[pct-l] Maps

[jason moores]

I have used the WP guides, the Atlas and Halfmile's maps and hands down prefer Halfmile's maps. 

I found the WP guides wordy and the maps next to useless for actual route finding do to their limited scope. Flipping back and forth between trail description and coinciding map page was a bit of a chore. 

I had many issues with the Atlas: the cost, numerous mistakes, poor elevation profiles, cost.... My books didn't arrive by the promised dates and at $50 a book I expect them to be near flawless in their data, I didn't find this to be so(I'm not sure what Eric is charging this year). The Atlas maps are of great quality but once they are shrunk to fit the size of the book they loose there definition. The red line of the trail often blurred over multiple switch-backs and I found the shrunken size of the maps made it unreliable for true route finding in snow. 95% of the time route finding is not an issue, and you really could get by with these maps. It's the other 5% that concerns me.

Unhappy with the Atlas in '09 I switched to Halfmile's maps and couldn't be happier. I used them in '10 and I'll use them again in '11 along with the water report and data book pages. 

Jackass