Some people have really tough jobs, like photographer and writer Tim Palmer, author of award-winning books about rivers, conservation, and adventure travel. In order to produce his extensive body of work (29 books) over a 40-year career, Tim has had to hike, bike, ski, and especially paddle all over the rivers, mountains, and other wild landscapes of America. All of this, he writes, “is dedicated to conservation, and each project I undertake is designed to reach people with an inspiring message to motivate them to care about the fate of our Earth.”

Three of his books, including America’s Great Mountain Trails, have won National Outdoor Book Awards, a program for which I have been a judge. I knew of Tim’s conservation work, especially on American rivers, but didn’t know of the excellence of his publishing projects until they appeared in my annual pile of NOBA books. Tim’s projects have required him to, as his job, run the rivers and travel the trails of America like no other writer/photographer. He is the envy of all of us outdoor nuts.

Of course, in order to produce a volume like America’s Great Outdoor Trails, Palmer had to hike all 100 trails, and probably others that might be candidates but didn’t make the cut. This is no mean feat, and testify to the planning, work, and expertise that allows Palmer to contribute books like this one and his 2017 Wild and Scenic Rivers: An American Legacy to his conservation and outdoor readership.

Along with the sweat, blisters, bugs, and risks of his many expeditions, he has done his research and honed his writing and photo skills to a high level. His workday is a dream to many of us desk- and screen-bound readers who can only vicariously enjoy all of the wild and beautiful places he shares.

I have, however, taken some of the hikes he profiles in America’s Great Mountain Trails – 12 of them, from Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire, to Titcomb Basin in the Wind River Range, and to the Hoh River Valley and Mount Olympus in Washington State. So, I’ve made a start, and if I were younger, I would aim to follow his many bootsteps – his photos and descriptions are so enticing.

Leafing through the book transports me in memory to those places I have had the pleasure to visit. He has not so much written a guidebook, though he provides solid information on each trail and how to get there, as a “wishbook,” as in “I wish I could make the 8-mile hike up Algonquin Peak in New York’s Adirondack Park, or the 76-mile roundtrip to Mount Whitney via New Army Pass.” And though we might not be able to physically visit all these trails, this book and Palmer’s photos and words will inspire great outings in many readers.

He opens with an essay on “The Mountainous Heart of America” in which he writes...

…mountains and their foothills roughen the surface of 40 percent of the United States. Except for the Atlantic seaboard and vast mileage of the Midwest and Great Plains, plus lesser pockets of flatness here and there, mountains or their remnant hills corrugate the continent. West of the Great Plains, summits edge the skyline virtually everywhere. Mountains are what make America what it is, and they make much of life as we know it possible in fundamental ways.

He explains those fundamental ways as in climate, water supply, soil building, and contributions to biological diversity. He follows this with hikes in 11 geographic subdivisions ranging from New England (11 hikes) to Alaska Ranges (6 hikes), Tropical Islands (3 hikes), and eight other mountain regions others across America. His selections range from day hikes like those to the summits of Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire and Wheeler Peak in New Mexico to the 28 miles out and back to Titcomb Basin in the Wind River Range and the 53-mile loop to Glacier Peak and Lyman Lake in Washington’s North Cascades.

Having done these four trips, I can testify that his descriptions, while brief, are accurate, and his photos capture the essence of these places beautifully. Several times I have gazed from the very spot where he aimed his long lens at Glacier Peak across Image Lake, a truly incredible mountain scene he has captured beautifully. For each hike he notes location, with basic information on how to get to trailhead, hike length, elevation, difficulty, and highlights. He offers brief descriptions of each hike, complemented by enticing photos.

Palmer wisely did not call these the “best” highcountry hikes, but rather “great” ones. I have to say that every hike he features that I have taken are indeed “great” and so are many others I have traveled which are not in the book, so his value judgment does not offend me. Most of the hikes are on public land: state parks like Baxter in Maine and Adirondack Park in New York, many are in national parks and forests, a few in lesser-known public land units like New River Gorge National River in West Virginia and Little River Canyon National Preserve in Alabama.

Several, especially in the East, involve private land made accessible to hikers. Examples are the Mohonk Preserve in New York and the Loyalsock Trail in Pennsylvania (parts of which he notes are “scarred by fracking wells drilled for natural gas extraction). Many trails are in national parks – Acadia, Shenandoah, Great Smoky Mountains, Rocky Mountain, Grand Teton, Glacier, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, North Cascades, Olympic, and Hawaii Volcanoes, among others. Recognizing the pressure of visitors on many of these parks, he offers advice on when to go to avoid crowds.

Some may fairly ask why we need books like America’s Great Mountain Trails. Won’t they just attract more visitors to already crowded trails?

They will, if people only take to these trails in the “high season.” But my experience has been that careful planning can avoid overcrowding these wonderful places.

More than a century ago John Muir led big parties into the mountains because he thought that to know them would encourage people to value and to care for them. Today the large group outings like those sponsored by the Sierra Club are verboten.

Palmer’s approach is to take to the trails with his wife, a properly small party, to leave no trace, and to practice trail etiquette that he briefly explains in his introductory essay.

The fact remains that if we wish people to love and care for places like those featured in this book, they must know them. America’s Great Mountain Trails will allow many to know them vicariously – especially through the excellence of Palmer’s photos. Others may be inspired to hike the trails. Hopefully all will recognize the remarkable values of the landscapes featured in this book, care a little bit more, and be motivated to do something to protect them.