[pct-l] Data book and Maps - a little perspective

Sat Jan 15 12:43:50 CST 2011

Good morning, Paul,

My choice for navigating the PCT is HalfMile’s maps used in conjunction with
his waypoints.  I use an out-of-production Garmin Geko 201 GPS receiver but
I always carry a compass.  http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=265247

Years ago I primarily hiked short sections of PCT in Oregon and Washington.
For those hikes I found that the Forest Service (USFS) PCT map series was
just right.  Maps in that series were typical 4” x 9” USFS fold-up
recreation maps featuring only the PCT.  They were based upon USGS 15-Minute
Series (1:62,500) topo’ quads, and were also printed at that scale. i.e., 1
inch/mile.

There were a total of 5 maps: Washington North, Washington South, Oregon
North, Oregon Central, and Oregon South.  These seemed to be a phenomenon of
the Pacific Northwest Region – Region 6 – because I’ve never seen their
equivalent for California. Each of the maps illustrated four or five long,
skinny strips of PCT; each section being approximately ten miles wide and
100 trail-miles long with the PCT highlighted as a red line.  Along the red
line were dots for significant points, and the mileage between those points
was printed on the map.  White areas of the maps were occupied with all
kinds of general information.

The basic USGS map format also included the typical statute grid with its
worthless-as-tits-on-a-boar section, range, and township lines.  However,
even with these narrow map strips the latitude/longitude marking appeared at
their edges so with a bit of interpolation one could actually use a GPS.

Sometime in the mid-‘90s when I became more serious about hiking all of the
PCT I bought the Wilderness Press guidebook for Oregon and Washington
because that seemed to be what one must do, however, after reading it I was
disappointed.  The problems I found at that time remain to this day:

1)      Map sections were too small in scale.

2)      The maps were black/white except for the little, blue lines for
creeks.  The black PCT line is difficult to distinguish.

3)      There were no GPS-friendly latitude/longitude or UTM markings.

4)      The written trail instructions were interspersed with volumes of
information I didn’t want to read when I needed direction.  Besides, my
first plan was to hike Oregon SoBo but the trail instructions were written
NoBo.  Have you ever tried to read a series of situationally-relative
instructions backwards?  Grim ….

The net result of all that was, while hiking all of Oregon SoBo and
Washington NoBo I occasionally carried parts of the Guidebook but I very
rarely read any of it.  Later, when I began hiking NoBo from Campo, I didn’t
have much choice:  I had to use the Guidebook because there wasn’t yet a
HalfMile mapset.

I got by with the WP Guidebook of course, just as thousands of other hikers,
but I had modified the maps by hand to include some UTM coordinate tics.  What
a pain.

Now HalfMile’s maps are the functional equivalent of my old USFS PCT maps --
only better, and they include the entire trail rather than just the Pacific
NW.

In addition to maps for navigation I see that several other kinds of
information are useful to a prospective PCT hiker:

-- Preparation information will help plan for, organize, and equip a
hike.  Books
by Jardine and -- much better in my view -- Yogi fall in this category.  In
the interest of full disclosure I have to say that Yogi is a friend of mine.
Increasingly, however, hikers find very good preparation information on-line
via planning websites or PCT-L.

-- Town information can help a hiker find what he/she needs quickly and
efficiently during a rest or resupply stop.  I find that Yogi's town
information is far better than the WP Town Guide.

-- Descriptive information about terrain, flora and fauna, geology, history,
and local anecdotes can enhance a hiker’s experience, and it can help
chronic insomniacs fall asleep more quickly when strong drugs are
ineffective.

I’ve not used Eric the Black’s book(s) but I’ve examined a few of them on
the trail and I think they would serve very nicely for navigation and most
other trail needs.  Everyone I talked to using them thought they were very
good, but perhaps not perfect.

