Hiking from Here to WOW: Utah Canyon Country

Kathy and Craig are dedicated to each other and to hiking, in that order. Their second date was a 20-mile (32-km) dayhike in Arizona. Since then they haven't stopped for long. Hiking and writing are their professions. Together, they've hiked more than 40,000 miles through wildlands worldwide. Their total book sales exceed 205,000 copies. They've trekked through much of the world's vertical topography, including the Nepalese Himalaya, Patagonian Andes, and New Zealand Alps. In Europe, they've hiked the Scottish Highlands; Spain's Costa Blanca and Els Ports mountains; Mallorca's Serra de Tramuntana; the Alpes Maritimes; the Austrian, French, Swiss, and Italian Alps; the French and Spanish Pyrenees; and Italy's Monti Liguri and Dolomiti. In North America, they've explored the B.C. Coast, Selkirk and Purcell ranges, Montana's Beartooth Wilderness, Wyoming's Grand Tetons, the Colorado Rockies, the California Sierra, and Arizona's Superstition Wilderness and Grand Canyon. Visit Kathy and Craig's website: hikingcamping.com. You'll find their articles are often mini-guidebooks, and their photo gallery is constantly growing. In 1989, they moved from the U.S. to Canada, so they could live near the range that inspired the refreshingly unconventional book: "Don't Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies, The Opinionated Hiking Guide." Its popularity encouraged them to abandon their careers-Kathy as an ESL teacher, Craig as an ad agency creative director-and start their own guidebook publishing company: hikingcamping.com. They now migrate annually to southern Utah, where they wrote "Hiking From Here To Wow: Utah Canyon Country." Though the distances they hike are epic, Kathy and Craig agree that hiking, no matter how far, is the easiest of the many tasks necessary to create a guidebook. What they find most challenging is the need to spend twice as much time at their computers-writing, organizing, editing, checking facts-as they do on the trail. The result is worth it. Kathy and Craig's colorful writing, opinionated commentary, and enthusiasm for the joys of hiking make their guidebooks uniquely helpful and compelling.