Azt guidebook - Arizona Trail

imported
#1

Are there any other guidebooks beside the official one for the AZT. The maps seem a little hard to read at times. Will there be any major updates to the current guide this year?

Thanks Guino

Guino

#2

Not only are the maps hard to read, they no longer show the trail correctly in places. It doesn’t sound like a new book is coming out real soon.

I purchased the TOPO! software for AZ, purchased a membership to the AZT, and downloaded the GPS waypoints available to members on the AZT website. I think these are kept updated fairly well. Even though I didn’t use a GPS, the waypoints are frequent enough to show the route in a connect-the-dots sort of way. I printed my own Ley-style maps where needed. In many places, the guidebook works just fine.

Garlic

#3

And with a little time, you can download the “Map Data” from the AZT website in GPX format, then import into TOPO as a “freehand route.” Print out on legal size paper (both sides) at a magnification consistent with your vision, and you have a relatively compact map set.

I also just learned that the AZT Data Book includes waypoint numbers, which are linked to water source information, but I have some more studying to do to maximize this info. I suspect there is a way to load all this into a GPS, but so far I haven’t mastered it.

Shawn

#4

I remember hearing after I completed my hike last year that the AZT was looking for someone to write a new guidebook, don’t know what happened to that, but I think this year’s thrus could make very valuable notes on the changes and get that going…if you try it not thru hiking it could take YEARS!

She-ra

#5

I am on the ATA guidebook committee, and really looking forward to producing a more up-to-date version of the current guidebook. It is definitely a slow process, looking at the guidebook versus notes from people who have been out there recently. We are hoping to get an updated version of the current guidebook done by this year.

I think with a still-evolving trail such as this one, you are (for now) going to get the latest info via the databook, the ATA pocket maps, and the map data on the website. Even when this guidebook revision comes out, within a short time there will be reroutes and new trail built. I used the TOPO program and the map points and was able to generate great detailed maps to use on my hike.

Sirena

#6

Thanks for the info on finding my way. Sirena if you guys get a new guidebook out, could you please make it lighter? It could be written on regular paper not the laminated expensive stuff. The PCT guide is on paper and never gets destroyed by water. besides not to many needs for waterproof in AZ.

Any one know any cheap off brand GPS’s that can do everything fine?

Guino

#7

Hi Guino-

The guidebook committee had a meeting recently and I brought up your suggestion, which everyone agreed with. If any of this year’s thru-hikers have any comments about the current guidebook (and I’m sure you will), please feel free to e-mail me.

Sirena

Sirena

#8

Sirena & Committee,

My pet peeves about guiidebooks (bearing in mind I’ve never seen an AZT Book yet):

  1. Guidebooks should be written and produced for hikers, not show: no glossy paper, no wide margins, no monstrous fonts, etc. Just use a paper that can take a little beating or moisture w/o giving up. I know you want to have it look good on a bookstore shelf, so use a superb cover, and immediately inside explain why the rest of it looks so dull. Jim Wolf’s CDTS books are very old fashioned inside, and need a lot of improvement, but I like his newer spiral bindings; I can take them apart and reassemble them without destroying the book.
  2. The only place one should see a photo is on the last odd-numbered page of a Section, Segment, or, now I find, Passage. It’s a pain when the last sheet (2 numbered pages) of a Sect/Seg/Pass is also the first page of the next S/S/P. One has to make sure that sheet is transferred at a resupply. To put it another way, all S/S/Ps should begin on even-numbered pages, and end on odd-numbered pages.
  3. If photos must be put in a guidebook, put them all in a separate part of the book, not a part I have to carry. I’m walking the photos, and don’t want to carry them.
  4. If maps must be put in a guidebook, put them all at the end of a S/S/P, not mixed up with description. That way the map won’t be on the back of the text about the map, or vice versa.
  5. Put human history, natural history, geology, zoology, botany, etc in a separate part of the book. Let me decide if I want to carry that info. Or, at least clearly differentiate that from the necessary trail description, using a background shading or differnt color font - green?.
  6. Write the trail descrition AT style: a milepoint and just enough comment, w/all MPs listed on the left side of the page. Don’t run it all together, especially w/MPs buried in the middle of description; if you have to run things together, at least use bold font for the MPs.
  7. Use clear, concise language; don’t take 10 words to say what can be said in 7 words. Flowery descriptions are not necessary (PCT Books). Be consistent in your language, especially if you have multiple authors. Don’t call an ascent steep in one place, and elsewhere a similar ascent moderate (PCT Books). Don’t use different words for the same thing (PCT Books); if it’s a saddle, use that word through the whole book (okay to say narrow saddle, wide saddle, etc); be very consistent with language throughout the book; leave personal opinions out of the book (They’re okay, in a different book, such as Yogi’s Handbook or the AT Handbook.)
  8. Put water info in blue font or on a blue background.
  9. Put alternate route or side trail info in a third color or background shade - brown?.
  10. Put changes on the Inet at least annually; don’t move the trail a mile away without telling guidebook owners immediately. Ya got the Inet now; there’s no excuse for not keeping people informed, and with all the technology even new maps for paid owners.
  11. The sample map on the Inet looks great, w/a lot of info on both sides of the same page apparently. I haven’t seen the back of one yet, but a lot of info and even opinion could be put there I assume.
  12. Whew! That’s most of what’s been on my mind for 15-20 years; sorry ‘bout all them words. Sirena, please print out a copy of this for each person on the committee. I’d bet a lot of other hikers have been thinking the same things for years.
    If I can help in any way, including critique or review, let me know. I’ll have my AZT Book in a few days, so I can let you know what I think; if anyone wants my comments, email me off forum; otherwise, I’m done talkin’.
    Trekker (Bob Brewer)

