Realizing that there was no one book which contained information about where to hike in Westchester County, Jane and Walt Daniels decided to write one. In late 2001, based on information from not-for-profits, the County parks department, newspaper articles, and the Internet, they figured that there were about 70-80 parks, preserves, and sanctuaries with about 200-250 miles of trails. Their proposal to the New York New Jersey Trail Conference was accepted and they started visiting parks. Quickly they realized that their original estimate was wrong. By 2005, they knew of 150 places and by 2008, the list of parks had grown to over 180 parks including 22 parks that did not exist when the project started.

How to group parks in a logical manner was a problem even with only 80 parks. Books consulted grouped parks by a geophysical area. Since a greater disproportion of preserved open space is north of I-287 and no clear cut boundaries meant that another solution had to be found.  Although grouping parks by size seemed strange initially, it turned out to be the most logical way. This grouping into sections was a quick way of telling people how many miles of trails a park had. They wanted each park to have its own chapter, but the number of pages in the book was quickly becoming a problem. In the end, it was realized that not all parks warranted a separate write up; by mentioning these parks in a short write-up at the end of a larger park, they were recognized as part of the recreational landscape.

A visit to a park meant measuring trails with a measuring wheel, GPSing where the trails were, and noting interesting features. Sometimes a park visit ruled out ones that were too small, not maintained, or just unsuitable for walking. In addition to the over 180 places mentioned, they visted 50 parks not included in the book. On average Jane and Walt found that they hiked a mile an hour when collecting data. If they did not have to retrace their steps very often, they were able to go faster. Once back home, it took twice the field time to produce a first draft of text. Cleaning up the gps track to be useful for making a sketch map required easily the same amount of field time.

Parks were visited a second time by volunteer(s) who verified information and noticed if anything had been left out.  A third or even fourth visit by either Jane or Walt was be made to clarify information the trail checker found, find missing information, gps the route again, or take photographs. Fortunately not all parks needed a fourth visit, but there were some which required a fifth or even a sixth visit.

The hours spent bringing the book to publication are enormous. Aside from the cartographer, Allison Werberg and book designer/layout artist, Nora Porter, all others involved in the project are volunteers. Any profits from the sale of Walkable Westchester are a gift from Jane and Walt to the Trail Conference.