'Wild Cabinets' updated

SANDPOINT — The “hiker’s bible” to the Cabinet Mountains of northern Idaho and northwestern Montana is out in a new edition, with updated trail information, new trails and even a new cover.

“Trails of the Wild Cabinets: Third Edition,” was a work of nearly two years by writer and inveterate hiker Jim Mellen, who has picked up and carried on the trail guides orginally authored by the late Dennis Nicholls.

“Updating these trail guides always throws me for a loop,” says Mellen. “I think it might only take me 40 hours to do an update, but 300 hours later I am still struggling with the details. I would hate to see someone make a plan to do a great hike and then get thrown off track by inaccuracies in the book.”

The guidebook has detailed descriptions for more than 100 trails, numerous maps and photos and a features chart of major points of interest – such as lakes, waterfalls, old-growth forest, lookouts and peaks – to help hikers more easily find trails of interest.

Sprawling 150 miles across the two states, the Cabinet Mountains are one of the lesser known frontal ranges of the Rocky Mountains. Formed of ancient sedimentary rock and sculpted by massive glaciers during the Ice Age, the Cabinets hold inspiring peaks, breathtaking alpine lakes, unspoiled old-growth forests and rare wildlife.

The book is organized into three sections.

The first is devoted to the trails of the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness, which stretches 35 miles in the central portion of the range. The second section covers the western, mostly Idaho portion, while the third provides trails in the southern range that stretches west of Montana’s Flathead Lake.

“Trails of the Wild Cabinest” was originally authored by Nicholls in 2003, followed two years later by a companion volume for the Selkirk Mountains, “Trails of the Wild Selkirks.” After Nicholls died in 2009, his frequent hiking partner Mellen carried on the two guidebooks. Mellen also stepped forward to update the second edition of “Wild Selkirks,” published in 2015.

“Trails of the Wild Cabinets” is available at regional book and outdoor stores, or online at www.keokeebooks.com.