BOOKS

River guide books, river stories, paddle technique and rescue/safety texts, sea kayaking and canoeing books, and the California Creekin' CD-Rom can be found below. If you cannot find a book under "River Guides", try looking in the "Canoe and Sea Kayaking Guides", or vice-versa. We updated this page May 27th, 2005 to reflect our available inventory. There was a time in the 80's and early 90's when we sold a lot of books, but with the advent of amazon.com & other large scale on-line outlets book sales have gone straight down the toilet to about 10% of what we used to sell. Therefore, the small amount of money we are making off books no longer justifies the amount of time it takes to maintain this page, so it will get smaller over the next few years. Our experience has been that people are only calling us for books when they go out of print (and many below are out of print), rather than buying from us for normal needs. The support just isn't there to inventory the 200 or so texts we used to keep. We have a number of old books at closeout pricing below, some of which are used copies at bargain rates. Don't get too excited if you see a "new" book you never heard of, since it may really be an old book. Eventually, our goal is to reduce this page in size and number of books carried by 80%, but in the near future we will be adding another 35 to 40 used or old copies of no-longer-available books to clear them out. Looking for an oldie or obscure book you don't see listed? Email us; we just might have it. Not everything we have is shown here. Note on mailing books: Although we ship UPS every weekday, we do not go to the Post Office more than twice a month. The cheapest way to send books is via postal "media" or book-rate, and often the second cheapest way is to use Priority mail. However, please don't ask us to drop what we are doing to drive to the Post Office to mail one book that we may be making little or no money on. We might be going the next day, but we may not be going for a week or more, and unless you want to pay for UPS delivey we will send them on our next trip.

Instructional and Safety Narrative & Reference River Guides Canoe and Sea Kayaking Guides

We've chosen not to put a bunch of pretty scans of books on this page, since it will increase the loading time tremendously.

Instructional and Safety

Basic Essentials of Canoeing (Jacobsen): The main emphasis in this little book is on safety, and most of the content applies to inflatable kayaks too. Jacobsen has written several more expansive texts but here everything is condensed into just what beginners need to know. $6.95

Basic Essentials of Rafting (Ellison): River skills, safety, rafts, and trip planning for beginners. $5.99

Canoeing and Kayaking Instruction Manual (Gullion): training guide from American Canoe Association's program, including teaching skills. Large format. $15.95

Canoeing Wild Rivers (Jacobson): Expedition planning & packing, now in it's third printing. 352 pages, $24.95

Complete Wilderness Paddler (Rugge): An older but still relevant book on map & water reading, camping, winds & currents, and multiday trip planning. 272 pages, $12.95

How To Rock Climb (Long): Why a climbing book? Many of the skills needed for anchor systems and knot tying also apply to river rescue and canyon portages, and How To Rock Climb conveys the basics better than any other text we've come across. $12.95

Knots for Paddlers (Walbridge): 32 pages of the essentials from one of America's best known safety gurus. Closeout, $4.95

River Rescue (Bechdel/Ray): The techniques in this book apply equally to inflatable boats and hardshells. Most of the first half is easy to absorb in your armchair, but if you really want to "get" the second half you'll need to practice some of the rescues on the water. 256 pages, $16.95

Sea Kayaking (Dowd): Droll title but one of the best reads for planning extended trips. 240 pages, not to be confused with the Nigel Foster book of the same name. $18.95

Whitewater Handbook (Lessels): A fairly current AMC book combining lessons for decked canoes & kayaks in a thorough 240 pages. $14.95

Whitewater Kayaking (Adventure Sports Pub./Rowe): Complete instruction for beginners and intermediates. Equipment selection, paddle techniques, exercises, rescue, and lots of photos. $15.95

Wildwater - The Sierra Club Guide to Kayaking and Whitewater Boating (Tejada-Flores): Information for both kayakers and rafters, with about 15 pages of rough info for regional rivers and lists of guidebooks that pertain. This is an ancient book so a lot of the gear info is way out of date. 320 pages, closeout, $6

Narrative & Reference Books

The Big Drops (Nash): Fun stories and historical info on ten famous Western rivers and the most notorious rapids on each, 216 pages, closeout, $10

Breaking Into the Current (Teal): This book chronicles eleven female river guides (plus an intro about Georgie White) and their adventures breaking into what is largely still a macho sport, with a short chapter about the bloodcurdling highwater of 1983. 179 pages, a good read even for the guys. closeout, $8.95
We also have several other Canyon narratives not listed here, so call if you're interested.

