Pacific

Lonely Planet is at its guidebook best when it's covering isolated regions where those little details of shelter, food, and transportation are of more than passing concern. Just the section on Denali National Park alone makes Jim DuFresne's guide worthwhile, illuminating the complex new rules governing access to that sensational wildlife reserve, plus giving information on dogsled demonstrations, hiking, rafting, backpacking, and so on. The sections on climate, geography, and ecology are very well done, as are the chapters on the Alaskan people and society. The transportation chapters are vital and comprehensive, and the rest of the guide follows suit, covering all of Alaska (no little task) with reliable acumen, information, and savvy. --Stephanie Gold

The image of salmon battling upstream through whitewater cataracts to spawn in their birthplace is integral to any happy vision of the Pacific Northwest. Sadly, because they face more insidious obstacles than swift currents, few people today actually witness this remarkable spectacle. Armed with exhaustive research and an ability to synthesize his findings into a concise, readable indictment of the status quo, Jim Lichatowich, a fisheries scientist for 30 years, traces the sudden decline of Northwest salmon populations following the onset of Euro-American settlement. He points a finger at the usual suspects: logging, mining, damming, grazing, irrigation, commercial fishing, and development. Moreover, he cites the political establishment for a failure of nerve. Since the shift from a Native American "gift" economy based on sustainability to a profit economy based on self-interest and short-term financial gain, the historically resilient salmon have met one adversary after another, with little or no help from the legal apparatus charged with their protection. In fact, federal and state governments have responded to the deepening crisis mainly by building fish hatcheries up and down the West Coast. Contrary to the beliefs of entrenched bureaucrats and sport fishermen, says Lichatowich, hatcheries have merely diluted the gene pools of wild stocks while allowing resource extractors to continue their multifarious operations and politicians to shirk their responsibilities. In 1960, for instance, after decades of declining runs, the Washington Department of Fisheries reported, incredibly (and characteristically), that new advanced management techniques would soon result in "salmon without a river"--more welcome news to those who would continue to exploit these iconic fish and their habitat. At the dawn of the 21st century hundreds of hatcheries still operate, yet Northwest salmon populations have decreased 95 percent.

Lichatowich is a learned and persuasive advocate for wild salmon. He's also eloquent, as in this description of his first visit to the Columbia River's Grand Coulee dam:

As I sat there wondering and swatting mosquitoes, the face of the dam lit up. It was the start of the nightly laser show.... Appropriately, the lasers sent a series of large green dollar signs floating through the darkness. Then a series of laser salmon swam across the face of the dam. Here were the ideal salmon, I thought, the fish that fit perfectly into our worldview. We have complete control over them--press a button and they appear; press another and they change from green to red; press another and they swim over the dam. Salmon and dams are compatible--as long as you are not particular about the kind of salmon.

So what to do? Lichatowich opines that we need a new "worldview," one that places natural resources within a context of respect and sustainability. He looks to state and federal governments to enforce the protections already granted by laws like the Endangered Species Act. And he sees evidence that public perceptions may be changing on such issues as habitat conservation and biodiversity; breaching four dams on the lower Snake River to aid fish passage would have been unthinkable even in the early 1990s. Whether this new worldview can save salmon in time is another question. --Langdon Cook

Michael Palin has certainly been busy since his days with Monty Python's Flying Circus. In Full Circle, Palin and a film crew go on a year-long adventure visiting 18 countries along the Pacific Rim. The film was eventually made into a 10-part PBS series, to which this book serves as a companion. Not for nothing is this part of the world called the "Ring of Fire"; volcanoes punctuate the landscape, and Palin even climbs one still smoking from a recent eruption. But the difficult landscape is only one challenge in this at times hair-raising, at times hilarious, always fascinating journey around the world's largest ocean. In the Philippines, Palin witnesses "psychic surgery": on the Urubamba River, Palin simultaneously clings for his life to a dugout canoe as he shoots the rapids and keeps up with England's progress in the World Cup via shortwave radio.

Whether he's visiting a Gulag camp in Siberia or chowing down on maggots in Mexico, Palin meets the challenges of rough travel with grace, courage, and more than a little humor. Full Circle is fun to read, includes many color photographs from Palin's adventures, and makes a terrific addition to the armchair traveler's bookshelf.

Whether you're planning an actual trip to the Olympic Mountains or searching for the vicarious thrills of a smart guidebook, Robert L. Wood's encyclopedic knowledge of this enchanting wilderness at the edge of the Pacific will inform and enthrall. This is not a quickie job: the author has hiked every one of the trails he details here (over a hundred) backwards and forwards, most of them more than once, and his enthusiasm is infectious. Before you know it you'll be an expert too--rattling off, for instance, peaks visible from Dodger Point (Rainier, Olympus, the Bailey Range), and the name for the "noisy chatter" along the Putvin Trail (Whitehorse Creek). Divided into two main sections--Leeward and Windward--this handy guide covers the bulk of national forest and parklands worth venturing into. Concise yet thorough, it includes all the necessities--elevation, mileage, maps, landmarks, vegetation, and possible wildlife sightings--in an easy-to-read format. A must for the would-be visitor and armchair adventurer both.