We each should be honest with ourselves in determining which type of
information we need to carry on the trail; which we just want; and which
really isn’t worth the related ounces and/or dollars.  I don’t recommend
anyone hiking without maps, but most of the trail is so well marked that
many hikers can easily stay on the PCT – maybe completing the entire trail
-- without any maps or directions at all.   In ‘08 I had to skip around my
Belden resupply due to a fire closure, and I hiked from Chester to Castella
without any maps.  Again, in ’09, the Postal Service lost my Priority Mail
resupply box to Big Bear.  As a result I purchased food locally and hiked on
– without maps.  I didn’t get maps again until Agua Dulce.

For many hikers it doesn’t matter what book, map, compass, or GPS they
carry:  They don’t understand, nor can they use, any of it anyway.  They get
along by just following the crowd -- hiking with a pose’ of people who do
know how to navigate.

Steel-Eye

Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09

On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 7:32 PM, Paul Robison <paulrobisonhome at yahoo.com>wrote:

> So in this sense it's not as a Orientation tool;  but rather for logistics,
> planning campsights and whatnot...  That makes sense and seems to be where
> the real value of them is found. Do yu use a gps? It would seem wit
> halfmiles maps and waypoints in a gps getting lost would be next to
> impossible;  then for making a daily goal just add up mileages and scroll
> ahead on the map to find your next sight... But this is just theory for me.
>
> I know you've been doing the pct about as long as anyone here, or perhaps
> longer...  Have yu tried a bunch of the guides?  Do any ones specifically
> stand out ?
>
> One guy who has used several of them is a lot more fair of a review than
> person A didn't like book X and person B loved book Y ... Some people are
> much harder to please : )
>
> Sent from my iPod
>
> On 2011-01-12, at 10:22 PM, CHUCK CHELIN <steeleye at wildblue.net> wrote:
>
> Good evening, Paul,
>
>
>
> I consult the data book pages regularly during a day’s hike, and in the
> evening when I’m in the sack planning tomorrow’s hike.  I don’t usually
> establish a real goal for the next day, but I do note on the mileage column
> approximately where 25-30 miles will take me.  During the day I refer to
> the pages when I encounter some trail-identified feature.
>
>
>
> While I always have real maps – the last several years it’s been HalfMile’s
> maps – and I look at them mostly for overall perspective, and for GPS data
> to gauge my progress; seldom to unscramble the trail.  The maps/waypoints
> are all that’s really necessary, but I refer to the data book mostly out of
> a habit I developed in the days when I only had the less-than-user-friendly
> guidebook.
>
>
>
> Steel-Eye
>
> Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965
>
> http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye
>
> http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 2:10 PM, Paul Robison <<paulrobisonhome at yahoo.com>
> paulrobisonhome at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> I disagree,  I didn't look at the data books once from mexico to
>> idyllwild,  and very very infrequently after that...
>> ... At least in my hiking style the maps meant far far more
>>
>> In 2011 I will not bring the data book just Asabats report and halfmiles
>> maps on my gps
>>
>> My opinion... One of many
>>
>> Sent from my iPod
>>
>> On 2011-01-12, at 11:14 AM, PCT List < <pctlist at gmail.com>
>> pctlist at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > You will use your data book far more than you will use any map. You'll
>> > consult your data book many times during the day. When you do consult
>> > your maps, it will likely be for a general idea of where you're at in
>> > the big picture.
>> >
>> > With that said, you should definitely carry maps for those *very few*
>> > times you'll need them for navigation along the PCT.
>> >
>> > You have 2 options for a data book that matches respective map sets:
>> >
>> > Ben Go's data book that matches the WP guide books:
>> > <http://www.wildernesspress.com/product.php?productid=16648>
>> http://www.wildernesspress.com/product.php?productid=16648
>> >
>> > Free postholer data book that matches the postholer maps:
>> > On line: <http://postholer.com/databook/>http://postholer.com/databook/
>> > PDF: <http://postholer.com/transfer.php?type=1>
>> http://postholer.com/transfer.php?type=1
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