Canons Grande - Visions of the Grand Staircase (Wilson/Nichols): A photo booklet with pretty four-season photography from the Colorado River & surrounding area. Closeout $10

Canyon (Ghiglieri): A big 280 page narative told by a veteran Grand Canyon guide, recreating both a full length raft trip and telling many historical tales along the way. Closeout, $12

Class V Chronicles (Bennett): Jeff Bennett edited this collection of humorous and hairball river misadventures. In addition to the fun stories, this is also a combination river guide with 29 runs detailed to varying degrees. 256 pages, $13.95

The Grand Canyon - Intimate Views (Euler & Tikalsky): A guide to Indian life along the Colorado, geology, hiking trails, fauna, and some rafting, 112 pages, closeout, $10

The Kolb Brothers of Grand Canyon (G.C.N.H.A.); Hopefuly anyone who's run the Canyon knows who the Kolb's were. Reprints of historical sepia tone pics accompany the tales of adventure herein. Really great photos and a fun read. 60 pages, closeout, $10

The Lost River (Richard Bangs): Subtitled "A memoir of life, death, and transformation on wild water", this new non-fiction novel by Sobek co-founder Bangs is about the early days of river exploration, the drowning of Bang's first partner, and the return 23 years later to "close" the circle by running a river in Africa left undone due to the horrific circumstances of that earlier trip. Riveting stuff. If you enjoy the adventure articles in Outside Magazine, you'll love this. 266 pages with a few good b&w pics, hardbound $25.00

National Whitewater Inventory (ed. Barrow): The American Whitewater Affiliation's summary of all runs & ratings for the lower 48 and Alaska, hard to find, good general reference but no details on any given river, maps between "list" pages. 8 X 10", spiral bound, closeout, $12

Never Turn Back - The Life of Whitewater Pioneer Walt Blackadar (Watters): A great book that follows Walt on adventures ranging from his solo journey down the Alsek's Turnback Canyon to his final clash with the rapids in Idaho that claimed his life. 320 pages, $14.95

No Shit! There I Was.. (ed. Hodgson): "Wild Stories from Wild People"! Misadventures of the river, animal, and vehicular types and more, including several tales by river guide books authors Cassady & Bennett, good fun start to finish. 170 pages, closeout, $8

No Shit! There I Was Again (ed. Hodgson): Tall river tales are among the various disaster stories in this 190 page collection. There are now four books in this series but this is still our fave. Closeout $9

Paddle America (Shears): A book mainly aimed at those who sue commercial outfitters, but plenty of river info so you know what to expect. A big book at over 300 pages, closeout, $11

Reading the River (Hildebrand): 241 pages, a non-fiction book about the author's journey down the Yukon, closeout, $9

River of No Return (Carrey & Conley): Part riverguide but more a mile by mile early exploration history, with the two intertwined and written in a story format. Not usable as a conventional guidebook for the Salmon, but handy & fun to have along for the trip anyway. Closeout, $10

River to Rim (Brian): A mile by mile Canyon guide that covers far more than just the rapids. This is handy for hikers, history buffs, and anyone who wants to know how all the odd names of places and rapids came about. 178 pages, cloesout $13

The Rivers of Colorado (Rennicke): Jeff R's coffee table book is adourned with gorgeous color photos throughout, and the narrative essentially explains the river systems of the state, how and where they flow, with lots of history along the way. 8-1/2 X 11, 112 pages, closeout, $12

Rivers of the West (Orr): A large format 333 page book, really a geology guide to the river canyons of Oregon, California, and Idaho, with over-detailed topo maps and tons of historical info. Closeout, $9

The Snake River - Window to the West (Palmer): 318 pages of discussion about water policy, water quality & issues, geology, the people along the river now and in ancient times, and the current politics behind the overused river. closeout, $12

