About James Kaiser

Home / About

Welcome to my website!

People often ask how I got started writing guidebooks, so here goes:

In 1999, after graduating from Dartmouth College, I moved back to Maine, where I was born and raised, and wrote and photographed Acadia: The Complete Guide. The response was overwhelming. People came up to me at book signings with dog-eared copies of my book, telling me it was the only guide they used.

Thinking I might have a knack for guidebook writing, I headed West and wrote books to Joshua Tree, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Zion, and Rocky Mountain National Park. At one point I ended up in Costa Rica, which resulted in Costa Rica: The Complete Guide. Over the years my books have won numerous awards, including the National Outdoor Book Award.

My Costa Rica waterfall photo on the cover of *National Geographic*

During the National Park Service centennial, I created a national park slideshow for elementary schools and gave away hundreds of books to kids. This coincided with the launch of Every Kid Outdoors, which gives free park passes to every fourth grader in America.