidents, and deaths which have taken place in the adirondacks over the years. it was a pretty good read and absolutely worth the $.50 or so i payed for it.

I would suggest renting a car while you are in the Rockies. You won't see much on the train, plus it's really expensive. And there are bus tours but they cater to the elderly and those less interested in lacing up boots. You really need to get off transport and hit some trails. If you are the hiking type, the guide book you want is this one:

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/0968941974

You don't need a car in Vancouver and you can bus it from Banff to Vancouver, so look into flying into Calgary and renting a car there for a week.

Also, make camping or hotel arrangements ASAP. They fill up fast. There are campgrounds you can drive into, they do tend to be a bit noisy, though. Smaller cabins or B and Bs are probably the nicest option. Expect up to $200 CA plus per night.

Both of these books have strongly influenced my techniques with regards to risk management in the backcountry.

In the same vein as Not Without Peril is At the Mercy of the Mountains, by Peter Bronski, a similar book that focuses on misadventure in the Adirondacks iin NY (Howe's book focuses on the White Mountains of NH).

I enjoyed Awol on the Appalachian Trail.

I'd love to see some suggestions of others as well.

Ozark Highland Trail and to the south in the Quachitas, wait for it... the Oauchita Trail.

Tim Ernst's Ozark Highlands Trail Guide seems to be the definitive work on the OHT. Worth getting a copy of that before you go.

Ouachita Maps is a good source for maps and info on both. Generally has callouts for camping spots and water sources.

Get the book "Don't Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies" You'll get to see the best and avoid the crowds. http://www.amazon.ca/Dont-Waste-Your-Canadian-Rockies/dp/0968941974

>What's off season for the Ozarks? Where were you. It's on my 5 year plan to get down there from North Iowa.

Well, it's hot as hell in most of the summer, and in the winter it varies weekend by weekend, but it's mild enough for someone with gear, only really sucks when it's wet, but the trails are empty nontheless.

Even though you lose the greenery, I tend to like winter hiking I've hiked the sylamore creek trail across the winter solstice last year and it was completely empty, didn't see another person in three days. (hiked 26 miles in two, stayed a third at one of the trailheads).

About three years ago I did about ~50 miles on the Ozark Highlands Trail (Hurricane Creek to Woolum) in the winter and other than seeing a car during one of the road crossings, I didn't see anyone in almost a week. Had I hiked more of the trail I probably wouldn't have seen anyone.

There's some fairly remote trails in the Mark Twain National Forest in SE Missouri as well.

If you're interested in hiking in the Arkansas part of the Ozarks, pick up one of Tim Ernst's books I linked the OHT one, but there's 3-4 about different sets of trails statewide.

The Ouachita (pronounced Wash-it-aww) and Ozarks are national forests and very, very large. Lots of good places within them though.

My suggestion would be to go to the Buffalo River and hike Hemmed-in-hollow and Goat Trail on the same day or to hike Indian Creek. Hemmed-in-Hollow is a waterfall and Goat trail takes you onto the side of a quite tall bluff. Indian creek is a creek you can hike/wade to see some excellent waterfalls. At the end there's a cave you used to be able to climb through to get to what's called the Eye of the Needle but it's been closed for several years to protect the bats. Just getting to that point is a lot of fun though. Great photographs too. Renting a canoe and floating the Buffalo river is fun. Not a lot of white-water just a few rapids and a fun day on the river. If you're in this area at night stop by to see the Elk. They were reintroduced several years ago and come out to graze in a farm nearby. There will probably be a dozen cars parked on the side of the road watching them.

Drive down to Petit Jean state park. The Boy Scout trail there is ~10 miles long and there's plenty of other short ones you can loop together. Cedar Falls is only a short hike and a great view.

Hot Springs is nice but not top of the list. The trails there are pleasent but the downtown is pretty touristy. Still, it's a National Park and I always like to cross those off my list.

After that go southwest to Eagle Rock Loop. It's been mentioned before for a reason. It's great.

Other ideas are the Richland Creek wilderness area, the Hurrican Creek wilderness area, Forked Mountain, and Sylamore creek. The books below have a pretty extensive list of trails. The three long trails are the Ozark Highlands Trail (165 miles), the Ouachita Trail (222 miles), and the Buffalo River Trail (~40 miles).

https://www.amazon.com/Ouachita-Trail-Guide-Tim-Ernst/dp/1882906438/ref=sr_1_19?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505103125&sr=1-19&keywords=Tim+Ernst

https://www.amazon.com/Arkansas-Hiking-Trails-Selected-Natural/dp/1882906128/ref=sr_1_1/136-4949382-1411237?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505103098&sr=1-1&keywords=Tim+Ernst

https://www.amazon.com/Arkansas-waterfalls-guidebook-Tim-Ernst/dp/1882906489/ref=sr_1_3/136-4949382-1411237?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505103098&sr=1-3&keywords=Tim+Ernst
https://www.amazon.com/Ozark-Highlands-Trail-Guide-Ernst/dp/188290639X/ref=sr_1_4/136-4949382-1411237?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505103098&sr=1-4&keywords=Tim+Ernst

https://www.amazon.com/Buffalo-River-Hiking-Trails-Ernst/dp/1882906403/ref=sr_1_5/136-4949382-1411237?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505103098&sr=1-5&keywords=Tim+Ernst

Some of the better day hikes I've done in the parks. Check conditions before heading out. Some trails can still be snow covered or impassable in June.

