Coming to Washington for the first time, Craig Romano first rode his bike across the country and ended in the state on three different occasions. He finally decided to stay and hike awhile after his final trip.

"Rattlesnake ledge was a footpath past a locked gate. There were more roads in those days also. We lose access to trails when we lose those roads,” Craig says when asked about his experiences when he first started hiking in Washington.

He was always a fan of guidebooks, devouring all of the old Harvey Manning and Ira Spring books covering the regions. When Mountaineers Books announced they wanted to update all of them, Craig was already set up for the role, having worked on the wildflower book with the famed authors.

Our hiking climate has changed since the Manning and Spring books were first written. Deforestation was a big issue back then and that has definitely changed. Now there seems to be a clashing of the different recreations that are all growing in size of numbers; like mountain bikes, ORV's and hikers themselves.

Craig Romano has authored over 20 titles from the mountain trails to his newer books about urban trails in the areas closer to home.

I asked Craig about hiking with dogs and he first joked, “The three things you shouldn’t talk about in the hiking community are mountain bikes, guns and dogs." He followed up with a request to help educate those that are not picking up after their animals and making sure those pets are following a leave no trace awareness.

Craig has always been a strong conservationist through many organizations like the Mountaineers, Washington Trails Association and many Land Trusts. It is hard for him to imagine that people will use the trails and yet not give back to support those trails.

Tami Asars sent in a question about Craig's past job experience. He said that he has a 2-year forestry degree, he waited tables for years and was a full time teacher for a year along with many other jobs. As for his degrees from the the University of Washington, Craig has a BA in History and Masters in Education.

Craig talks about mapping with Green Trails Maps. He goes out in the field a lot for this, finding small changes on trails here and there. The series maps, like the Eagle Cap Wilderness, sent four people hiking all of the trails looking for these small changes and updates.

When asked about the update to the 100 Classic Hikes for Mountaineer Books, they made the decision to keep 50 of the hikes the same and add 50 new hikes, of which were mostly adding hikes from around the state. It seemed to Craig that the first 100 Classic Hikes were mostly right down the Cascade Mountain Range only and he felt there were some great hikes missing from all over the rest of the state.

Find Craig-

On the trail!!

Facebook- www.facebook.com/CraigRomanoGuidebookAuthor

Website- www.craigromano.com

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