[pct-l] Postholer's Map Books?

[Diane Soini]

I've always tried to impart on people who come to my Sierra Club  
hikes that miles are totally relative. One mile in the heat is  
farther than one mile on a cool day. One mile uphill is a lot harder  
than one mile on level. One mile when you are dehydrated might be  
impossibly long. The last mile might seem a lot farther than the  
first, or vice-versa, because sometimes the way back seems shorter  
than the way there, sometimes longer. So don't me how many miles and  
expect anything more than a an approximation.

Still, on the PCT, you do have a sense of doing this epic endurance  
thing and it is pretty interesting to know exactly how many miles you  
have gone each day. I always enjoyed tallying up my daily total. So I  
can see why people really like knowing the exact mileage as they go.  
I used the data book for that purpose, not a map.

I also used the WP guide books for knowing where there might be water  
off trail or bail-out points or ways to get to towns instead of using  
maps for that. After So-Cal and reliance on the invaluable water  
report, requiring a map to find water is not really necessary while  
on the PCT. By that I mean that the half-mile maps or the data book  
and guide books are enough. You don't really need a wide overview map  
to find water on the PCT.

On Oct 25, 2013, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> From: "Wally Neal" <wallyneal at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Postholer's Map Books?
>
> It's not possible to accurately measure all those trail squiggles,
> for sure not on a map of any scale and not absolutely even on-trail,
> so all the milages are wrong to some degree.