Centennial celebration for North America’s oldest continuously published hiking guide includes new guide, maps, retrospective book, and online companion
MEDIA ADVISORY
March 20, 2007
NOTE TO MEDIA: To RSVP for the May release media receptions and request an interview with the editors, contact Laura Hurley at (617) 523-0655 x321 / lhurley@outdoors.org or Rob Burbank at (603) 466-2721 x195 / rburbank@outdoors.org
Who:
The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), the oldest non-profit conservation and recreation organization in the U.S.
What:
AMC will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the AMC White Mountain Guide, the oldest continuously published hiking trail guide in North America, with public celebratory release events featuring a panel discussion and Q&A with the AMC White Mountain Guide editors, Gene Daniell and Steven Smith, and cartographer Larry Garland. The centennial edition AMC White Mountain Guide also marks Gene Daniell’s 20th anniversary as editor.
When and Where:
Members of the media are invited to receptions with Gene Daniell, Steven Smith, and Larry Garland immediately preceding the evening events.
Why:
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the AMC White Mountain Guide, AMC will release the following in 2007:
- Nationally available through AMC, booksellers, and outdoor retailers in May, the new 28th edition of the AMC White Mountain Guide, including the most current trail descriptions for all trails in the White Mountains, recommended hikes, notes on geography, safety and stewardship. Each guide will include six new, digitally rendered, full-color, pull-out, topographical maps with trail segment mileage for the first time. A set of waterproof Tyvek maps will also be available.
- This summer, AMC will release a first-ever online companion to the AMC White Mountain Guide. This online guide will allow web users to interact with AMC White Mountain Guide maps, explore trail information, search for trails and natural features, and interactively plan trip itineraries using both map and guidebook trail descriptions. An online community area will provide hiking enthusiasts with an area to get current trail and road information, share information about their latest trips, or volunteer for trail projects.
- In September, AMC will release an illustrated history of the guide, called White Mountain Guide: A Centennial Retrospective, with profiles of people instrumental in the creation of the guide, the evolution of the guide, a history of guide mapmaking, and many archival images never before published.
More than a half-million copies of the guide, which primarily covers the hiking trails in the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire and Maine, have sold since the first edition was published in 1907. The guide also covers the Appalachian Trail from the New Hampshire – Vermont boundary to just east of the Maine – New Hampshire boundary.
The AMC White Mountain Guide is the only comprehensive trail guide to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, covering more than 500 trails and including six full-color trail maps. The White Mountain National Forest lies within a day’s drive of one-quarter of the United States population, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
The AMC White Mountain Guide, AMC White Mountain Guide Map Kit, and White Mountain Guide: A Centennial Retrospective are published by AMC Books and distributed nationally through The Globe Pequot Press. AMC Books are available through booksellers and outdoor retailers nationwide, or directly through AMC at www.outdoors.org/amcstore/index.cfm or (800) 262-4455.
Review copies of the AMC White Mountain Guide, as well as historic photographs and images of early White Mountain Guide covers, are available to the media on request. A reviewers’ guide for the online companion will be available in early summer.
Founded in 1876, the Appalachian Mountain Club is the oldest conservation and recreation organization in the nation. With 90,000 members in the Northeast and beyond, the nonprofit AMC promotes the protection, enjoyment, and wise use of the mountains, rivers and trails of the Appalachian region. The AMC supports natural resource conservation while encouraging responsible recreation, based on the philosophy that successful, long-term conservation depends upon first-hand enjoyment of the natural environment.
Additional information about the AMC is available at www.outdoors.org.
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