SCRUB HIKER
10-28-2014, 21:29
I got an e-mail from Yogi today saying that the 2015 edition of her book is ready to go at her website (link) (http://www.yogisbooks.com/pacific-crest-trail/). This is a major revision, because the last cast of contributors were all writing before 2011, and a lot has changed since then in regards to gear, technology, and numbers of people on the trail.
For those who haven't used it before, the book has two parts, the planning guide and the trail-and-town guide. The planning-guide part is in the format of: ask a good PCT-specific question (e.g. "What gear did you add for the Sierra sections?"), print detailed answers from 10 or so different hikers. There's a big discussion of resupply strategy, gear, hiking philosophy, and almost anything else you might be asking yourself prior to a long hike on the PCT. Often the answers are wildly divergent--you pick who you want to listen to--and that's a great thing, in my opinion. You don't want to have to rely on just one person's advice, but on the other hand you don't want to have the clusterf*** that is asking a question on Facebook, PCT-L, or what have you, and getting 200 bickering answers.
The trail-and-town-guide part of the book is just that: a bunch of notes for the trail and towns, with full information about the town businesses. There can be some spice to the opinions about trail-town establishments. Again, you decide if some of it needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
Full disclosure: I'm a contributor to her book, that's why she was e-mailing me. I contributed to it after my 2013 thru-hike because I thought it was such an awesome resource.
For those who haven't used it before, the book has two parts, the planning guide and the trail-and-town guide. The planning-guide part is in the format of: ask a good PCT-specific question (e.g. "What gear did you add for the Sierra sections?"), print detailed answers from 10 or so different hikers. There's a big discussion of resupply strategy, gear, hiking philosophy, and almost anything else you might be asking yourself prior to a long hike on the PCT. Often the answers are wildly divergent--you pick who you want to listen to--and that's a great thing, in my opinion. You don't want to have to rely on just one person's advice, but on the other hand you don't want to have the clusterf*** that is asking a question on Facebook, PCT-L, or what have you, and getting 200 bickering answers.
The trail-and-town-guide part of the book is just that: a bunch of notes for the trail and towns, with full information about the town businesses. There can be some spice to the opinions about trail-town establishments. Again, you decide if some of it needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
Full disclosure: I'm a contributor to her book, that's why she was e-mailing me. I contributed to it after my 2013 thru-hike because I thought it was such an awesome resource.