When Maple Leaf resident Bryce Stevens agreed to co-write the book “60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Seattle,” he could never have foreseen that the guidebook would become the inspiration for another man’s journey to complete all 60 hikes in two years — a journey that has become the cornerstone for a fundraising effort to support the Washington Trails Association taking place tomorrow.
In 2006, Roger Bischoff started training for an Alaskan expedition to summit Mount McKinley, and as part of his regimen he added all of the Seattle-area hikes Stevens and co-author Andrew Weber had included in their then-new hiking book. And while Bischoff climbed, he also clicked countless photos of each of the hikes, creating the brilliant 20-by-30-inch photos that are being auctioned at tomorrow’s event, one from each of the 60 hikes.
The event, called “60 Hikes, 60 Miles, 60 Photos: One Man’s Journey,” begins at at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at 415 Westlake Ave. N., where a warehouse has been decorated to reflect the Northwest trails theme. Suggested donation is $20 at the door, and reservations are requested by e-mailing Bischoff at aahz@nwlink.com.
“He’s an amazing photographer and videographer,” Stevens said of Bischoff, adding that all of the money raised on the sale of the photos will go toward the WTA, which is the force behind much of the state’s trails upkeep.
Bischoff since has completed his adventure at Mount McKinley, which was documented in the film “Year of Denali,” and Stevens and Weber also have updated their book with a second edition, as well as adding the pocket-sized “Easy Hikes Close to Home: Seattle,” which has all of the same hikes and maps as “60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Seattle,” just no photos.
Stevens, who also is the co-founder of Trails.com, says so far about 10,000 books have sold, a far greater amount than he had anticipated.
“Hiking is popular, but there’s a ton of books already in Seattle,” he said, adding that he believes they owe much of the book’s success to its focus on hikes in close proximity to if not inside the urban area.
Bryce Stevens on a recent hike. Photo courtesy Stevens and his wife, Julie.
“We don’t have as much time as we used to,” Stevens said, “gas is more expensive than it used to be. A lot of us just want to go out for a hike in the morning.”
But that doesn’t necessarily mean all of the hikes are short day hikes that will take you just a couple of hours.
“Almost all of these hikes have an optional extension,” Stevens said, giving as an example an alternative route at the popular Mount Si Trail that takes you along the Old Mount Si Trail. “In a lot of these we describe how to go further.”
Well, to be honest, it’s really Weber who does most of the describing.
“I’m actually a lousy writer,” Stevens said. “My friend Andrew is a great writer, and so we combined to kind of divide and conquer.”
But while Andrew did the writing, Stevens took on the responsibilities for such details as maps, elevation and fact checking. Basically, “everything but the writing.”
And although Stevens, who left Trails.com last year after selling it in 2006, said he’s constantly rehiking trails from the book to update future editions, he also said he has no plans to write a new book.
But it’s not for lack of spending time outdoors.
“I just want people to use the outdoors,” said the mountain biker-hiker-climber-road biker-etc. “I don’t care how you do it, I just think we need to use the outdoors more or we risk losing it.
“It’s healthy for all of us. The more we’re outside, the more we’ll take care of the outdoors.”
How cool! Thanks for the great story. Will have to go get that pocket version of this awesome book! Thanks Bryce!