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Hiking on the Capital Isle

The search for the perfect trail guide

I wish I could be certain this was a flawless book. However, some things limit an author’s ability to produce a perfect, error-free, always up-to-date book. Here are some of the factors, and what you can do to help yourself (and me).

Nature makes constant revisions; so do agencies and landowners. Nature constantly reshapes the landscape across which we plan to trek. It’s usually a gradual process, but once in a while she makes drastic changes overnight. A landslide, a volcanic eruption, or a hurricane can erase a trail in seconds. Erosion can undercut a cliff edge and make last year’s safe hike an extremely dangerous one, so that the local authorities close a trail you’d hoped to ramble on. And Hawaii’s fragile volcanic terrain erodes quite rapidly.

Agencies in charge of hiking areas may close an area because they’ve realized it’s environmentally too sensitive to withstand more human visits. An area once open to overnight camping may become a day-use-only area. Trails become impassable from lack of maintenance. Happily, agencies may open new areas because they’ve been able to acquire new acreage or complete a trail-building project.