The A.T. Guide

[NaturalHiker]

Just recently thru-hiked the A.T. from Springer to Katahdin in 133 days, Febuary 14 to June 26th, and ended up being the 7th NoBo thru-hiker to reach the Katahdin Stream Campground this year. My trail name was "Earlybird"

I used The A.T. Guide by David "Awol" Miller for the entire hike and loved it. I've yet to find another trail map similar to his. I love how you can see your elevation in real time as well as landmarks on the trail. Does anybody know what programs he used to lay out the Grid in his book?

I've been mapping my hikes with a GPS logger into GPX files. The GPX files contain the elevation gain/loss chart but im wanting to be able to lay it out like AWOL does in his guide and print it. Im using "Mytracks" on my Android to log the GPX files.

Are there any other programs for your phone that you can enter in landmarks along the way as well?

Thanks. Jared "Earlybird" Weber.

((Im mountain biking the entire GDMBR next summer and i want to create a guide similiar to The A.T. Guide since there's very little information on the route))

[HikerMom58]

I bet Wise Old Owl will know the answer to ur question.

Congrats on your thru-hike!! Congrats on being #7 to finish! That's GREAT, earlybird!

[The Gambler]

try contacting awol at the facebook page or the guides website

[aficion]

Tough year to start and finish early. Well done. Also love AWOL's guide. Best yet, imho. Hope you can get up with him to help you figure out how to provide similar info to cyclists. A worthy endeavor. Wish I could help more than just being a cheerleader, but that is all I've got.

[moytoy]

AWOL is a member here so he may respond to your questions but his facebook page may be quicker. https://www.facebook.com/theATguide
He is a software engineer so he speaks in a different language:) Be prepared.

[Astro]

AWOL is a member here so he may respond to your questions but his facebook page may be quicker. https://www.facebook.com/theATguide
He is a software engineer so he speaks in a different language:) Be prepared.

Hey now, there are some others out here that can relate to that. Perhaps I have a future as a translator. ;)

[Another Kevin]

I used The A.T. Guide by David "Awol" Miller for the entire hike and loved it. I've yet to find another trail map similar to his. I love how you can see your elevation in real time as well as landmarks on the trail. Does anybody know what programs he used to lay out the Grid in his book?

I've been mapping my hikes with a GPS logger into GPX files. The GPX files contain the elevation gain/loss chart but im wanting to be able to lay it out like AWOL does in his guide and print it. Im using "Mytracks" on my Android to log the GPX files.

Are there any other programs for your phone that you can enter in landmarks along the way as well?

I don't know what AWOL uses, but for mapmaking, I use a whole suite of programs. I use Mapnik (http://mapnik.org/) when I intend the maps for viewing on a phone: http://kbk.is-a-geek.net/catskills/test2.html shows the kind of results that I get. (For previewing on the Web, I use Leaflet (http://leafletjs.com/) to serve the pages and give me the controls to work with the map.) For maps that I plan to print on paper, I use Quantum GIS (http://www.qgis.org/en/site/), because it gives me better control over scale, lets me superimpose UTM grid lines, let me put commentary in the margins, and so on. I also use a lot of auxiliary programs like GDAL and GRASS for handling the data sets, such as digital elevation models.

For capturing tracks and waypoints into a smartphone, there are a lot of programs out there. I use the $10 Backcountry Navigator (http://backcountrynavigator.com/) application (it comes with a few days free trial before you have to buy it). I like the way that it integrates seamlessly with my Mapnik maps and how it does KML and GPX import/export cleanly. It seems to have most of the features I need. I've also heard good things about AndNAV, but never tried it.

I'm wondering if there are enough mapping aficionadi here that we could get a good set of open-source data for popular trails together. I'm a fair hand at GIS programming, but the data curation can be quite a challenge. I'd love to expand my map's coverage.

[NaturalHiker]

Thanks you guy's. Im thinking about getting a dedicated GPS unit to record the entire route for more accuracy & options unless you guys dont think i'll need one. I just want to be able to have all the feature's Awol's guide has. I sent a few emails to Awol and it sounds like he uses a GPS as well as a few programs on his computer to lay everything out, so at least i have a starting point now.

It sounds like i need to just start downloading some programs and uploading my tracks into them and start tinkering around. Hopefully i can figure something out. 10 months until i leave for the GDMBR so there's plenty of time to learn, and then i cant even write the guide until i get back and have all the newest GPX tracks.

[fredmugs]

http://www.guthookhikes.com/apps

[guthook]

Thanks you guy's. Im thinking about getting a dedicated GPS unit to record the entire route for more accuracy & options unless you guys dont think i'll need one. I just want to be able to have all the feature's Awol's guide has. I sent a few emails to Awol and it sounds like he uses a GPS as well as a few programs on his computer to lay everything out, so at least i have a starting point now.

It sounds like i need to just start downloading some programs and uploading my tracks into them and start tinkering around. Hopefully i can figure something out. 10 months until i leave for the GDMBR so there's plenty of time to learn, and then i cant even write the guide until i get back and have all the newest GPX tracks.

Earlybird, if it helps to have any extra input, I also use a handheld GPS to do my mapping (Garmin eTrex Vista HCx, not as accurate as some of their other models, but plenty accurate for this purpose). I don't know how fast the GPS drains the Android battery with what you're planning, but with a single pair of lithium AA batteries, I usually get around 40 hours of tracking time out of the eTrex, which includes elevation profile. If a solar charger can keep up with the battery drain in the Android, that might be a good option, too.

[Coffee]

I'm about to order AWOL's A.T. Guide for some section hiking I'm planning this year and I *think* that I will be doing mostly southbound sections but I'm hoping the guide can be easily used for Northbound sections as well if that's how things work out. On the A.T. Guide website, I read that both the Nobo and Sobo guides provide distances to the nearest shelters both north and south, distances to landmarks both north and south, etc... so I'm having trouble visualizing exactly how they differ other than that obviously the pages will be ordered based on the direction of travel. Are there additional direction specific features I should be aware of?

[DocMahns]

Nope, it just reads opposite from one another. There's even two columns on every page that lists 'x' miles from Katahdin and 'x' miles from Springer

[Coffee]

Thanks, that's what I thought.

[lonehiker]

Probably a tad easier to read left to right top to bottom. I would buy the book for the direction you are most likely to travel more frequently.