Day Trips with a Splash: Northeastern Swimming Holes (Day Trips With a Splash) - Softcover

Pancho Doll

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0965768619 ISBN 13: 9780965768610

Publisher: Running Water Press, 2002

Synopsis

Secluded waterfalls, remote two-person tubs and hidden pools from the Shenandoah Mountains to Baxter Park in Maine. Clothing optional spots are noted, icons tell dog owners if four-legged hikers are appropriate and families with small children can tell at a glance if the journey is a good one for the little dippers. There are hundreds of potential destinations, but the weekend has only 52 hours until Monday. An effective guide, in addition to telling you where to go, should tell you where not to go. Splash reviews the best ones, while listing lesser spots in the back of each chapter. GPS users appreciate latitude and longitude notes, but even if you don't use satellite navigation, you can get maps from the web site. Send in proof of purchase to register for free, then print any map right from the screen. Tuck it in your pocket on the way out the door, so instead of carrying the whole book, you take only the page you need.

About this title

Review

On steamy summer days, it's tough not to envy Pancho Doll. For the past eight years he's devoted himself to discovering, chronicling, and just plain enjoying the country's choicest swimming holes. Operating out of his battered 1995 Toyota pickup, the 42-year-old San Diego resident has logged more than 250,000 miles, poured over countless topographic maps, pried information from often tight-lipped locals, taken the plunge into upward to 700 holes, and managed to turn out four critically acclaimed guidebooks in his Day Trips with a Splash series. (In case you re wondering, Doll describes a swimming hole as moving water on a river or creek six feet deep or deeper. The water is fresh and clean) 'Pancho is a swimming hole master guru dude," says actor John C. McGinley (Scrubs) who along with pal John Cusack spent three days last summer cliff diving into some idyllic Southern California spots. "He's just got this wonderful combination of expertise, enthusiasm and daffiness." Even today, stumbling upon a fresh beauty is like finding an emerald in a pile of rocks, says Doll. And in it's own way, quite precious. "It's the feeling or immersion where you wash away the dust and anxiety of the work week, he explains. It's more than a buzz. It's like a baptism." --People magazine August 22, 2005

In the season of crowded beaches and pools there is a tranquil alternative. Pancho dolls spends his days driving the back roads of America and hiking remote trails hes looking for those hidden places where mountains, rivers and rocks come together to form the perfect swimming hole. "The holy trinity of swimming hole quality is height depth and privacy." The old swimming hole is something that lingers in the American imagination. It's where your great grandfather went swimming. In a world of water parks and swimming pools most Americans have probably never seen a swimming hole, but there are thousands of places like this in nature more fun and more interesting to swim in than anything built by humans. It's a water park built by nature, and it s free. --ABC World News Tonight May 30 2004

Pancho Doll (is) America's foremost professional swimming hole sleuth. he lives out of his truck, canvassing small towns for the best places to cool off on a hot day and pacing the area until he finds them. He takes notes and pictures, then heads back to San Diego -- his base, if it can be said that he has one -- to self-publish his own series of regional swimming hole guides. Anyone who has felt the roots of his or her own life tug too deeply can admire his independence. --National Geographic Adventure July 2003

Edition details

• Publisher: Running Water Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0965768619
• ISBN 13: 9780965768610
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288