Which way to turn?

[ht61]

I have long wanted to do a thru hike on the AT but obligations have prevented any attempt. I have now reached a point where I can reasonably start planning the hike. I have never done any long distance hiking and on my longer hikes I carried the weight of all the required food. My question is, how do you know which way to turn at the road crossings to get to the nearest towns? From what I have seen the AT maps are useless for determining the proximity of towns and books would seem to be too much extra weight?


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[Gambit McCrae]

Well, a couple ways I know of.

1) in the guide books it will say something like "Franklin, E13" for 13 miles East. If you have a little compass you could see which way is more east than the other and go that way.
But this brings me to the point that no on eis going to walk 26 miles round trip to go to a town. What will prolly happen is you get to the road, get a ride and when they ask you where you need to go you say "Franklin" and they know where to take you.

2) When you get to the road crossing, there will just be a sign with the flow of traffic that says "Franklin 13 miles" and so you know its that way.

3) You call a shuttle and they just come give you a ride into town for a small fee

[rafe]

The guide books tell you. (AWOL's, or the ALDHA guide, maybe others.) The official ATC maps will usually give you a hint. If you don't want to carry a guide book, you can get it in PDF format for your iPhone or smartphone. Or: make a spreadsheet of road crossings with that same info (I took that approach on my long section hikes, didn't carry a guide.) The spreadsheet for a 600 mile section was printed on one letter sized page. Each line had mile marker, the route number, name of town and distance/direction from trailhead.

[Gambit McCrae]

The guide books tell you. (AWOL's, or the ALDHA guide, maybe others.) The official ATC maps will usually give you a hint. If you don't want to carry a guide book, you can get it in PDF format for your iPhone or smartphone. Or: make a spreadsheet of road crossings with that same info (I took that approach on my long section hikes, didn't carry a guide.) The spreadsheet for a 600 mile section was printed on one letter sized page. Each line had mile marker, the route number, name of town and distance/direction from trailhead.

.... Smart....Veeeeerry Smart.

[bigcranky]

Carrying the guidebook is pretty useful in all sorts of ways. You could cut it up, or buy the unbound version of AT Guide, or get it on your smartphone, but any way you slice it, the guidebook is pretty close to a necessity.

[4shot]

I read this thread and laughed. somehow or another, i stumbled up the AT with the AWOL guidebook and din't read the fine print. No matter what, it assumes you are walking north so when it says "east", it assumes that you are facing north and thus will turn right. It even tells you that but i did not bother to read the fine print.

So one fine day in Va., when i was feeling sick, I left the trail to get to the hostel in Troutsville? Troutsdale? Troutsburgh? It said go east so I did after checking my compass. After road walking forever through Sugar Grove, Va. (and figuring I had messed up) I ended up connecting with the AT at the partnership shelter. The longest road walk in my life. Although I did meet miss Sawnie R. who is a regular here along the way who offered to shuttle me up. I refused because I didn't want to ride . I did however enjoy the lovely little town of Sugar Grove, Va. Which maybe 5 other thru hikers (dumb ones such as myself) have ever seen.

[lonehiker]

I read this thread and laughed. somehow or another, i stumbled up the AT with the AWOL guidebook and din't read the fine print. No matter what, it assumes you are walking north so when it says "east", it assumes that you are facing north and thus will turn right. It even tells you that but i did not bother to read the fine print.

So one fine day in Va., when i was feeling sick, I left the trail to get to the hostel in Troutsville? Troutsdale? Troutsburgh? It said go east so I did after checking my compass. After road walking forever through Sugar Grove, Va. (and figuring I had messed up) I ended up connecting with the AT at the partnership shelter. The longest road walk in my life. Although I did meet miss Sawnie R. who is a regular here along the way who offered to shuttle me up. I refused because I didn't want to ride . I did however enjoy the lovely little town of Sugar Grove, Va. Which maybe 5 other thru hikers (dumb ones such as myself) have ever seen.