Through the Grand Canyon from Wyoming to Mexico (Kolb): An edited account by the leader of the second Powell expedition thru the canyons of the mighty Colorado back in 1912 - a first hand true story that takes you back 90 years in a full 344 pages. Recommended, closeout, $14

The Trinity Alps (Linkhart): We stock this hiking guide for our local customers not just because it's one of the better ones for these mountains, but also because of it's focus on watersheds. If you want to explore the steep creeks and obscure rivers of this part of Calif, you should pack this book right next to your other (river) guides. There is a superb full-size four color map included that's worth the price by itself. 192 pages, $15.95

Whitewater Sourcebook (Penny): Richard's huge 400 page apendix-style reference book includes information on most major watersheds in the lower 48 states. Some of this info has become a little dated but there is still nothing quite like it. Includes dates & phone numbers for annual paddling events, club addresses, fairly complete lists of guide books for each area, and a full compliment of agency telephones and addresses for permits. Please understand that this book in itself is not intended to be a "guidebook". Large format, closeout $20

Wilderness Waterways - The Whole Water Reference for Paddlers (Ziegler): This book seemed to be pretty far out of date the first time we saw a copy - which was about a week after it was printed! The thing is, it takes so long to accumulate all the info needed for this type of reference compendium that the material you started with may date back three years. This is the second printing but stil ten years old now, a closeout, with info for 520 separate guidebooks, 500 map sources, 118 videos, 87 club listings, and 250 government agency contacts scattered accross every state including hawaii, through 176 pages. Closeout, $13

Yosemite - The Cycle of the Seasons (Wilson/Nichols): Coffee table picture/gift book. Great photography, closeout $9

River Guides

Adirondack Canoe Water - North Flow (Jamieson/Morris): Flat and whitewater in the St. Regis, Saranac, Ausable, and Raquette drainages. A full 368 pages, closeout $14

Adirondack Canoe Waters - South & West (Proskine): ADK guide for the Upper Hudson, Mohawk, & Black River Basins of the southern Adirondacks. 176 pages, closeout $11

Alpes - Dauphine' (Roux/Fine/Guerry): This .....uh, .... "guidebook" for Italy's Grenoble and Briancon Alps region is so bizarre I don't even know how to begin. Essentially, it covers 97 hardcore runs from class IV+ to class VI portage fests without any conventional text. Instead, it uses an insane log of nomenclature and small un-detailed maps to describe (well, sort of) each steep creek section in an international way instead of using French or Italian as you might expect. Without having a scan of a page out of this book, it's really impossible to describe "Alpes" on paper. Only for hardcore kayakers headed to that part of the world. $22.95

AMC River Guide - Massachusetts/Connecticut/Rhode Island: 200 pages, this and the one above were updated about four years back. $11.95

AMC River Guide - New Hampshire/Vermont: One of the better books for this lovely part of our country, 326 page pocketbook. $11.95

Appalachian Whitewater, Volumes 1, 2, and 3 - closeout - $11 each or $30 for all three. We only have one copy of each. These have been replaced by two volumes (North and South regions) which we are no longer carrying.

Arkansas River Guide (Rampton): A 96 page, mile by mile guide/map to Colorados' Arkansas from Granite to Canon City. $13.75

California Creekin' - CD Rom (Tuthill): This is the newest guide for California by our friend Bill Tuthill. He has managed to assemble an assortment of the best color photos we've ever seen (about 750 of them!), and there are a lot of unknown runs (ranging from class I to V) that have never been in any books. Others might have been listed twenty-some years back in the old and long-out-of-print West Coast River Touring by Dick Schwind, but they needed updating. This one is a must-have for California inflatable & hardshell 'yakers. $19

California Whitewater (Cassady/Calhoun): An awful lot of books have imitated the format of this one, Cassady's first. Layed out with each written river log following a map, with excellent descriptions highlighting the hardest rapids on any given run. Still our best seller, 365 pages, 47 main runs, and 20 other non-detailed rivers. $19.95

