[pct-l] Hiking without the guide book??

[jeff.singewald at comcast.net]

Len, 



Just curious with regards to the PCT Handbook.  Does Yogi gather information from each class year to update her book each year.  I realize she has hiked the trail on at least 3 occasions (amazing), but the trail changes sufficiently with regards to water sources and such.  How does the handbook get updated? 



Jeff 


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Len Glassner" <len5742 at gmail.com> 
To: "Brett Cosner" <brettcosner at yahoo.com> 
Cc: pct-l at backcountry.net 
Sent: Tuesday, December 1, 2009 1:14:11 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific 
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Hiking without the guide book?? 

On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 3:15 PM, Brett Cosner <brettcosner at yahoo.com> wrote: 
> Anyone try hiking the PCT without the guide book?  I plan to hike this summer sobo and don't want to do many resupply boxes or mail drops.  I would start with some of the guide for Washington, but rely on maps and the data book after that.  I also plan to carry some pages of Yogi's guide.  I have people who will meet me in Washington, Northern and Central California so I will send them parts of the guide as well. 
> 
> How necessary are the official guides for all three states? 
> 
I used the official guides for some of the trail in '08, none of the 
trail in '09. (I'll omit a discussion of the other trail info sources 
I used, as you didn't ask about other sources.)  It was a great relief 
this year not to have to hunt through the guide commentary to find the 
map appropriate to my location.  The commentary was sometimes an 
interesting read, but a constant impediment to just figuring out where 
I was. 

I carried Yogi's pages both times.  I highly valued the discussions of 
water sources - they tell you how likely you are to find water, the 
quality of the water, sometimes how to find the water. I used that 
information in conjunction with the data book to decide where to get 
water.  (Of course, for the fist 700 miles - last 700 in your case - 
the only water source description that matters is Asabat's water 
report.) 
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