30-year hiking 'bible' lives on

Many Alaskan hikers carry a tattered, weatherworn copy of "55 Ways to the Wilderness" in their backpacks. Maybe it's the original 1972 edition, or a more recent '85 or '94 copy.

This spring, however, a glossy-covered 2002 fifth edition of what many call the quintessential hiking guide to the Last Frontier arrived on bookstore shelves.

"Along with rain gear, food, warm clothes and water, '55 Ways' is an essential piece of gear for anyone exploring Southcentral Alaska … and with each new edition, it just keeps getting better," Jim Stratton, director of Alaska's Division of Parks and Outdoor and Recreation, says of the book.

In this current edition, devotees of the book will find something new -- seven trips have been added since the last edition, including the Kesugi Ridge in Denali State Park and the recently opened Shoup Bay trail in Prince William Sound.

At the same time, newcomers to the guide will discover what has drawn hikers to the book for 30 years -- an impressive variety of trips with dependable descriptions of the terrain, trail conditions, distance and activities along the way.

"It's certainly one of my favorite forms of recreation, and those mountains and this wonderful country is why I live in Alaska," author Helen Nienhueser said from her Anchorage home. "It's dramatic. It's beautiful. It's exciting."

Nienhueser said she and her son, co-author John Wolfe Jr., have between the two of them at one time or another hiked each of the routes in the book. Since she wrote the first edition, Nienhueser said a lot has changed. New parks and trails have been developed, while at the same time legal issues, such as access and private property, have also cropped up.

Those who have older editions of the book will find many of the familiar trails have been changed or upgraded, while others have been dropped from the book to make room for better hikes. The title, after all, is "55 Ways," although Nienhueser points out it is somewhat of a misnomer -- in fact, the book describes more than 160 ways to experience the backcountry of Southcentral Alaska when side trips under each heading are included.

Some hikes, however, were eliminated because they no longer offered the kind of experience they once did. Also, river trips are no longer included because separate river guides are now available.

Despite these changes, Nienhueser said her basic motivation behind the book remains unchanged.

More than 30 years ago, Nienhueser wrote the first edition of "55 Ways to the Wilderness" with photographer Nancy Simmerman in hopes of helping people access the wild lands that attracted most of them here in the first place.

"When I first came here to Alaska, and I looked at those mountains, I hadn't any clue how to get there," she said. Like many hikers, she quickly discovered that the beautiful landscapes in the distance were surrounded by dense alder and tricky terrain. Only through trial and error, and by stumbling upon a few old homestead roads, was she able to finally get to where she wanted to be.

"The motivation was, 'Let's tell people how to get there,'" she recalled of writing the first book. "We didn't have anybody to tell us."

But through her guidebook, she also has a more profound goal, one of inspiring people to become stewards of the wilderness by exposing them to its beauty.

"These mountains need protection," she said. She said if people are going to be able to enjoy Alaska's wild lands today and tomorrow, they must work to protect them. And that happens, she said, by helping the mountains build a constituency.

"Another philosophy we have worked with is that it is important to introduce people to the mountains and to hiking out of doors," she said. "You don't have to tell them everything. You get them to the area, and you tell them they'd better take a map with them … and then they discover some of the other opportunities that trailhead or area offers."

Writing "55 Ways to the Wilderness" has also been a learning experience for Nienhueser. She said she has always been more attracted to the new hike, the new adventures. But as she works on updating each edition, she said she has come to appreciate the old, familiar trails as well.

"I have learned to enjoy rewalking hikes I've done years ago," she said. "And that is a good thing, because the conditions can be very different from one time of year to another. A stream crossing, for example, can be extremely different."

Knowing that paths always changes, Nienhueser says it is probably inevitable that "55 Ways to the Wilderness" will be revised again in the future.

"We're not ready to think about that yet," she said with a laugh. "But we also know that every six or seven years … there's enough change that it is time to update it."