A Canoeing and Kayaking Guide to the Streams of Kentucky (Sehlinger): Too much whitewater in this book to put it in with the flatwater books in the section below. 320 pages with super-thorough descriptions for every river. Quite an excellent book actually but another that seems, at least for now, out of print. Mr. Sehlinger has authored a number of books so maybe this will be revised someday if the poor guy isn't too burned out on writing. Closeout, $12

Colorado Whitewater (Stohlquist): Jim's guide is now a bit dated but one of these days there will be a new edition. Of course, we said the same thing three years ago in our last printed catalog! Mostly a lot of great advance and expert level runs, many too narrow for rafts. (See also Floater's Guide to Colorado - it's more for rafters) Closeout $10

Desolation River Guide (Evans/Belknap): Water resistant flip map for the section between Split Mountain and Green River, Utah including Gray's Canyon. $17.95

Exploring the Yukon River (Satterfield): We have a few of these very old, dated books left. Trip planning in the first chapters with the rest being river logs for many, many miles. If you are going far north don't buy just this book - get something more recent. Closeout $7

Floater's Guide to Colorado (Wheat): Almost all of the better known class II, III, and IV runs are covered in this slightly out of date book. Maps, photos, and illustrations. 296 pages, closeout, $12

The Floaters Guide to Missouri (Cline): Boaters who prefer their rivers on the mild side will find plenty here. There is very little printed information for this state. 50 runs ranging from urban areas to wilderness streams and multidays like the Fox & Wyaconda; a very worthwhile canoist's guide book. Closeout, $9

A Guide to the Best Whitewater in the State of California (Stanley/Holbeck): These two crazed hair boaters never stop exploring. The newly expanded 3rd edition has over 180 runs. A good companion for California Whitewater or the California Creekin' cd. If you are a novice or lower intermediate however, you won't find much of interest here as the bulk of these rivers are class IV, V, and V+. Many hilarious stories and some good rivers that Cassady should have had in his book. $19.95
If you are an intermediate and want to add this book to your collection, the older version has exactly the same number of class II, III, and IV runs. We still have a few on the shelf at $12

Guide to the Chattooga River (Clay): This little 64 page booklet is not just a boating guide, but as far as we know it is the only thing specifically for the Chattooga. Closeout $9

A Guide to Texas Rivers and Streams (Kirkley): Not a great book by any means but there isn't that much else out there for the whole state. 83 river sections, none covered with much detail. $12.95

Idaho the Whitewater State (Amaral): This has very good maps and decent photos, and excellent "river graphs" too. 336 well researched pages with both popular and obscure runs. $19.95

Kath & Ron's Guide to Idaho Paddling (Daly & Watters): Not only are two other Idaho books in the River Guide section out of print, none of the existing ones cover flatwater, class I, and easy class II runs except the Idaho chapter of Paddle Routes of the Inland Northwest above. 286 pages and 98 runs for canoe, sit-on-top, & sea kayak enthusiasts. $18.95

The Lower Canyons of the Rio Grande (Aulbach & Butler): Old, out of date, with awful black & whites, yet still invaluable for Rio Grande boaters. 90 pages, water resistant, spiral bound, 8 X 11". Though the pics are bad, the hand made maps help, and are integrated with alternating topo maps, AND the river logs themselves are excellent if out of date on some of the rapids. Closeout, $10

Nahanni River Guide (Jowett): covering the area mostly with Canada's Nahanni Park System, and the South Fork Nahanni and Flat Rivers. A lot of canoeable sections are described despite the presence of some gigantic rapids. Largely class I, II, and III and suitable for novice boaters. The last 60 pages cover flora and fauna, and there are numerous maps and black & white photos. 224 pages, $15.95

New Zealand Canoeing Handbook (N.Z.C.A.): Despite the name, a) there are some class IV and V runs mentioned in here, and b) "mentioned" is about all any river gets here because this is more a vague general guide to riversports that trys to encompass too many things (river descriptions, canoe & kayak clubs, safety & rescue, etc) in far too few pages. Pretty lame, xerox quality, closeout, $5

Ozark Whitewater (Kennon): Thar's whitewater in them thar hills! This book looks kind of old (it's not) but canoeists, kayakers, and inflatable kayakers should find plenty to amuse themselves with in this books' 150 pages. Closeout $12

