View Full Version : Wingfoot's 2006 guide?
mattydt20
09-21-2005, 07:08
I was just wondering when the 2006 guide comes out. I'd like to take a look at one, but don't want to buy the 2005 if the 2006 comes out before March.
max patch
09-21-2005, 07:37
I was just wondering when the 2006 guide comes out. I'd like to take a look at one, but don't want to buy the 2005 if the 2006 comes out before March.
It will available sometime in January; the 2005 handbook was available for sale 1/4/05.
Lone Wolf
09-21-2005, 07:38
The 2000 edition was available November 2000. Long after the hiking season.
The 2000 edition was available November 2000. Long after the hiking season.
Yup, LW has that correct. I don't usually complain about Dan - but this kinda irked me. I sat on his porch in early April and watched him tell someone on the phone that the book was "on the truck" and should be delivered "any day now." I couldn't help but notice that as he said this, his knee was bouncing up and down nervously. At the time, I had a co-worker at Verizon who was a pathological liar, and whose knee would usually tell the tale - just like pinocchio's nose - by bouncing up & down in a similar fashion.
Oh well.... My suspicians were confirmed when the books - two of 'em - never arrived until after my hike was over. They became a nice souvineer of the hike.
If y'all want info on when Dan's book is gonna come out, I suggest you go to his site and ask him directly. www.trailplace.com
In all fairness, the book has been on time every year since 2000. If I was to thru-hike the AT again - and that is highly unlikely - I would buy his book in a heartbeat.
If I was to thru-hike the AT again - and that is highly unlikely - I would buy his book in a heartbeat.Not a Wingnut fan, but I have to admit he is smarter than the people who put out the Companion and the Data Book.
He sells what people want to buy. The other two sell what they think people should have. Why the Data Book people insist on publishing a N-S book is beyond me. (I know thier rationale - it is the way the trail was envisioned and how it is laid out by the ATC yadda yadda yadda. But if they want to sell a book, they are not paying attention to what their customers need.)
I bought Companions before, but no more until they put it into a format useful to a hiker, by which I mean mileages and more water source info.
papa john
09-21-2005, 09:29
The 2000 edition was available November 2000. Long after the hiking season.
Paid for mine in 1999 and still haven't gotten it!
TJ aka Teej
09-21-2005, 09:43
... he is smarter than the people who put out the Companion and the Data Book.
He sells what people want to buy.
The Companion was created by asking AT hikers what they wanted in a guidebook, and right down to its spiral notebook binding, keeping it apart from the Databook, and its tall boy size, the ATC gave the hikers what they asked for. One book to plan with, one book to hike with, that's what hikers wanted. The combined cost of the Companion and Databook is still several dollars less than WF's book.
I liked the Philosopher's Guide, the format and style of which WF has copied. I like the DataBook, which WF has now cloned into his guide.
And yeah, the '00 WF book was 10 months late. But that was much better than the year he kept taking checks and then never produced a book at all. At least nowadays his book goes to the publisher before the Companion - with all the updated AT information - has been available for him to read for weeks.
The main differences in the books remain: 1) The Companion is produced by people who actually have been to the places they write about. 2) The DataBook and Companion are ATC publications, the profits go to support the Trail.
TJ aka Teej
09-21-2005, 09:50
I was just wondering when the 2006 guide comes out. I'd like to take a look at one,Hi Matty,
It's not the WF book, but The 2005 Thru-hikers' Companion, an ATC publictaion compiled by ALDHA volunteers, can be viewed or downloaded for free at
www.aldha.org (http://www.aldha.org/)
Other great AT info (from maildrops to hygine) can be found right here on WB in the "Articles" section found at the top of this page in the green bar.
I see you're from Maine, you might want to consider coming over to Dartmouth College Hanover New Hampshire in early October to the ALDHA Gathering!
The Companion was created by asking AT hikers what they wanted in a guidebook.This is what I was saying earlier. Wingnut payed attention to what hikers need/want/use.
Most of the people I talked to who used the Companion/Data Book combo did so to support the ATC, not because it gave them what they wanted. I did not meet any hiker who said, "I use the Comnpanion because I don't want any information about water sources, mileage, road crossings and all those other details. I'd much prefer to carry a separate book, especially if it is written N-S so that I cannot easily use it in conjunction with a S-N Companion."
That kind of thinking, refusing to pay attention, and arguing with users who try to provide valuable feedback, telling customers that they don't know what they want, is what keeps a big grin on Wingfoot's face, and keeps his pockets full with money that otherwise would go to the ATC.
That kind of thinking.... keeps his pockets full with money...
I don't claim to know anything about WF's finances, but I think its a bit of a stretch to say that his guide keeps his "pockets full of money." No guidebook with such a narrow niche is ever gonna make anyone rich.
I don't claim to know anything about WF's finances, but I think its a bit of a stretch to say that his guide keeps his "pockets full of money." Since he went ultralight, he has these little tiny itty bitty pockets.
Since he went ultralight, he has these little tiny itty bitty pockets.
OK, that is really really funny. :) Thanks for bringing a smail to my face today.
Since he went ultralight, he has these little tiny itty bitty pockets.
OK, that is really really funny. :) Thanks for bringing a smile to my face today.
If you could write the guide what would you want in it, what not?
Cedar Tree
09-21-2005, 17:03
That was very funny Frosty.
Good job.
CT
DMA, 2000
09-23-2005, 02:00
Did he ever refund Crash's order in 1960. He certainly had no use for the book.