Get to the heart and soul of your destination— fast.

With its obscure roads and enormous size—nearly twice that of the rest of the Hawaiian Islands combined—the Big Island presents a challenge to adventure travelers who have limited time.

Hawaii The Big Island Trailblazer comes to the rescue with clear driving and trail descriptions to all of nature’s all-stars, from the top of Mauna Kea to the shores of Kealakekua Bay.

• 142 hikes and strolls: mountain peaks, Waipio Valley, Volcanoes National Park, rain forests and tropical gardens, waterfalls, petroglyph fields, the Kona Coast and Hamakua Coast.
  
  
• 71 snorkeling and swimming beaches including remote hike-to specials
  
  
• 39 surfing spots: boards, bodyboarding, bodysurfing, windsurfing
  
  
• 24 bike trails for adventure cyclists: mountain, coastal, forest, rolling ranch pastureland
  
  
• 25 campgrounds and rustic cabin hideaways
  
  
• Driving tours to the Parker Ranch and Kohala Coast, Hilo and the Heritage Coast, and Kona coffee country
  
  
• A Trailblazer Kids section
  
  
• Hawaiian culture and history

Hikers, snorkelers, and surfers can zero in on all the island’s scenic masterpieces, as well as seek out the quiet wonders the Sprouts are known to discover. You’ll find jungle valleys, blue lagoons, red-hot lava, hidden beaches, and starry nights on the tallest peak in the world.

A separate map and listing shows bicyclists the island’s hottest single tracks, along with trans-island cycling routes. Several driving tours take readers to the Big Island’s panoramas, but don’t neglect the local-style galleries and restaurants, coffee and macadamia farms and cultural curiosities. Handpicked accommodations single out campgrounds and rustic digs, plus the choice B&B’s and resorts, both glitzy and budget. Hundreds of photos illustrate a text rich with historical and cultural background.

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Veteran travel writers Jerry and Janine Sprout have been exploring Hawaii and the American West for more than twenty years. They have lived on all the Hawaiian Islands and personally hiked and photographed all the places in this book, selected the accommodations and restaurants. Their books have been featured in Sunset and Islands magazines, the Honolulu Star Bulletin and the San Francisco Chronicle. They have authored three other best-selling Hawaiian guides—for Kauai,, Oahu, and Maui—a Hawaii planning guide, No Worries Hawaii, as well as their classic Alpine SierraTrailblazer which covers the area from Tahoe to Yosemite, and Golden Gate Trailblazer, for San Francisco and Marin.