Paddle & Portage - The Floater's Guide to Wyoming Rivers (Lewis): 27 of Wyoming's best rivers, with access maps, flow info, hazards, float times, and complete trip descriptions. A few advanced runs, but most of these are nice novice to intermediate skill-level sections that many folks can enjoy. Somewhere I thought I heard of another (new?) Wyoming book, but until I actually see it I'll have to say that this is the only one solely for this state. $12.95

Paddle Routes of the Inland Northwest (Hansen & Landers): The first printing in late '98 quickly sold out, so it was reprinted last fall. Not really "new" but it was hard to get before. This book is for canoeists and novice/flatwater kayakers, though it is a river guide with only a few lake routes. Tons of nice maps and black & whites, with info for Washington, British Columbia, Idaho (hard to find flatwater there!), Oregon, and Montana. 250 pages, $14.95

A Paddlers Guide to the Olympic Peninsula (Korb): This book was clearly written with kayakers (or inflatable kayakers) more in mind than rafters. Many of the small creeks detailed here would not be suitable for big rafts. The run descriptions are plenty detailed with maps and a few low quality photos. Shuttles, access, and seasonal flows on over 75 runs from class I+ to class V are covered. 242 pages, 3rd revision in '97. $16.95

Rivers & Rapids - Arkansas, Oklahoma, & Texas (Nolen/Narramore): Old Edition. If it were not for the rare coverage of canoe streams in Oklahoma and western Arkansas, we would not carry this ridiculous excuse for a river guide. By far the lamest book we sell, hopelessly old, and filled with advertising. Some of the ads and illustrations look like they came out of a 1952 Sunset magazine, or were drawn by the guy that does the silly Rockwellesque artwork for the DMV booklets. 144 pages, large format, don't say we didn't warn you! Closeout $11, new 2000 edition by special order, $19.95

Rivers of Costa Rica (Mayfield/Gallo): If you are planning a trip to Central America and are looking strictly for river info, it's worth getting this book. If you want something with road directions to put-ins & takes, Gallo's book is pretty useless since he seems to be using it as a way to get kayakers to take his raft support trips. (Gallo is an outfitter in C.R.) There are not very many runs here either and we really wish someone else would do an enlarged update. There are other books we can order with some degree of maps in them, and more CR stuff is being published all the time. Let us know if we can help you find something. $12.95

Rivers of the Yukon (Madsen & Wilson): Brief "specs" for each river, which run the gamut from class I to V, but very good and often entertaining verbal write-ups. 192 pages, revised in 1990, a bit dated but still an excellent resource, out of print we think, closeout $11.95

River Runner's Guide to Brown's Canyon (Rampton): Another one that may or may not be out of print - neither of our distributors has had it for years. Small (57 pages) but handy for the section from Buena Vista to Salida. There's actually only 23 pages of "riverguide" and the rest is geology, history, wildlife, etc. Closeout, $4

A River Runner's Guide to Cataract Canyon (Baars): This was a popular book, and if anyone knows it's status shoot us an email. Water proof paper, 81 pages, one of the better desert flip map-guides. Closeout, $13

South American River Trips (Jordan): Well, we suppose that a real guide for So. America would be about the size of an encyclopedia set. At 104 pages this ain't. Brief summaries of a few rivers and logistics for different parts of the continent - mostly Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, and Suriname. Not worth $14.95, so the last copy goes at $11.

Steep Creeks of New England (Hanlon's): Kayaker's guide to 29 hair runs, with not-so-great topo maps. No specs so you have to read each description for hazard and optimal flow info. $14.95

Up the Creek (Callan): A paddlers guide to mostly easy canoe and intermediate raft trips in Ontario, with beautiful color pics and some excellent maps. $13.50

Further Up the Creek (Callan): Yeah, we know, this is out of alphabetical order, but we thought it should follow the other. More easy trips in Ontario and some in Quebec, with good up-to-date info and some interesting stories, 168 pages. $13.95

