Fuller publishes latest book, a memoir of kids and hiking

   You could say it all started before she was even born, in 1912 when her grandfather built a cabin in the Eldorado National Forest, about 85 miles east of Sacramento, Calif.
 It’s where Weiser resident Margaret Fuller spent much of her childhood with family, consequently developing a love for the mountains and hiking.
 “My family had that cabin forever and that’s where my dad liked to go for vacations,” she told the Weiser Signal American. “He likes to hike and that’s how I grew up.”
 Fast-forward about seven decades, Fuller, originally from Palo Alto, Calif., has lived in Weiser since 1985, where her husband, Wayne, a Stanford Law School graduate, served as a District Judge.
 They have another cabin, one that took many years to complete. Located about 23 miles south of Stanley, it’s where the couple spends their summers.
 At 86, Margaret, who recently published her latest book, “5 Kids on Wild Trails: A Memoir,” has been visiting the Sawtooths since 1961, ultimately authoring the first comprehensive hiking guide in Idaho, titled “Trails of the Sawtooth and Boulder-White Cloud Mountains.” She logged some 800 miles of exploration before writing the book.
 In all, she has written or co-authored five other hiking guides, including “Trails of the Frank Church - River of No Return Wilderness.”
 She recently published a fourth edition of “The Weiser River Trail, Idaho’s Longest Rail Trail.” Copies can be found at Chris’ Book Corner located at 322 State St. in Weiser.
 She has also authored three books of natural history and a history of Idaho ski areas, updating the books as needed.
 Her memoir tells the story of her love for the mountains, how her kids helped her log the trails, and her over 6,000 miles of hiking.
 Idaho author Tom Lopez wrote the following about the book:
 “Like all good memoirs, this book … not only relates interesting history but also puts us in Margaret’s life, times, mind and soul. Margaret’s adventures exploring the Sawtooth, Boulder and White Cloud mountains are a priceless documentation of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area’s (SNRA) early years. From a historical perspective her narrative of those years adds a much needed eyewitness account of the way things were and of how they evolved.
 “However, the memoir is much more than an Idaho time piece. She somehow found the time to not only successfully raise five children but to also instill in them a love of mountains. All the while this grand venture proceeded she was sewing sleeping bags and down jackets from kits to outfit her family, overcoming her fear of bears and the resistance that many locals had to anyone publishing an Idaho guidebook. Many locals found it sacrilegious that anyone would consider letting the world know about Idaho’s secret places. As a fellow Idaho guidebook author I can attest that the resistance to Idaho guidebooks was real even in the 1980s. Margaret paved the way for all Idaho guidebook authors who came after her.
 “All of her adventures and struggles documented in this memoir coalesced in the publication of the definitive guide book to one of America’s greatest treasures, Trails of the Sawtooth, and Boulder-White Cloud Mountains. In the process of exploring and writing Margaret Fuller became an Idaho treasure.”
 The hikes found inside the book trigger memories for those who grew up in Idaho and remember the trails, rivers and lakes Margaret describes.
 “We had six kids in our family and our parents took us on many trips into the mountains north of Boise, the Sawtooths and many other areas,” said Idaho native Melissa Maltese. “I haven’t gotten through the whole book, but what I read brought so many fond memories back. I still love going to the mountains. I take my daughters whenever I can.”
 Husband Wayne said he is proud of his wife, who raised five kids while finding the time to write.
 “Margaret has a great deal of skill as a writer, but she also has a great deal of persistence and if you read the book, you see that there were many barriers, because she was a woman, that she had to overcome to be able to become a successful author,” he said.
 Margaret said she doesn’t have any current plans for another hiking guide, but that she is working on other projects.
 “I’m working on some children’s novels, but we’ll see how that goes,” she said. “It’s been a fulfilling experience. It’s not something where you make lots of money. It’s been more of a labor of love.”