PCT Thru hike questions

[fredmugs]

Halfmile's maps are the best I've seen so far if for no other reason all of the notes that you will not find on other maps. Even if you use some other maps I would still pore over his maps just for the notes.

Also - if you plan on taking a Kindle you can put his maps on there.

[BrianLe]

Yup, I would carry maps, AND a guidebook (Wilderness Press options are indeed the least expensive and albeit somewhat verbose they work fine), AND I'd carry Yogi's book as well.

All of this does add up. Note, however, that you could consider skimping on maps by making do with the maps in the Wilderness Press books --- they're not huge, but they're full color topos. For the Sierras I would augment with the Tom Harrison Maps.

For a pretty complete list of map and guide options, look at http://postholer.com/faq.php#Maps

And also print out postholers data pages, or buy the W.P. version which will then be calibrated exactly to their guides.

If you can afford to do a thru-hike at all, I think you had better be able to afford the data that will help you stay on trail, make reasonable plans along the way, know what your resupply options are and how to get to them, etc etc. Yogi's guide pages are a lot like what a typical AT guide is like, focused on town stuff. The other guide pages and maps are for figuring out things along the way on the trail --- the PCT isn't super difficult, but it's not as "paint by numbers" as the AT is.

[Yamagame]

I didn't use maps, except Tom Harrison's in the Sierra. I was fine with those maps, Yogi's guide, the databook, and http://www.4jeffrey.net/pct/ for the water report. The PCT isn't blazed, but in many ways, the way the trail is designed is more straight-forward than the AT, so I found following the trail could be easier. They've done a pretty good job of putting up PCT logos at most of the intersections and the trail is pretty good so you probably won't wander off unless there's some snow obscuring the path. I can only think of a few intersections that weren't marked that left me in a quandary--one in Northern Yosemite, and another between Echo Lakes and Truckee.

As for doing a cheap hike, though, you're probably best skipping nights in hotels and beers rather than guide materials or good gear. (Of course, easier said from the comfort of my couch than the trail )

[guthook]

Just noticed my name on here, so I figured I'd mirror some of the opinions already stated. I found the PCT much easier to follow than I had expected, but I also liked having maps just for an extra sense of security. In the Sierras, Tom Harrison's maps are perfect.

Here's all of my info on the trail that I've written. My opinion is that it's not nearly as scary as people made it out to be. And it's much easier to revise your plans once you're out there than I'd expected as well. Just like the AT, there are plenty of trail towns and helpful people in the beginning that can help you succeed with your hike.

[fiddlehead]

Most of the time, you can follow other's footprints. Especially for the first 700 miles.
You will learn who is wearing what, when they get new shoes, when they went the wrong way, took a break and much more if you pay attention.

Also, if you use the guidebook, a watch with an altimeter (complete with altimeter alarm) will really come in handy as it gives elevations for most entries so, for example, when the book says that you need to turn left at a jeep road crossing at 8,040 feet elevation, set your alarm for, say, 7,800 feet and you can ignore other jeep crossings until after the alarm goes off (if going uphill)
I used this technique a lot and then could forget about a lot of dilemmas as we weren't near the one in question.
Know your altitude.
I haven't hiked the trail since 2002 but did most of it twice so, the guidebook could be different now but, i doubt too much different.

[Mountain Mike]

I hiked it mostly with wilderness press guidebooks & found they were ok. In some sections I would pick up a forest service map for bigger view. In a heavy snow year maps are a neccesity since you will not see the trail. I spent many days navigating by map & compass maybe seeing trail once or twice a day. In Sierras I carried Trails Illustrated Map.

I now have deleome topo us that allows me to print up topos of entire US in scale to my liking. Even get to visuallize it in 3d.

[leaftye]

Most of the time, you can follow other's footprints. Especially for the first 700 miles.
You will learn who is wearing what, when they get new shoes, when they went the wrong way, took a break and much more if you pay attention.

"Most" of the time....last year I added a couple miles of unnecessary footprints in the San Jacintos.

[fiddlehead]

Yeah, I can still remember when we were following a horde and we knew probably about 4 or 5 of the people's shoe prints. One of them took a wrong turn and we commented on it.
A few weeks later, we were at a party and he was telling us the story how he walked 5 or 6 miles before realizing he hadn't seen any tracks and finally turned around.
After a week or two on the trail, it's not hard to figure out what's happening in front of you just from reading the tracks.
It's fun too.

[guthook]

Most of the time, you can follow other's footprints.

This was one of the funniest things I discovered about the PCT. It really is amazing how well footprints get worked into the ground out there. Sometimes people would catch up to me and, as part of the introductions, ask to see what the bottoms of my shoes looked like.

I agree that footprints will usually lead you in the right direction most of the time. In the Sierras or San Jacinto area, if there's lots of snow, some map skills are pretty key, though.

[frisbeefreek]

Following footprints is true. I started calling people by their brand - Nike, New Balance, Asics, Boots...I was moving faster than most, so when I caught someone and told them I'd been following their tread for 200 miles, they would get a good laugh.

[StormBird]

So, I ordered the wilderness press set of guidebooks and was totally disappointed once I started reading them. They don't seem to give very impertinent information and the maps are pretty terrible. It seems to me that the best way to go is to order Half-Mile's Map from the printer in Oregon, the WP data book and a town guide of sorts (maybe Yogi's book?).

Can past PCT-er confirm this for me?

[guthook]

So, I ordered the wilderness press set of guidebooks and was totally disappointed once I started reading them. They don't seem to give very impertinent information and the maps are pretty terrible. It seems to me that the best way to go is to order Half-Mile's Map from the printer in Oregon, the WP data book and a town guide of sorts (maybe Yogi's book?).