Upper Arkansas River (Staub): This 6 X 4" pocketbook fully covers everything from the tippy top runs down through Royal Gorge and Swallow Canyon, so the "Upper" part of the title is misleading. A really great little resource with 34 map pages in the middle, river guides with the hardest individual rapids listed, wildlife & natural history information galore, and even downriver race information for this part of Colorado. 265 pages, and a hearty "thumbs ups" on this one. $14.95

Users Guide to the Wild & Scenic Cache La Poudre River (Maddox): We haven't even seen this one yet but the river it covers is certainly in a nice part of Colorado. 80 pages with maps, shuttle info, camping, and outfitter contacts for commercial trips. $12.95

Vancouver Paddler (Stedham): Mostly easy class I and II rivers for all types of boats. Good road & shuttle directions and text for each run, so-so detail. Very up to date, 25 maps, 238 pages. $19.95

Washington Whitewater, part 1 (North): This now out-of-print second edition has complete river logs and information for 17 runs, including: the Cowlitz, Naches, Upper Sauk, Skagit, Wenatchee, Skykomish, Green River Gorge, Suiattle, Methow, Chewuch, and 7 others. We have no stock on part 2; closeout $7

Washington Whitewater (North): The current version combines the former two separate volumes with "the 34 best rivers". Great maps and John Garren-style time logs; very helpful for finding campspots and side creeks. See also Jeff Bennett's Guide to.... above300pp $18.95

Western Whitewater - From the Rockies to the Pacific Out of Print. If you are willing to pay through the nose we might be able to get a copy, but you will looking at around $100 to $125.

Whitewater Gems of the High Alps (Haas): Ultra-Rare hardbound edition with 46 French/Austian steep creeks & headwater rivers. The quality of the photos in this book are off the scale. As a guidebook Whitewater Gems is only so-so, with little detail on the mostly kayak-only runs. It certainly serves well as a gorgeous coffee table book though. This is a real find and no longer available. $25

Whitewater Nepal (Knowles/Allardice): One of the few foriegn guides we can get excited about, and it looks like putting it together was a major undertaking. 22 rivers with seasonal flow info, access, and ratings. Whitewater Nepal is for both expedition boaters or those who would rather run with an outfitter. The first third of the 280 pages is a travel guide, and the rivers range from moderate class III runs to some nearly unrunnable stuff. Great! $18.95

Whitewater Rafting in Eastern North America - see below, closeout, $10

Whitewater Rafting in North America (Armstead): A newer book than the one above. It doesn't completely combine the other two volumes (East & West), rather it adds some new trips and updated information, 200 in all. More on Canada, Mexico, and Costa Rica too. 300 pages, $16.95

Whitewater Trips and Hot Springs in the Kootenays of British Columbia (Pratt-Johnson): Unlike her Vancouver Island Guide, this one seems to be out of print. Oh well,it was never a huge seller! The strong points are the extensive written descriptions and topos, and the "infocard" set in the rear cover of the book. The actual road/river maps are too small though. B & w pics, 185 pages, closeout $15

Whitewater Trips on Vancouver Island Pratt-(Johnson): This is probably in need of an update and the pics aren't very good, but Vancouver Island is a beautiful area for western boaters. Betty's book has 22 runs, about 2/3 of which are class II to easy IV, and the other third are more novice runs. With a slightly unusual format that includes a "why go?" paragraph for each river. Still a classic and a good deal at only $8.95

Wild & Scenic Rio Grande (Devries): Spiral bound, waterproof, 79 pages, with maps and a few B & W photos. There isn't much out there in print beyond the BLM maps so this book certainly fills a void. 81 miles from the Colorado/NM border to the Velarde take out, including the class V/VI Upper Box & Ute Mountain run. $14.95

Wild Waters - Canoeing North America's Wilderness Rivers (ed. Raffan): This is mostly a coffee table book and we should probably put it with the narratives. Lots of beautiful photos and essays with a forward by Bill Mason. 152 pages, closeout $18

Wildwater West Virginia (Davidson, Elster): This new update was compiled by Charlie Walbridge with input from more than 100 rafters and kayakers. A full 336 pages and as complete a guide for WV as you could hope for. All maps and descriptions have been revised as of '98. $14.95

