Fw: [pct-l] New PCT Southern CA Book Has Arrived

[wandering_bob@xxxxxxx (wandering_bob@xxxxxxx)]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]


Now that I've had the chance to read part of mine, I can see the additions =
and they are highly significant. Water caches are now located, especially t=
hose in section A. Mention is made of specific trail angels along the way w=
ith addresses and phone numbers, a vastly increased option for previously u=
nmentioned re-supply points along the way, etc.

If that continues in the Northern CA book, to have made a single volume out=
 of the two would have made  for a very thick book indeed. I support the de=
cision to split the book into 2 parts. Realistically, most PCT hikers are s=
ection hikers, not thru-hikers. This way they don't have to pay for informa=
tion they will never use. An argument could be made for splitting Oregon an=
d Washington too, but a lot more trail info would need to be developed for =
that.

On the pessimistic side, Wilderness Press did not come close to meeting the=
ir projected printing dates and so damn near missed the window for this yea=
r's thru-hikers. If they had waited for the N. CA revision to be ready, the=
 book would have come out so late that sales would have probably (IMHO) bee=
n greatly reduced, meaning it would be 2004 before they started to recover =
their costs.

Just wait until the GPS files are published for the trail. It's in progress=
 from several sources. I would guess several sections could be available no=
w, piecemeal. Ken Roberts' CD's have them now, but 1300 points covering 260=
0 miles aren't enough to make a "route" for most people.

Wandering Bob

----- Original Message -----
Wrom: FSQHYU
Sent: Monday, February 03, 2003 6:42 PM
To: pct-l@backcountry.net
Subject: RE: [pct-l] New PCT Southern CA Book Has Arrived

To quote from About This Book:
"By splitting the original book, we were able to redesign it in order to en=
hance readability and make it a bit more portable. We also added some new p=
hotos and improved the quality of the old ones. The maps are as they were o=
riginally, with the changes that have been made to them in prior editions; =
we expect to have them completely digitized within the next five years."



I hate these little rationalizations, I wish they would just be straight wi=
th us, something along the lines of "guidebooks don't make a lot of money, =
so to maximize profits we want to make you buy two books instead of the one=
 volume we have been selling for the past 30 years. rob

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