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

[Len Glassner]

I don't recall seeing a solicitation for hiker input.  I've
volunteered a couple of tidbits, never heard back.  She publishes
periodic updates her website. A lot of it is town-related, businesses
come and go, hours of operation change, etc.  I'd guess that she
checks this kind of stuff out yearly.  She's really the one to address
the 'how' part.

Specifically regarding water sources, she details her findings from
the four times she hiked (if there were variances) as well as several
other hikers' findings (a lot from Scott W.) over different years.
Seasonal sources are of course variable in reliability, and there is
some commentary from hikers about early/late season hiking. Just as
useful were the few occasions where there was no commentary on a
listed source.  I assumed it wasn't all that good.  I had to buy the
book twice, and don't recall much if any change to the water source
commentary from '08 to '09.

On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 4:09 PM,  <jeff.singewald at comcast.net> wrote:
> 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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