Is a guidebook necessary?

[willbump]

Considering that I have roughly a year and half to plan, and I'll be taking maps. I know lots of other trails dont even have guidebooks. What exactly is it going to tell me that I can't learn from a map and is that info necessary given the time I have to plan? And why the dancing banana?

[Johnny Thunder]

you'd be good with maps alone. you might do well to have some record of town resupply points and hotels/hostels/restaurants or your risk having to ask others for that info.

[Wrangler88]

Just all the info you need in a very useful format.

Plus town maps and resupply info.

It can obviously be done and was for many years. But it seems foolish with the convenience it provides for a small price and weight.

Go for it if it's something you want to do for whatever reason.

[BrianLe]

I suggest that you look at the free pdf version of one of the guidebooks (the Companion), see what it contains and decide for yourself:
http://www.aldha.org/comp_pdf.htm

Dancing banana: I personally loathe flashing, moving icons that draw the eye. What works for me is to use Firefox as my browser and install the adblock add-on. Then if you find something like a dancing banana icon and don't like it, just right click to block that particular icon from showing up in future.

No offense intended to lovers of the dancing banana, it's just nice to have defense against same for the rest of us! :-)

[mountain squid]

Consider transcribing the pertinent data from the guidebook to the maps. You'll then have the necessary town info without having to carry the book. (I used Ultra Fine Point Sharpies.)

See you on the trail,
mt squid

[Pedaling Fool]

Guidebooks give you an enormous (relatively speaking) amount of information on towns, other than that it's neat to know stuff on the trail, but by no means are they necessary.

If you don't think you want that much info you can go with only maps. However, if you want just a little more info than what's on the maps consider purchasing the ATC's Data Book. The ATC's Data Book is bare bones info on towns and services and stuff on the trail; it's about a 1/3 the price of all the guidebooks.

[Doc Mike]

Is anything in life necessary? Life is nothing more than a series of choices. So make your choice and deal with the consequences or rewards.

Ok done with the philosophy lesson
Doc Mike

[couscous]

Is a guidebook necessary?What exactly is it going to tell me that I can't learn from a map and is that info necessary given the time I have to plan?

Basically shelter, water and resupply options. You could research all the places you want to resupply, jot down all the info about shelters - hostels - campsites - motels near the trail with costs / contact info, list nearby restaurants .. especially AYCE ones, compile a list of Post Offices if you want to use drop boxes, add some detailed town maps since your normal maps won't have the resolution to show business locations, note the directions to hundreds of water sources along the trail and whether they are reliable or intermittent or just buy a guide book. As a bonus you get key places identified along the way that may not be shown on the map, the mileage between points, some elevation data, and some background info about places. Some guides have other sections that could be useful like 800 numbers for gear manufacturers. Since one of the most common questions posted here is "What are the water sources like between x & y?", I would sum things up by saying the water source info contained in the guidebooks is probably the single most important feature.

[Serial 07]

get a guidebook...the town info is very useful...unless you are planning on blue blazing (which i recommend), the most useful info on the map is the profile...that can be photo'ed on a digital camera...appalachian pages or whatever it's called now, has the profile on the pages themselves and perforated so they're easy to tear out when necessary...you'll need to know a post office zip code or where the next beer/pizza joint in NY is and the books are great for that...

[Spokes]

Yep, good to carry otherwise you'll be bugging other thru's every time you need the phone number of a hostel or a shuttle.

[DavidNH]

I'd actually recommend you take the guide book and leave the maps home. Maps are interesting and fun to have but not really necessary, unless you somehow get off trail and get lost.. and man that's hard to do on the AT!

I used the Thru hiker's handbook. Almost every hiker seemed to dislike or mock Wingfoot but nearly every one carried his book! Go figure. Some did carry the thru hikers companion which I understand is also very good.

Why carry a guidebook? It gives you information about what you will find in towns (and EVERYONE goes into town) where to eat, if there is an outfitter or grocery store in the town and if so where it is, where to sleep, the phone numbers and prices etc. If you don't carry a guidebook you will-- as someone here mentioned-- just end up annoying other hikers by asking information that you could have had yourself by carrying a guidebook.

If you are really persnickity about weight, you can tear out the pages for sections of trail you have done. To me that's about as silly as cutting off the handle of your tooth brush!

Another useful resources is the AT data book. It won't tell you what's in towns but will tell you what's on the trail. For example, how far from this shelter to that shelter and what is in between.

David

[garlic08]

I thought an AT guidebook was a very good value for the price and weight. I agree with you, guidebooks are not necessary and don't always exist, but they're nice when they're available and especially when updated yearly. In my opinion, my AT guidebook was way more useful, certainly for the cost, than AT maps.

[Blissful]

The ALDHA companion is easy to print out the pages you need and take with you for vital info on water sources (I referred to it quite a bit when trying to find sources at shelters - some are not that obvious to find!), resupply for your food and other necessities. Maps and some kind of guidebook/data book are necessary, imo

[Blissful]

My maps were very useful in drought conditions in New England this year (so I wasn't drinking out of a beaver pond outlet). And road crossings. There are areas I believe you really need them. And some of the blazing is not that good in places.

