Here's what's new for Dad's (or Mom's) (or your) outdoor library

Just in time for Father's Day gift shopping (or Mom's birthday?), here's a roundup of new and updated titles on the outdoor bookshelf for the first half of 2009:

Trail guides/road trips

"Day Hiking: Central Cascades," by Craig Romano (Mountaineers Books, $18.95): Seventh in a day-hiking series that is replacing the Harvey Manning/Ira Spring "100 Hikes" library, this well-conceived volume covers 125 hikes found mostly near Highway 2. The challenge with day hiking in this scenic region: Big climbs or long hauls are sometimes required to reach grand views (for example, 4,000 feet in five miles to reach 6,409-foot Little Giant Pass), and often more than a day is needed to soak in the deep-wilderness rewards awaiting on prime routes.

"The Creaky Knees Guide (Washington): The Best 100 Easy Hikes," by Seabury Blair, Jr. (Sasquatch Books, $16.95): Blair concedes his interpretation of "easy" may not match yours. His assortment of hikes includes an 1,800-foot climb to Spray Falls at Mount Rainier and a 1,900-foot grunt up Heliotrope Ridge near Mount Baker. Those earn "prepare to perspire" ratings in the "effort" category of his trip summaries. But he considers all of his trips half-day hikes and achievable by most active graybeards like him.

"One Night Wilderness: Portland," by Douglas Lorain (Wilderness Press, $15.95): The title says "Portland," but 26 of the 64 trips outlined by Lorain, one of the top guidebook writers around, are in Washington, from southern Rainier to the Goat Rocks to Mount Adams. The objective: light-and-fast overnight backpacking trips that deliver worth-the-effort scenic/psychic payoffs over a two-day span. Each trip's details are nicely packaged with well-reasoned ratings on scenery, difficulty and solitude.

"Best Hikes Near Seattle," by Peter Stekel (Falcon, $18.95): Behold, a new look for a Falcon guide: color photos and maps. This shiny new format, though, is used to present heavily traveled, easily accessed hikes — e.g., Mount Si, Little Si, Annette Lake, Discovery Park — that would qualify as "best" only to Seattle newcomers or novice hikers. If that describes you, this is one newbie-friendly option to consider.

"Pacific Northwest Trips," by five contributors (Lonely Planet, $19.99): Offers 52 tours (mostly for road-tripping, but also one for rails and another for trails), each with a theme, some expected (beer, cheese, wine), others offbeat (shipwrecks, ghosts). Interesting.

Outdoor skills/knowledge/aesthetics

"The Weather of the Pacific Northwest," by Cliff Mass (University of Washington Press, $29.95): Released late last year, this written-for-the-mainstream text probes the reasons behind record windstorms, flood and snowfalls, explains the convergence zone and theorizes why Northwest weather predictions sometimes go awry.

"Complete Survival Manual," by Michael Sweeney (National Geographic, $29.95): A splendid compendium of emergency survival tips from four groups that should know — the Red Cross, U.S. Army, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Get tip after tip on how to navigate, signal, tie knots, splint a broken bone, prepare for and adapt to natural disasters. Memorize its 335 full-color pages and you're ready to guest star on "Man vs. Wild."

"Backyard Guide to the Night Sky," by Howard Schneider (National Geographic, $21.95): Yearn to discern Lyra from the Lynx? Hercules from Gemini? This concise, richly illustrated guide, featuring diagrams of all major constellations, gives you at least a fighting chance to identify them on your own. Or just read up on the mythological high jinks behind each one and impress friends with your knowledge of curious Greek tales.

"The Zen of: Wilderness and Walking/Mountains and Climbing/Oceans and Surfing" (three-volume series), all edited by Katharine Wroth (Skipstone, $12.95 each): Nice collections of quotations on a trio of outdoor themes. Thomas Jefferson: "Walking is the very best exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far."

Noteworthy

updated editions

"Best Rail Trails: Pacific Northwest," by Natalie Bartley (Falcon, $15.95): Idaho-based Bartley updates a 2001 guide to Washington and Oregon rail trails (by Mia Barbera) and adds 15 routes in Idaho. Of her 29 mapped routes in Washington, just 10 are in the Puget Sound region, and the East Lake Sammamish Trail is oddly omitted. Even so, the book provides a handy area overview of flatter trails that strollers and cyclists should find appealing. Maps are basic but clear and are included for 48 of the book's 68 routes.

"Hiking the North Cascades," 2nd ed., by Erik Molvar (Falcon, $19.95): Best features: lots of routes (105, a mix of day trips and long hauls) and thorough trail detail. (Molvar knows his peaks and flora.) On the so-so side, Molvar offers no trip ratings and only occasionally do his descriptions tip off readers that a hike offers something exceptional. He helpfully ranks backcountry camps, though.

"Day Hike! Mount Rainier," 2nd ed., by Ron Judd (Sasquatch Books, $16.95): This Seattle Times writer covers the same 51 hikes as in his first edition, but with modified maps and mileages for trails accessed from now-washed-out Carbon River Road.

"Out and About with Kids: Seattle," 4th ed., by Ann Bergman (Sasquatch, $16.95): May be worth the price for its list of farms and U-pick berry fields alone.

Terry Wood is the editor of the Expert Advice section of REI.com.