Direction in Trail Guides
Im curious, why, if majority of hikers hike North Bound, why are the trail guides read as Southbound?
I think these are the only books I ever read that I have to read backwards..
"So what if theres a mountain, get over it!!!" - Graywolf, 2010
I have no idea but I find it very annoying. AWOL's guide comes in both NOBO and SOBO editions.
No man should go through life without once experiencing healthy even bored solitude in the wilderness, finding himself depending solely on himself and thereby learning his true and hidden strength.
Just a guess:
Thruhikers are not the be-all and end-all of the AT hiking community - they're a minority. The guides are written by the local clubs and more likely used by section hikers and day hikers in their respective areas. So from the clubs' perspectives, there is no compelling need to organize them S-N. Even for those section hikers who have done the whole trail (e.g. me), the guides' organization didn't matter for those of us who hiked some sections S-N and others N-S.
When I first learned about the AT, I heard it was "Maine to Georgia" and most of the AT literature and products also referred to it that way e.g. ATC patches featuring the AT logo with the words "Maine to Georgia" underneath the "AT" letters. So it seems this shorthand way of describing the trail may have carried over to other things.
After Ed Garvey completed his 1970 NOBO hike and wrote his book Appalachian Hiker - Adventure of Lifetime, he made up mileage fact sheets listing all key points of the trail in a S-N order. But in 1975 when the ATC decided to make up a data book using this concept, it organized the book N-S for reasons unclear to me. Was it the "Maine to Georgia" syndrome?
Majority Rules
Majority of thru hikes start nobo, probably as high as 90%. Has to do with water sources, weather, scenery, bugs, Baxter hours of operation, etc.
Well, more I think about it and I sit here staring at the map hung over my computer, all of it is wrong, as it actually runs a south-west/north east direction. Or as the guidebooks point, a North East/South West direction..HmmmmmBut I guess thats being to technical..
Graywolf
"So what if theres a mountain, get over it!!!" - Graywolf, 2010
Who likes walking into the sun? Not me, NOBO when every possible.
[COLOR="Blue"]Hokey Pokey [/COLOR]
And so only thruhikers' preferences should be considered, as opposed to other AT hikers who comprise the vast majority of AT users?Originally Posted by SassyWindsor
My section hiking involved some NOBO, some SOBO throughout the Trail corridor. I probably did more NOBO on the whole but I haven't looked it up. Anyway, over the years I don't honestly remember the sun-in-eyes as much of a factor. Let's see, hiking SOBO from Allen Gap to Rt. 64 in '04, I had so much clouds & mist, I really welcomed the sun in my face hiking up Swim Bald!
My ATC guidebooks (not the thru-hikers companion or at guide) are in storage, but if I recall correctly they're written in both directions.
All my trail guides I ahve right here by the comp. They all are written North to South. Read backwards, (back to front) its south to north...
"So what if theres a mountain, get over it!!!" - Graywolf, 2010
I know exactly what you're talking about. If you do a search on my username and look at posts from ~2 years ago you'll see I asked the exact same question.All my trail guides I ahve right here by the comp. They all are written North to South. Read backwards, (back to front) its south to north...
I never got an answer.
FYI - we're not talking about The AT Guide or the Companion (or any other trail guide) - this is about the books that come bundled with the maps that the ATC sells. They go north to south - but almost everyone talks about hiking the AT south to north.
The first AT hike I went on I went north and took my AT guide to learn about the trail. My very first thought was similar to "***?????"
Katahdin
Here in Maine I asked that very question and was told "As far as we are concerned, the A.T. starts on Katahdin". Works for me LOL.
Life is what happens while you are making other plans. John Lennon
It's a total non-issue after three days on the trail. Your brain makes the adjustment automatically.
Don't take anything I say seriously... I certainly don't.
Well if it only matters to the thru-hikers and doesn't matter to section hikers then there is a compelling reason to have it go south to north.
No man should go through life without once experiencing healthy even bored solitude in the wilderness, finding himself depending solely on himself and thereby learning his true and hidden strength.
I feel like a broken record here....
Yes, most thru hikers go south to north. Yes, some section hikers also are hung up on hiking their sections in an orderly contiguous south to north direction, although I note you deviated from that pattern when you hiked SOBO (the horror of it all) from Bear Mt. to DWG.
So what? Ya know everyone, there are lots of other hikers out there, hikers who "talk about" whatever 1-day or 3-day or 1 month section they're doing. It might be N-S, it might be S-N. Heck, it might be "inside-out" like I did on the Long Trail. And surprise, surprise - I bet a majority of them are not on WB.
So who cares? Aren't there more important questions re the AT than the direction of the guidebooks?
Absolutely not.
Yes. But that doesn't mean it's not stupid.
"That's the thing about possum innards - they's just as good the second day." - Jed Clampett
Whoever gets the ATC to fix the guidebooks to a South to North orientation gets my vote for the Hall Of Fame.
And Myron Avery was a Mainer, let's not forget.
AMEN! My thoughts exactly.
Yeah, "provincialism" was going to be my answer also. Damn Yankees!
RainMan
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[I]ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: ... Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit....[/I]. Numbers 35
[url]www.MeetUp.com/NashvilleBackpacker[/url]
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