by Jo N. Miles (Photographer), Douglas P. Johnson (Editor), Mike Hiler (Illustrator)
Chronicling the names and myths surrounding the names of peaks in the Cascades, Mike Hiler honors 30 years of hiking through this range. In the spirit of Gary Snyder, Hiler is a hiker that crafts poems with clarity. Hiler has cared for the trails in his work with the National Forest Service and now he cares for them again in print. Tahoma and Pahto are here. Trailblazers are here. Like any excellent hiker, Hiler leaves only the picture and made sure to pick up any trace of himself, to leave the view for somebody else that will come down the path and see the Cascades for the first time.
Author Biography
Mike Hiler is a ceramic artist who makes his home in Yakima. He and his wife have hiked and fished throughout the Washington Cascades, visiting old lookout sites and breathing the mountain air. He has published five small press poetry books, written a number of articles for northwest magazines on the care and history of Washington trails, and published (through the Yakima Valley Museum) a "Study Guide for the Naches Pass Trail", a little known historic segment of the Oregon Trail which extended west from Walla Walla. He was seasonally employed by the Forest Service 1969-1976 as a fire Lookout (Jumpoff Ridge) and Wilderness Ranger (Goat Rocks Wilderness).