About the authors of Urban Walks, 23 Walks through Seattle's Parks and Neighborhoods

AUTHOR JOAN BURTON:

It’s no surprise that Joan Burton wrote a book about walking. She started hiking with her sister and father as a child and fell in love with mountains after taking The Mountaineers’ climbing course in her teen years. She qualified for the Six Peaks Pin at age sixteen, having climbed Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, Mount Rainier, Mount Olympus, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Adams. She subsequently climbed Mount Rainier two more times, camping in the crater at the summit.

As her children were growing up, Joan took them on hikes in outlying areas, which  resulted in her first book, Best Hikes with Children in Western Washington (published by The Mountaineers), followed four years later by Volume II. Both have been updated with new trails in the last few years.

Joan writes articles about hiking for Signpost Magazine, The Mountaineer, the state PTA magazine, Northwest Living, and Ground Work, the Washington Park Arboretum’s newsletter. She has also written articles for the University of Washington Law School alumni magazine. She is active in local outdoor organizations, speaking at the dedication of two Trailsfest events and at the dedication of the Seattle REI store .

Joan walks regularly with friends and designed  the walks for Urban Walks as a result of these explorations. 

AUTHOR DUSE McLEAN

Duse has been involved with the story of Seattle since the early 1980s when she worked at the Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau. She has provided information for tourists, led walking tours, and guided bus tours for groups visiting the area.  

With the help of her husband and grown children she wrote and published the first Pocket Guide to Seattle in 1989. Now in its seventh edition, the Pocket Guide is a favorite book for both visitors and locals.

She is a member of the Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks board, the Pacific Northwest Historians Guild, Historic Seattle, the Museum of History and Industry, the Seattle Architecture Foundation and Book Publishers Northwest. An avid collector of local history, she co-authored Urban Walks, which Thistle Press, her company, published in the fall of 2001. Duse has written and produced newsletters for many local groups.

  Questions for Duse? Email dusem@thistlepress.com. 

What people are saying about the award winning

Pocket Guide to Seattle:

" —A mine of concise and useful information of Seattle sites...from the Pike Place Market to the Ballard Locks."

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The staff at the 

Thomas Cook Visitor Information desk at Westlake Center

"—Pertinent information about areas of interest including hours, cost, phone numbers, and directions for getting there."
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