• Lake Louise: Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse
  
• Banff National Park: Sentinel Pass
  
• Banff National Park: Paradise Valley
  
• Columbia Icefields Parker Ridge trail
  
• Jasper Sulphur Skyline
  
  Other things:
  
  
• Chat with the rangers in the Parks Canada offices (Banff & Jasper) before heading out. They'll recommend good alternatives if your plan is too ambitious.
  
• Reach out to the Jasper Trail Alliance. They are amazing. They will give you info on current trail conditions and give great recommendations for hikes.
  
• Jasper Brewing Company Beer and food and beer.
  
• Bear's Paw Bakery
  
• Don't waste your time in the Canadian Rockies might be worth checking out.
  
  Edit: Formatting

Can you narrow the location down a bit? Canada is huge and there are great hikes all over.

For the National Parks in the Rockies, this is a great start: https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Waste-Your-Canadian-Rockies/dp/0968941974

For me, Banff & area are all about hiking. But there's still tons of stuff do do & see without plodding along a trail all day. Thats just what I like to do all day. In fact, just driving the Icefields Parkway (Highway 93 North, to Jasper) is amazing, with lots of sightseeing opportunities, including the Columbia Icefields.

Get yourself a copy of Don't Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies. It's a phenomenal hiking resource for the National Parks. My personal favourite is Helen Lake.

Could check out what the CORA meetup group has done in past summers: http://www.meetup.com/Calgary-Outdoor-Recreation-Association-CORA/

I use the book Don't Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies. Peak-wise, I've done Cirque Peak and Fairview Mountain and both were great. Not sure if they're aggressive enough for you, though. :)

Nah here it is, http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001LGK322?pc_redir=1405747631&robot_redir=1

My wife is a definite non-hiker, and so I searched the book Where Locals Hike in the Canadian Rockies and looked for hikes that are classified as "easy", are around 4 hours or less, and have an elevation gain of less than 500 m. I also preferred hikes that weren't in like Lake Louise, because we don't always want to spend 2-1/2 hours in the car each way and/or $20 for a park pass.

Here are some good ones:

• West Wind Pass - 393 m elev and 3 hours - south of Canmore along the east side of the Spray Lakes road (hwy 742). A bit difficult/unintuitive to follow the trail, but nice views of the Spray Lakes reservoir going up, and a great view at the pass.
  
  
• Rawson Lake - 300 m elev and 3 hours - from Highwood Pass (hwy 40). Beautiful backdrop behind a mountain lake for the price of a short hike.
  
  Johnston Canyon, as others have mentioned above, is a classic too. It doesn't have the high mountain views, but the canyon itself is neat, and I like the 1950s metal walkways. 215 m elev and 4 hours to the ink pots (small mineral pools). Note that you have to buy a park pass for this one.
  

Hit up MEC, get a guide book.

In my experience, Kananaskis was an easy area to start hiking in; lots of good hikes of varying difficulty, and almost all of them are accessible from one of two highways.

We've used this book over the years as a guide: http://www.amazon.ca/Where-Locals-Hike-Canadian-Rockies/dp/0973509945

Do invest in a set of topographical maps for the area you want to start hiking in though, along with a compass/GPS. It's well worth the investment when you take a wrong turn at the shady trail marker.

All of these are good suggestions, but they are very popular and likely to be busy. (By Canadian standards anyways). Visit Moraine Lake or Lake Louise for a taste of the Classics.
However, if you want out of the way, do the 3 and 4 star hikes in Don't Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies.
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Waste-Your-Canadian-Rockies/dp/0968941974

Pick up a copy of Canadian Rockies Trail Guide by Brian Patton and Bart Robinson http://www.amazon.ca/Canadian-Rockies-Trail-Guide-Akamina-Kishinena/dp/0919934900
or Don't Waste Your Time in the Rockies by Kathy and Craig Copeland http://www.amazon.ca/Dont-Waste-Your-Canadian-Rockies/dp/0968941974

Both list and describe day and multiple overnight hikes, what makes them interesting etc etc and give plenty of suggestions for outside of Banff and Jasper.

Go to the Rocky Mountains. This book is pretty good about letting you know about good hiking spots, though a lot of the good ones became more popular because of the book.