World Whitewater (Cassady/Dunlap): Unlike California Whitewater and Western Whitewater, this book needed input from a huge number of people from many countries since it was physically impossible for Jim & Dan to fly all over the world themselves. Even so, this took enough effort that Cassady's more or less sworn off writing any more books. Some parts of the globe are covered a lot more thoroughly than others - for example, there are lots of classic New Zealand and Australian rivers (D.D. spent some extended time there), but Eastern Europe was largely bypassed and sadly Slovenia's world-class gorges are barely mentioned. It is not a hand-holding book, giving basic information on most better known runs in the countries covered, but not detailing them with maps or mile-by-mile rapid guides like California or Western Whitewater. If you were planning a trip to one of the countries included, the rivers that are listed will give you a good feel for the character of the local whitewater, and the text descriptions are excellent. Quite an effort and highly recommended, black & white photos only, 334 pages, $22.95.

 

Canoe and Sea Kayaking Guides

Boundary Waters Canoe Area - old dual region book (Beymer): 25 Ely, Sawbill, & Gunflint area access points, with day-by-day routing thru the lakes and a map. Portage and camping information included. Closeout, $12

Canoe and Kayak Routes of Northwest Oregon (Jones): 70 outings on northern OR and southern Washington on lakes and easy rivers. Good maps and lots of details for each paddle, 200 pages. $14.95

Canoe Camping Vermont & New Hampshire Rivers (Schweiker): This book gets into a lot of things like hiking, camping, historic sites, and picnic spots, so it is not as good a river guide as the AMC pocketbook for VT/NH. 128 pages, overpriced and too little detail. Closeout, $13

Canoeing Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut (Weber): Unlike the AMC booklet up above, this one is mostly for flatwater and easy rivers only. 160 pages, a few maps and photos, not a great book. Closeout, $9

Colorado River Recreation (RS Publishing): More of a camping, reservoir, and map-guide for flat water kayakers and power boaters with some info near the beginning on rafting - but not really anything you could call a rafter's guide. 176 pages, large format, spiral bound, closeout, $11

Guide to Sea Kayaking Lakes Huron, Erie, & Ontario (Ohmann): Not a big mover so we're closing this out, 234 pages, complete descriptions with somewhat non-detailed maps. B & w pics only, $13

Island Paddling (Snowden): The title refers to the Canadian Gulf Islands. There is some necessary camping info, but otherwise all 176 pages are devoted to various trips in the area. Closeout, $13

Paddle Routes of Western Washington (Huser): Good written info, so-so maps, and low quality black and whites for 50 flatwater trips, 240 pages, closeout, $9

Paddling the California Coast (Coale): Covers the coast from Humboldt to the Central area, 53 destinations, 159 photos, and with 54 small maps. River mouths, laggons, marshes, tide chart's made easy, and tidal estuaries. Both this and the book below include good details on campsite availability too. Recommended. $19.95

Paddling the California Highlands (Coale): New edition formerly known as "Canoeing the CA Highlands". A nice book mainly for lake paddling in the high Sierras, with a bit of flat river paddling and northern mountains thrown in. More than 120 destinations with lots of B&W photos. A much needed guide for family paddling. John Coale's a nice fellow and he is currently finishing a third book. We'll carry it when it's available. $19.95

Recreational Lakes of California (Dirkson/Reeves): If you live in California and this is the only book you want, don't order it from us - Orchard Supply and many bookstores carry it. This is not exactly a sea kayaking or guide book, but it does have a lot of camping and access information for 420 lakes. 200 pages, large format, with picnic sites, fishing, and hiking trails. Closeout, $14

Sea Kayaking Along New England's Coast (Venn): 288 pages with details on 29 trips from north Maine to Conn., including wildlife, tides, beach camping, and points of interest. $14.95

Sea Kayaking in Baja (Romano-Lax): Focuses on the Sea of Cortez with good information on places to restock, water availability, tides, winds, and waves. This is sort of the standard book everyone buys for this area, and with The Baja Adventure Book now getting hard to find, it may be just about the only choice. Recommended, $13.95

Please note that videotapes are in a separate section-