Lonely Planet expands its national parks series with a new guide to the jewels of the Canadian Rockies, Banff and Jasper National Parks. The book offers advice on the best sights, hikes, campgrounds and more. Packed with outdoor activities and places to stay and eat, the national parks guides help everyone-from road-tripping families to serious outdoor enthusiasts-plan and enjoy an unforgettable vacation.Banff, Glacier & Jasper National Parks explores regions of spectacular beauty with some of the world's best scenery, climbing, hiking and skiing. The parks offer jagged, snowcapped mountains, peaceful valleys, rushing rivers, natural hot springs, alpine forests and pristine lakes. With abundant wildlife, a wealth of activity options and the amenities of resort towns like Banff and Lake Louise, these parks are truly national treasures, and this guide will help travellers make the most of their visit.

Annotation Armed with first-hand information, Alan Kane describes over 170 scrambles in a clear, concise format. This includes equipment needed, when to go, how to get there, where to park and what to expect as you work your way to the summit. Photos showing the ascent line complement descriptions that include historical trivia, origins of placenames and summit views. Routes range from off-trail hiking suitable for strong hikers to challenging routes at the low end of technical climbing where use of specific handholds is required on steep, airy terrain.

From its humble beginnings in 1811 as the earliest fur-trade post in the central Rockies, to CanadaOCOs third most visited national park, Jasper National Park offers a distinctive Rocky Mountain experience. The largest -11,228 square kilometres (4,335 square miles) - and most northerly Canadian Rockies National Park includes the foothills to the east, the Continental divide to the west along the Alberta/British Columbia border and extends to the Columbia Icefield in the south. The mighty Athabasca River, a Canadian Heritage River, flows north and east from its origin at the toe of the Columbia Glacier through Jasper Park for 168 km (104 miles) toward the Arctic Ocean. If, heaven forbid, you are only able to visit one Rocky Mountain Park, I recommend this one. Jasper offers more than 1,300 kilometres (808 miles) of superb walking, hiking and backpacking trails in the front and backcountries and excellent opportunities for wildlife viewing. Snow-capped peaks, an abundance of waterfalls, expansive valleys, sparkling glacial lakes and soothing hot springs fill the landscape. The town is less commercialized than its sister park Banff, yet if offers a full complement of tourist services including many restaurants, diverse accommodations and a variety of attractions and shopping. The author grew up in the Canadian Rockies and has been exploring them since she was a child. The Canadian Rockies are one of the world's most popular tourist destinations, with four million visitors annually. Covered in detail here are all the great parks of Alberta and British Columbia. Easily accessible adventures include walking, hiking, mountain biking, fishing, boating, horseback riding, skiing and wildlife viewing -- with some of the most spectacular animals in North America. Where else can you spend the morning hiking through spectacular wilderness and by afternoon enjoy high tea in one of the grand hotels? The guide is filled with inside information on how to avoid the tourist traps and where to find the special places off the beaten path that the tourists don't know about; the most worthwhile outdoor adventures and indoor activities; the hotels and restaurants at all price levels that are the very best; plus tips on places to avoid. Each chapter covers transportation to and around the park, where to stay and eat, attractions and shopping, plus adventures, from drives to day hikes, rafting to cycling. Competing guides focus on the standard tourist sites (where the crowds can ruin your experience), while we take you to the lesser-known spots (restaurants, lodges, hiking paths), which are often more rewarding. We travel to grow OCo our Adventure Guides show you how. Experience the places you visit more directly, freshly, intensely than you would otherwise OCo sometimes best done on foot, in a canoe, or through cultural adventures like art courses, cooking classes, learning the language, meeting the people, joining in the festivals and celebrations. This can make your trip life-changing, unforgettable. All of the detailed information you need is here about the hotels, restaurants, shopping, sightseeing. But we also lead you to new discoveries, turning corners you haven't turned before, helping you to interact with the world in new ways. That's what makes our Adventure Guides unique. The Canadian Rockies see about four million visitors annually. Easily accessible adventures include walking, hiking and backpacking; mountain biking and bicycle touring; fishing, boating and rafting; horseback riding; skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing; and so much more. This is a guide for places to stay and eat, sights, activities, festivals - written by a lifelong resident of the Canadian Rockies. A review of the complete Canadian Rockies Adventure Guide from which this is drawn: Having been to the Canadian Rockies numerous times and thinking we had seen all the wonderful places before we discovered this book, we now must plan many more trips there to explore all the other incredible places described in detail in this Guide. With numerous beautiful color photographs, most of which are by the author, this guide is a treasure because the scenery of the Canadian Rockies is some of the most spectacular in the world. A unique feature of this guide book is that it includes hiking details for each of the areas described. Since we have hiked many of these areas, we know this is a necessary and valuable tool for planning hikes. With each section Koller has Hikes, Drives, Sights, and Activities, so for non-hikers it is just as valuable, also giving information for booking guided tours. The Canadian Rockies have so many wonderful places to discover and some are quite hidden unless you know where to look, as you will with this guide. Everything from camping to exclusive hotels and restaurants are catalogued also. -- Bonnie Neely (Amazon reviewer)"

Jack Buchanan, a worker at the Jasper Mining Company, is sure of his place in the outside world, but has lost his faith in the tragedy of a fire. Foreign-born and raised, Milena Shabanov flees from a home she loves to the strange and barbaric America. A Romani blessed with “the sight,” she is content in the company of visions and spirit oracles, but finds herself isolated in a brutal mining town that has little use for women. Surrounded by inhumane working conditions at the mine, senseless death, and overwhelming greed, miners begin disappearing. Tempers flare and Jack must decide where he stands: with the officers and mining president; with Victor Creely, to whom Jack owes his life; or with the miners, whose lives are worth less to the company than pack animals. Milena, sensing deep despair and death in a mining town infested with restless spirits, searches for answers to the workers’ disappearances. But she cannot trust anyone, especially not Jack Buchanan, a man haunted by his own past.

Alister MacKenzie was one of golf's greatest architects. He designed his courses so that players of all skill levels could enjoy the game while still creating fantastic challenges for the most experienced players. Several of MacKenzie's courses, such as Augusta National, Cypress Point, and Pasatiempo, remain in the top 100 today. In his "lost" 1933 manuscript, published for the first time in 1995 and now finally available in paperback, MacKenzie leads you through the evolution of golf--from St. Andrews to the modern-day golf course--and shares his insight on great golf holes, the swing, technology and equipment, putting tips, the USGA, the Royal & Ancient, and more. With fascinating stories about Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen, and many others, The Spirit of St. Andrews gives valuable lessons for all golfers as well as an intimate portrait of Alister MacKenzie, a true legend of the game.