Trekker

#9

I echo Trekkers comments on the thru hikers dream guide book. I especially like a spiral bound edition. Great to disassemble scan and load in my Ipod, or just take pages needed. The Ice Age Trail did there latest edition this way and it was great. Also you can easy copy on any weight paper you choose. The IAT didn’t use any of the other ideas just the spiral bound.Chet Anderson (Gray Ghost)

Gray Ghost

#10

right on Trekker!!

Westbrook

#11

OK - but I tend to disagree with point #6 above. That’s actually a very confusing way to provide a narrative when you’re trying to convey detailed, vital navigational information, rather than just summarily reinforcing a few main points which is all an easy-to-follow trail like the Appalachian Trail requires.

Basically, you don’t want to subordinate the narrative flow - the plain English that’s often needed to explain where the Arizona Trail goes next - to a bulleted list of mile points. Breaking up the description like that makes it infinitely more difficult to get at the heart of what’s going on, especially for someone heading the other way, opposite to the mileage scheme provided. Typically, at a moment of confusion on the trail, you don’t know exactly what mile point you happen to be at, and that’s unimportant. Rather, you need whole language that portrays the nature of the trail at hand, and you unavoidably need to read through that description in order to sort of register it to the situation at hand. This is the approach Jim Wolf takes in the CDT guides, and it’s a big part of why these guides are so preferred by hikers over the other guidebook available. It’s what I’ve patterned the GET online guidebook after, as well. Jim Wolf is my hero!

blisterfree

#12

Just as one example, here’s an excerpt from GET segment 8, less than one mile’s worth of description in a particularly knotty section. I do make reference to milepoints, but it’s more for occasional registration to the map, rather than anything to hang the discussion on.

Now back in BLM Wilderness, pick up a de facto trail that heads south along the west side of Preacher Canyon, with evidence of a water pipeline nearby. The topography is intriguing as ever, with nearby sheer-sided fins of rock echoing the towering form of Black Rock behind you, a remnant volcanic core, perhaps composed of andesite. The trail, probably Trail 66 but unsigned, soon crosses the drainage to its east side, then near 19.9 returns to it again. Rather than crossing the drainage again, leave the trail here and walk up the drainage itself to waypoint 08315, where some semblance of another trail is followable along its left side, again in the vicinity of the water line. You may need to scout a bit to remain near the pipeline, which climbs along the blocky canyon wall more than might be expected; but in any case, leave the pipeline for good at waypoint 08317, at a swtichback, where vague trail heads up along the eastern side of the canyon. The trail becomes rough and steep, actually several tracks that follow the same general line. After the initial steep climb, though, the trail fades out altogether. Thankfully the terrain is open and the way ahead should be straightforward. The goal is to reach the crest of the broad ridge southeast of here. Proceed cross-country the rest of the way up the grassy slope, then walk south along the crest of the main ridge to find an east-west fenceline at 20.5 (waypoint 08320) (the fenceline also runs north along the east end of the ridge). Cross over the fence and look for a trail paralleling it. To the north, this trail leads in a couple of miles to a private ranch (“T Hinton” on maps, no trespassing). Instead, follow the trail south, now in National Forest Wilderness once more. (Westbounders be sure to leave the trail at the fenceline, cross the fence, and head north down the ridge.)

blisterfree