Sometimes you have to walk south to go north.

[July]

Carrying the guidebook is pretty useful in all sorts of ways. You could cut it up, or buy the unbound version of AT Guide, or get it on your smartphone, but any way you slice it, the guidebook is pretty close to a necessity.

Agreed, AWOL/ALDHA are spot on, and split into sections {say 500 miles} are not that many pages to carry. Plus interesting factoids, not just mileage data, lots of info. Plus if your not too nostalgic, you've always got some firestarter Just don't burn the section ahead Also could supplement w/ Guthook Trail App.

[Coffee]

If I recall correctly, the NOBO AWOL guide refers to "East" and "West" to mean turning right or left respectively at a trail crossing , rather than compass east or west. Also, carrying good topo maps will always keep you oriented which is important in general, not just for finding your way to town.

[Cosmo]

Northbound Hiking: East=Right. West=Left

Southbound hiking: East=Left. West=right.

If you don't know wether you are hiking Northbound or Southbound, you are having a strange and wonderful journey...

Cosmo

[July]

Northbound Hiking: East=Right. West=Left

Southbound hiking: East=Left. West=right.

If you don't know wether you are hiking Northbound or Southbound, you are having a strange and wonderful journey...

Cosmo

Hey, what happens on the trail, very often should stay on the trail...

[Turk6177]

Awol's guide book always uses E for right turn (if you are going NOBO) regardless of what direction you are traveling. His book is the best guide.

[Pedaling Fool]

I read this thread and laughed. somehow or another, i stumbled up the AT with the AWOL guidebook and din't read the fine print. No matter what, it assumes you are walking north so when it says "east", it assumes that you are facing north and thus will turn right. It even tells you that but i did not bother to read the fine print.

So one fine day in Va., when i was feeling sick, I left the trail to get to the hostel in Troutsville? Troutsdale? Troutsburgh? It said go east so I did after checking my compass. After road walking forever through Sugar Grove, Va. (and figuring I had messed up) I ended up connecting with the AT at the partnership shelter. The longest road walk in my life. Although I did meet miss Sawnie R. who is a regular here along the way who offered to shuttle me up. I refused because I didn't want to ride . I did however enjoy the lovely little town of Sugar Grove, Va. Which maybe 5 other thru hikers (dumb ones such as myself) have ever seen.

Northbound Hiking: East=Right. West=Left

Southbound hiking: East=Left. West=right.

If you don't know wether you are hiking Northbound or Southbound, you are having a strange and wonderful journey...

Cosmo

That's what's funny about using the E/W method for R/L turns, because (as illustrated by 4shot's post above) you can NOT factor in compass readings, because at any one time, regardless if you're a NOBO or SOBO hiker, you have a very good chance you're not headed in that direction. Basically, you just have to accept the fact that you're going north (or south) at all times (even though you're probably not) and remember the Key above by Cosmo (despite that being equally wrong).

In other words, disregard reality


BTW, I believe it was the ATC's Data book that set this precedent/standard.

[Don H]

I'm a big fan of AWOL's "AT Guide". It tells you which way to turn at road crossing for services. As others have said if your NOBO then East is to your right and West is on your left. It also gives you other important information such as grocery stores, restaurants, post offices, in town and water sources, shelters, camping, distances etc on the trail.

You can get the AT Guide unbound and just carry the pages to get you the next few hundred miles and have someone send you the next sections as needed. I took a bound Guide and cut it into quarters for my thru. I sent home the pages for trail I had passed. I kept notes on those pages for later reference. There is also an electronic version (PDF) for your phone.

[rafe]

A decent state road map will show the AT. It may be worth carrying. Or studying for a while before you set out.

By the time you hit the trail you should have a good idea of the towns you'll be walking by and where they lie in relation to the trail. When I section hike in New England, I make a copy of the relevant pages from the DeLorme Gazeteer. The scale is just right for finding road crossings, side trails and nearby towns.