Hikeoftheweek.com-- New and Improved!

New and Improved!

The long-awaited for relaunching of Hikeoftheweek.com has finally arrived! Thanks to Ashley Knecht of Mountaineers Books, Hikeoftheweek.com finally has the professional look and user-friendly features that it deserves. I started the site back in 2005 with Michael Fagin of Washington Online Weather. Two years ago I took complete control of the site but just didn't have the time and knowledge to make the upgrades that it needed. This year, all of that changed. Check out the site if you've haven't in a while. You will notice and be pleasantly pleased with the following features:

• Professional look and graphics
• Sliding content
• Larger photos
• User-friendly search engine
• subscription service
• multi-categorized archives

Hikeoftheweek.com continues to be sponsored by our friends at Snohomish County Tourism, Green Trails Maps and Mountaineers Books. Every other week the hike will spotlight a Snohomish County destination from suburban walks to backpacking routes deep within the Glacier Peak Wilderness. Every other week in between, Hikeoftheweek.com will spotlight a seasonally based hike throughout Washington state (sometimes spilling over into adjacent Oregon and British Columbia) with current emphasis on the Columbia River Gorge and Eastern Washington destinations to highlight my most recent books--where more detailed information including maps can always be found on the spotlighted hikes. Look forward in the future too to special guest posts from other hiking authorities as well as special posts, contests, and book promotions. Take a look at the site and let me know what you think. Happy hiking!

The Third Edition of Hiking in Snohomish County is now out!

Read all about it in this press release and get your copy now!

Hiking in Snohomish County, a new brochure that features 30 hikes from beach walks to wilderness explorations, is now available free from the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau.

The guide describes 30 hikes in detail and includes driving directions, topographical maps and a handy chart that lists each hike’s roundtrip distance, easy-to-difficult rating, elevation gain, best season to hike it, and closest community.

Also included are local resources and a list of accommodations for those who want to plan an overnight getaway around hiking.

This the third edition of Hiking in Snohomish County, authored by Craig Romano for the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau.

Romano is an award-winning author of nine guidebooks on hiking in Washington State, content provider for Hikeoftheweek.com and Trails Editor for Outdoors NW magazine.

In this latest brochure, Romano increased the number of featured hikes from 25 to 30 and replaced some hikes in previous editions to spotlight new ones.

The 30 hikes capture the full scope of hiking destinations within Snohomish County: beaches, scenic rivers, old-growth forests, alpine lakes, wildflower meadows, mountain tops, wildlife preserves, historic sites and impressive waterfalls.

To obtain Hiking in Snohomish County, go to www.snohomish.org/informationandrequests or phone the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau at 425-348-5802 ext. 10 to request the brochure be mailed.

For more information on Craig Romano and his guidebooks, visit www.CraigRomano.com.



The Snohomish County Tourism Bureau is a non-profit economic development agency responsible for the year-round professional tourism marketing of Snohomish County, Washington.

Snohomish County’s Greatest Hikes

I am quite excited to begin working on the 3^rd edition of Hiking in Snohomish County. I first proposed this booklet idea to the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau back in 2005. The first full color booklet included 20 hikes and instantly became a hit exhausting its 10,000 run printing rather rapidly. In 2009 I updated the brochure with a second edition that included 25 hikes and many improvements. First, the focus became just on day hikes—so the long hauls were removed. Secondly-more urban hikes were introduced to highlight the diversity of walks and trails in Washington’s third most populated county. And lastly, the overall appeal of the brochure was enhanced with better color and graphics, better maps, and a better size making the pamphlet more user-friendly and perfect for stowing away in your pack.

Now I am working on the third edition which will be released this summer. I am aiming to up the hike count again as well as replace some from the second edition. I want to include yet more urban hikes and really want to fully capture the diversity of places in the county. I have my initial list thought out, but I am curious as to what you think. What are your favorite Snohomish County hikes? And specifically, what is your favorite urban/suburban Snohomish County hike? Let me know! And I hope you are as excited about this booklet as I am. The 2009 edition is pretty hard to find these days—but you can still download a copy here. Happy Hiking!

Bookmark This!

Just a note to let you all know that the revamp of Hikeoftheweek.com is moving right along. Started by me and Michael Fagin back in 2005, Michael turned over the full reigns to me this past month. My wife Heather has been teaching herself web design and she is slowly learning some new tricks. What you will get right now if you visit is a new hike every week which is timed so that you can hike it when it is posted. Destinations vary from around the state-usually coordinated with some of my books (I give you a little taste and hope you'll want to get the book to get the details and more) and every other week the destination is in Snohomish County, our major sponsor. So check it out and let me know what you think. We'll be adding polls and news features and eventually a comment/forum section as well. See you on the trail!

(Photo- Heather on the White Chuck Bench Trail, this week's hikeoftheweek.com destination.)

Hike Snohomish County!

Get it while it's hot! The revised Hiking Snohomish County booklet is now out! If you enjoyed the original one that I wrote for the county's tourism bureau a few years back-you will absolutely love this one.

Features for the new and revised brochure include:

• It is user friendly with its handy dandy size, charts and information block
• Includes 25 hikes-all day hikes
• Many of the hikes are close to the urban fringe for quick getaways
• Many of these hikes can be done year round
• Each hike is accompanied with a map and full color photo
• Is the first "hiking book" to include the new Paradise Valley Conservation Area
• The graphics are beautiful thanks to Heather Steeke and Visitors Guide Publications
• I shot all of the photos (except one which was taken by Alan Bauer) and wrote the text
• If you love my guidebooks, you'll love this brochure
• It's free- Get a copy today by visiting a Snohomish County Tourism Center