No, this isn't meant to be a scholarly overview of the latest in Anasazi archaeological analysis. Instead, it's meant to be what it is:

One man's love of hiking, the Desert Southwest, and its primeval inhabitants, told in a hiker's version of a travelogue.

And Roberts does it quite well. The style isn't just of an "outdoors magazine," but reflects Roberts' assignments for National Geographic, too. You can feel Roberts' adrenaline course as he discovers a new ruin-laden alcove, let alone stumbles upon a pot or basket not seen for hundreds of years.

As for people complaining they can't figure out where Roberts went, that's the point. To riff on what Euclid said to a Ptolemaic pharoah: "There is no royal road to Anasazi hiking."

Roberts, through his journalistic background, developed the right connections to get his intimate and detailed knowledge, and it didn't happen overnight.

You and I may never see many of these places, but that's not the point.

The point is that, if you followed Roberts, and Roberts' love for his subject you'll get off the paved road, or a few paved trails, yourself, and see what you can see beyond Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon. You can hit the BLM Utah website, surf around a bit, and find some relatively easy-to-reach sites that have no marked highway turnoffs.