[trippclark]

Considering that I have roughly a year and half to plan, and I'll be taking maps. I know lots of other trails dont even have guidebooks. What exactly is it going to tell me that I can't learn from a map and is that info necessary given the time I have to plan? And why the dancing banana?

I carry both. The map(s) for the section I am hiking at the time, and the pages from The AT Guide (not the whole book). I will continue to carry both, but I can tell you that I refer to the guidebook pages many times each day, but often go whole days without referring to the maps.

I think that it is prudent to carry both, but if I had to make a choice to carry just one or the other, I would carry the guidebook for sure. For one thing, it is not uncommon to find a copy of the map posted on a sign at road crossings at least once or twice a day in may areas.

[emerald]

I prefer to see A.T. hikers acquire ATC's guides and read them before they set out on anything more than a day hike led by an experienced hike leader. You will be better prepared to maximize your own opportunities and to help others you meet on the trail when you obtain as much knowledge as possible from the people who know the Appalachian Trail best.

There is no more complete source of information than ATC's guides. If you do not wish to carry the complete guides, transfer information you believe will be useful as you acquire it to an Appalachian Trail Data Book. Once on the trail, continue to use it to record information for your own use and to share with others.

The best place for information about hiker services contained within the handbooks may be your electronic device. No doubt the day will come soon when those URLs are links and clicking on the phone numbers will dial them. I wouldn't want to rely exclusively on this method or someone else if I'd get in a bind and would carry some kind of backup.

The handbooks don't provide anywhere near the information contained within ATC's guides and remain the gold standard. Until the handbooks improve, I still would rather carry an ATC guide, especially in Pennsylvania were I not already familiar with it.

Buy the complete official guide set. Leave all but the maps at home if you would rather carry a handbook or data book. You cannot know in advance how useful maps may be to you, nor can anyone else predict this for you. Only you will know when you have completed your hike just how useful your guides were to you and what they added to your experience.

If purchased at full price, a complete guide set will set you back a sizeable chunk of change, but there are ways to reduce the cost of ownership. When you no longer wish to hold on to them, sell your guides to someone else.

[Cookerhiker]

Willbump, I'd like to expand on Emerald's post and perhaps clear up some terminology confusion. Until about 10 years ago, the term "Guidebook" meant the books accompanying the maps which described the trail itself in detail - key mileage & elevation points, info about shelters, flora & fauna, transition points e.g. turn left here, AT joins XYZ trail here. These "guidebooks" said little if anything about hiker services and nearby trail towns. It is these "guidebooks" that Emerald is recommending you read.

I'm taking your question - and that of the responders - to refer to the other kind of "guidebook" - the ALDHA Companion, Thruhikers Handbook, Appalachian Pages etc. - whose focus is trail services. One of the first was Wingfoot's Handbook first published in the mid-80s. The Companion followed and now there are 3-4 such publications. These were originally referred by other descriptors to distinguish from the "guidebooks" but now their role has become so paramount that everyone calls them guidebooks.

So to answer your question - is it worth carrying a hiker-services "guidebook?" - I agree with most posters: yes. It's a small price to pay in weight for a wealth of logistical & practical information which a thruhiker will certainly draw on at some point.

[emerald]

No disrespect whatsoever intended toward Bill, one of WhiteBlaze's MVPs. Were I collecting WhiteBlaze friends, he would be near the top of my list, but I'm not about collecting WhiteBlaze friends.

My reason for posting was and continues to be trying to get us on one page as near as that's possible and to help ATC and Pennsylvania's trail clubs.

Toward that end, I think it would help our common objectives to come to some sort of basic agreement on terminology. One of the lessons I took away from my expensive university education from which I have not benefited financially but will never forget is that one of the most important things about an undergraduate education is learning the terminology necessary to communicate with one's peers.

I have modified and improved my post, but I am still not happy with it completely. Everyone who reads what's posted here regularly knows I modify my posts more than anyone and I continue to be willing to improve upon the quality of my own posts.

Bill's post suggests two other threads I will think about that might be started in response to his post. I will have nothing further to say in this thread.

[D-wreck]

I'd like to add that my biggest regret was tearing up my guidebook (wingfoot or whatever it is called now). Leaving it in one piece may weigh more, but it's far easier to deal with and is a handy place for taking notes. I rarely looked at the cut up guidebook sections and ended up relying on the map most of the time, it didn't always work out so great.

I went SOBO and forgot all the advice NOBOs gave me about places 500 miles away; an intact guidebook would have been a good way to track that stuff. It's also a good way to keep track of where you stayed every night and what water sources were dried up. If you ever repeat a section this info will be priceless.

[willbump]

Sweet. Thanks everyone for the feedback. Much appreciated.