Years active 1991 - Present Known for Day Hike Books Series | Name Robert Stone Role Author | |
Born March 10, 1951 (age 73) ( 1951-03-10 ) Los Angeles, California Occupation Author, Photographer, Publisher Books Day Hikes Around Santa Bar, Day Hikes Around Lake Tah, Day Hikes Around Ventura, Day Hikes in Los Angeles, Day Hikes on Kauai |
Robert Paul Stone (born March 10, 1951) is the author, photographer, and publisher of the trail guide series Day Hike Books. Since 1991, Stone has hiked every trail in the Day Hike Book series, covering thousands of miles of trails throughout the western United States and Hawaii. He has self-published more than 30 hiking guides in the series, many of them in their third, fourth, fifth, or sixth editions. He is a bestselling and multiple award-winning author. Stone summers in the Rocky Mountains of Montana and winters on the California Central Coast.
Contents
Career
Stone was born in Los Angeles in 1951. In 1981, he relocated to Red Lodge, Montana, where he started his own real estate business. In 1991, he began to write, publish, market, and distribute local trail guide booklets for Red Lodge and Yellowstone National Park. The pamphlets were so successful that in 1992, he struck a distribution deal for future books with ICS Books, a major publishing house. Subsequently, Stone left the real estate industry and devoted himself full-time to researching, writing, and publishing substantial trail guides. In 1997, ICS was bought out by Globe Pequot Press, who continued to distribute his books. Presently, he self-publishes and is distributed through National Book Network. Stone has written, revised, and published 31 guides for trails in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, California, and Hawaii, 20 of them currently in print and as eBooks. Stone frequently updates his books, seeking new trails and improvements of previous editions.
Writing style
Stone writes for everyone, from the novice to the veteran hiker, with day hikes ranging from half a mile to 12 miles in length. Trail guides for each hike include an informational summary, detailed instructions of location and directions to the trailhead, a concise description of each hike, distance of the trail, approximate length in time of the hike, elevation gain, exposure, level of difficulty, whether dogs are allowed, reference to pertinent USGS maps, and specific interlinking maps. Each book contains a well-organized Table of Contents and a comprehensive Index. Stone's writing style is simple and direct. His descriptions are clear and precise, so as not to confuse the reader. He aims to get hikers on the trail and keep them from getting lost.
Recognition
Stone is a Los Angeles Times Best Selling Author. Various professional outdoor writers groups have repeatedly honored him with organizational awards: He is an award winning author of the Bay Area Travel Writers (BATW), an award winning author of the Northwest Outdoor Writers Association (NOWA), an active member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA), an award winning author of the Outdoor Writers Association of California (OWAC), and an award winning author of the Rocky Mountain Outdoor Writers and Photographers (RMOWP).