Can past PCT-er confirm this for me?

Cerveza, I feel like I write about this too often, so I have to try not to sound like a grumpy old man. In my opinion, there really aren't any guidebooks for the PCT that are as good as most of the options for the AT. For maps, your best bet is Halfmile's. All the rest I know of are either accurate or pleasing to the eye, but not both.

For town guides, again-- not as good as your AT options. Yogi's worked for me, mostly, but I wouldn't use it again. Fact and opinion were woven together too much, and it was difficult to tell them apart. I keep looking for more options for town guides, but there just aren't any as far as I can tell. Halfmile and Erik The Black both have basic town info in their maps, but not as much detailed information as Yogi. Halfmile has the important stuff (mailing addresses, locations), so you could do worse than starting with his maps. Plus you can download them for free and peruse them before you pay to have them printed.

This and this are some places to start looking for some town info as well, but they're not perfect.

The best "town guides" I've found are a combination of the internet and trail talk. Most town stops are either so small that you don't need a guidebook for them (just ask any hiker and you'll get all the information you need) or so large that no guidebook could do them justice (in which case, just look online from a smartphone or from a previous town stop to see what your options are there).

Cases in point:
-Warner Springs, Idyllwild, Etna, Stehekin, etc: all of these are small towns, and you'll hear everything you need to know about them from hikers along the way and from trail angels/townfolk along the way. Seriously. For an AT comparison, think of Monson. Tiny, easy to scout out, and you probably already knew everything about it by the time you got there, whether SOBO or NOBO.
-Big Bear, Mammoth, Ashland: huge towns with a handful to dozens of lodging options, dozens of restaurants, multiple grocery stores, and so on. Yogi's book tries to list the highlights, but misses so many. Your best bet for towns like this would be to hear from other hikers what your options are for lodging (hostels in Big Bear and Ashland for example, hotel with hiker discounts in Mammoth), ask locals or Yelp for restaurant recommendations, ask locals where the grocery stores are, and so on.

Bottom line: After the AT it was hard for me to get used to not having such good guidebook options on the PCT, but you can get creative and save yourself a bit of trouble.

[guthook]

Also, forgot to mention: as an alternative to the wilderness press data book, you might want to check out Pocket PCT. A friend of mine writes it, so I'm biased, but it's lighter than the data book and I think its info is much better. The data book is just a spreadsheet of the mile info from the wilderness press guidebooks that you were disappointed with. Pocket PCT uses halfmile's gps track of the PCT, and the next edition will use Bodnar's own gps track. My two cents there.

[BrianLe]

"So, I ordered the wilderness press set of guidebooks and was totally disappointed once I started reading them. They don't seem to give very impertinent information and the maps are pretty terrible. It seems to me that the best way to go is to order Half-Mile's Map from the printer in Oregon, the WP data book and a town guide of sorts (maybe Yogi's book?)."

WP books are terrible or not-terrible depending on what your expecations are. Ditto the included maps. Those maps are small scale, but are at least in color. FWIW, they were fine for me to walk the trail; the PCT is not as energetically marked as the AT, but it is nevertheless a marked trial that for the heavy majority of time is easy to follow, and if you parse out the geologic and zoological and historical information, the text of the guidebooks does help you with key issues along the trail like finding water sources, campsites, and route finding. These issues are less important on the AT, and so get less coverage in the guidebooks there, but really the AT guidebooks are more akin to Yogi's guide (more town-focused).

I would encourage you to carry the Wilderness Press guide pages that you've purchased; I found them worth carrying. Do add Yogi's guide, not much weight and unlike guthook I would use it again.
I would carry a databook, the WP one is calibrated precisely to their guidebooks if you care, else print out the free one from Postholer.com.
And of course get Asabat's water guide and update it along the way whenever you can.

Halfmile's maps are great. I can't tell you either way whether it's worth the money and the carried-weight to bring those. I might print them out for the Sierras and just use the WP guidebook maps otherwise; bring a super light pocket magnifier or old-people type reading glasses maybe. Having just printed out the Ley maps for the CDT, I imagine that the total set of Halfmile's maps would weigh a fair bit --- on 24# paper, with a couple of route options omitted the Ley maps printed double-sided weigh 1.6 pounds (!). But the PCT isn't the CDT --- it's generally one and only one clear route.

[leaftye]

I had the Halfmile maps printed 2 pages per side, double sided. There was no need for magnification.

[StormBird]

Thank you GutHooK and BrianLe! I really appreciate the help even though I'm sure you have answered questions like this multiple times. I run into the same things answering AT questions over on the AT portion of this site.

So I have heard a few people mention that the maps in the WP books are color...mine aren't. I have the 6th edition of all three books. Am I missing something?

Thanks again for your help guys!

[Miner]

They should have blue, black and grey on them hence they are colored. They aren't colored in the sense that a good topo map usually is with greens and browns added in. And for the record, I hated the WP maps and ended up getting something else when I got to Big Bear. Yogi's guide is only as good and updated as hikers want it to be. Hence the reason I bothered to email some changes that I would have wanted included when I hiked.

[Mountain Mike]

When I hiked the PCT in 95 I joined up fairly early with two solo women & another solo male & camped together most nights & sometime hiked together. Maps are needed as it is not blazed like AT & most years snow will obliterate the trail at some point & with no blazes you are stuck with going by map & compass or in this age GPS if you carry one. Even in that high snow year I was able to get by with wilderness Press Guidebooks & their maps in there.

[levidoug]

The order was already done through the PCT-L list. I did get halfmile's maps and will be using them and yogi's town guide book. The nice thing about halfmile's maps are that you don't have to carry all the extra weight from the get go. You can divide them up and do mail drops. I feel that they have all the infor. I will need.

levidoug