Trail guide gets an update

If he wanted to, Allen de Hart could be content to never venture beyond his own backyard in Franklin County for great hiking. Out back, he's got three miles of trail winding through 200-year-old trees, a bamboo grove, waterfalls and more than 300 species of vascular plants.

Fortunately for us, de Hart loves to venture out -- a lot. In the past 30 years, de Hart has hiked 53,000 miles in 46 states and 18 foreign countries. It's fortunate for us, too, because de Hart also has an eye for detail and he likes to write about what he sees. Since 1979, de Hart has written nine books and trail guides covering areas throughout the Southeast. Some of these he's updated as many as five times. His most recent effort: the second edition of his "Trails of the Triangle," which covers more than 400 trails in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill region.

More than 400 trails? In the Triangle?

Indeed. No pathway within a 50-mile radius is too small to warrant de Hart's attention. The guide is filled with trails less than a quarter mile in length; the shortest I found was the 75-yard Children's Bamboo Trail (one of the trails outside de Hart's back door, in the 83-acre de Hart Botanical Garden described on page 214).

Even with 400-plus trails, you might think there couldn't possibly be a trail in your burg. De Hart has found trails in 18 Triangle towns, including Smithfield (Long Haul Trail, 1.1 miles, p. 209), Rolesville (Old Towne Greenway, 1 mile, p. 207) and Zebulon (Little Creek Trail, 1.8 miles, p. 211).

And just because you live in a small town doesn't mean you have to hike a small trail. Witness the 5.3-mile Dunn-Erwin Rail-Trail, a rails-to-trails conversion that runs 5.3 miles between Dunn and Erwin.

In addition to municipal trails and greenways, de Hart covers state parks and forests, county parks and trails on university and private lands.

If there's a path of any denomination in the Triangle that's not a sidewalk, it's hard to imagine it's not in this book.

Are all the trails -- all 550 miles' worth -- stellar hikes?

Answers de Hart: "I wish for [readers] to browse and inform me of their reaction before I make a judgment for them, but I believe I have described the trails in a way [that] if it appears I did not have great interest, they will likely recognize why I did not brag about it."

That's the kind of honest assessment you like to hear from a guide book author.

It's also one of the beauties of a de Hart guides: Rarely does he offer an editorial opinion. Rather, his is straightforward description with precise directions. To ensure accuracy, de Hart never writes about a trail without his trusty hiking wheel, which records every foot he travels. For years, the wheel has been considered the gold standard for measuring trail distance, yet one that many guide book authors -- including me -- find too pesky to deal with.

A few things de Hart would like you to know about the second edition vs. the first.

• The second edition has 298 pages, 135 more pages than the first.
• All 50 photos are new.
• The second edition has nearly 200 trails that weren't included in the first.
• The latest edition includes public horse and mountain bike trails not in the first.
• A new chapter features trails in neighboring counties.
• It has a new list of trails recommended for families.

De Hart says he logged about 675 miles reporting "Trails of the Triangle." Certainly he had some interesting experiences along the way. I asked if there was one particular moment on the trail that stood out.

"Yes," answered the 81-year-old de Hart, "but we cannot write about it in the N&O!"