The use of the WA Hikes placemark collection in TopoUSA is much more like a traditional "poi" type system.  Each subset of data is contained in actual files that can be loaded or unloaded at will.  The data itself and the way the data is structured, (All hikes/hike by difficulty/Top Elevation/Book recurrence/specific books) remains the same.   The installation and use is pretty intuitive and will be familiar to anyone who has used TopoUSA in the past.

If you haven't read the other readme files, here is the basic idea behind the WA Hikes Database.   The data files are a collection of placemarks grouped in various ways to represent day hikes and backpack trips in the state of Washington.  The data comes from various popular guidebooks and is not intended to describe each hike in detail; rather it is seen as a quick way to familiarize oneself with any given area.  It can also be used as in conjunction with a specific text by selecting only that book's draw layer in the "Map Files" tab..

Figure 1.  Basic organization Here are the folders as they appear in the treelist view in TopoUSA.   The list is not hierarchical as in Google Earth or World Wind.  The layers behave similarly however and the you can basically make out the groups by their names.   Note that only the "All Hikes" and individual books are hyperlinked to additional web data. Figure 2.  "Difficulty rating" draw layers selected. Figure 2 shows the basic map when the project is first loaded.  Layers 1, 2, and 3 (Difficulty Ratings) are represented respectively with green stars, purple diamonds, and red flags.  In order to add hike names to the symbols, you need to turn on the "All Hikes" layer.
Figure 3.  Book Icons in the Ocean provide a map legend.
Although the screencap is pretty jumbled, this shows the map with all layers turned on.  The book icons in the ocean are linked to web pages with basic details on the books themselves.