Trail checking and updating are underway for the fourth edition of Robert L. Wood’s seminal guidebook, “Olympic Mountains Trail Guide.”
The review and updates for this new edition are being coordinated by the Peninsula Wilderness Club, a Kitsap County group.
A regional classic and considered by many to be the bible of backcountry hiking in Olympic National park, Olympic Mountains Trail Guide originally was published in 1984, while the most recent edition came out in 2000.
Although author Wood died in 2004, publisher Mountaineers Books has been making minor updates in the nine printings since then.
“We have several teams making trail updates now and we are actively looking for additional volunteers to assist,” Steve Osborn, president of Peninsula Wilderness Club, said.
Tom and Jessica Tonne of Snohomish own the rights to Wood’s published works and have appointed Bill Hoke of Bremerton to edit the fourth edition. Hoke was active in checking trails for the current third edition and was a friend of Wood. Hoke has hiked and climbed extensively across the Olympic Peninsula for 30 years.
The “Olympic Mountains Trail Guide” features more than 400 pages and details more than 170 individual trails. But with the Elwha dam removal project and nearly 15 years of natural changes to the environment — including road and trail washouts, avalanches and rock slides, abandoned trails and improved ones — it’s “definitely time for a complete revision,” Hoke said.
“We are starting from scratch to make the fourth edition as up to date as possible,” Hoke added. “All parties involved have pledged to preserve as much of Wood’s original voice and writing as possible. Bob was fastidious and exacting in his facts and descriptions, and we intend to honor his work.”
Doug Savage of Bremerton, a former president of Peninsula Wilderness Club and a long-time hiker, is leading the trail checkers, while the club plans to donate its share of royalties to Olympic Mountain Rescue.
The research and updating process for the new fourth edition is expected to take roughly two years, with publication tentatively schedule for early spring 2019, according to Kate Rogers, editor in chief of Mountaineers Books.
