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Author of Park City walking and hiking guides revises works to reflect accessibility

Ongoing changes spurred second editions

Dr. Beverly Hurwitz revised her "Park City Walking Guide" to accurately reflect trail accessibility for her second edition.
Courtesy of Surrogate Press

Spring is usually a time for renewal and getting outdoors after a long, cold winter, and local author Beverly Hurwitz has taken those traditions to heart.

Hurwitz, who is also a physician, recently took to the trails and revised her “Park City Walking Guide” and “Park City Hiking Guide.”

The books, which were respectively published in 2017 and 2018, have been updated with new information that include changed bus routes, parking areas and trail access.



“I knew some of the chapters had to be redone, because some of the trails are no longer accessible,” Hurwitz said. “So I knew, with spring coming, these books had to be updated quickly.”

Revising the books took a few months, because they cover a total of 75 trails.



“I wound up essentially updating everything in both books,” she said. “I was able to get to the ones that I knew that changed, and then I followed Mountain Trails Foundation to the ones I didn’t get to.”

The Guardsman Pass trails showed the major changes, Hurwitz said.

“Of course there is no bus service up there, but I had several hikes that were accessible from where they used to have parking,” she said. “Since the parking situation changed up there, some of the hikes that were in the first edition books became inaccessible.”

Other changes included the Grave Digger Trail up on Ontario Ridge Canyon.

“There is development there, and there was one hike in the books that I went back to eight times this fall to figure out where it went,” she said. “There are now fences everywhere, and I couldn’t see what was happening. So, I had to take that and other trails out of the books.”

Beverly Hurwitz's "Park City Hiking Guide," originally published in 2018, has been updated by the author and offers information from how to access local trailheads to what shoes to wear.
Courtesy of Surrogate Press

The amount of change in the trail landscape didn’t surprise Hurwitz.

“Since I started writing the first books in 2014, I saw how Mountain Trails kept changing things and adding more trails,” she said. “So, I expected some of the trails to change, and with how rapidly things moved here, I knew there would be some that would be impacted by development.”

To make sure her information on existing trails was accurate, Hurwitz relied on a smartphone app called Map My Walk.

“It told me how far I had walked or hiked, and the elevation I climbed,” she said.

In addition to the updates, Hurwitz switched publishers for “Park City Walking Guide.”

“I had originally gone through an online publisher on that one, but published the ‘Hiking Guide’ through local author and publisher Katlie Mullaly’s company, Surrogate Press,” Hurwitz said.

The experiences were as different as night and day, according to Hurwitz.

“Katie has mapping skills, and it only took me a couple of months to get her to do the maps, which is a contrast to the three years it took the online publisher to do that,” she said. “So when I decided to do the updates, I totally redid the walking book through Surrogate Press. So it’s now a locally reproduced book. “

Both books are now printed on demand if ordered through Amazon.

“That means you can change things pretty easily,” Hurwitz said. “So if a trail closes next week, I can make sure that the next time I reorder the books, I can revise them with the change.”

In addition, the books can be currently purchased at Dolly’s Bookstore, The Market at Park City and Right at Home consignment and furniture store.

“I do have orders to place the books in other outdoor and sports stores, but they won’t be on the shelves until later this spring,” Hurwitz said.

Hurwitz is honored that her books have been popular enough to spur second editions.

“I am thrilled people are embracing walking and hiking,” she said. “Taking a walk outside gives people so many perspectives in the world that don’t come from working out in a gym.”

For information visit, surrogatepress.com/our-authors.

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