I have the o6 Appalachian Trail Data book… It seems to me that this contains all of the information that I need to thru hike the entire trail. I also have the thicker guide books and mapps pertaining to each section by state. Of course I won’t carry them all I’ll have them mailed accordingly.
MY QUESTION IS: Is this all the info I need to be successful and not “miss” anything?
People have recomended others books to me but they seem to have the (exact info)…
Steve
Most thru-hikers carry either Dan Bruce’s Thru-Hiker Handbook (“Wingfoot”) found @ Trailplace.com or the Thru-Hiker’s Companian (found on the ATC’s website) These books cover both trail info and town info.
You don’t need maps on the A.T., but many hikers really enjoy having them.
The individual section guidebooks are very detailed, and provide tons of local info for the section that your hiking, but they tend to be heavy.
The data book is a nice compilation of mileage and basic info, but it is more or less included in both Wingfoots book and the Companion.
If your looking for simplicity and convenience, you can easily just carry Wingfoot or the Companion. If your looking to learn as much as possible about the AT, then carrying the individual guidebooks and maps would be fun.
Will you “miss” anything? Of course! you could hike the trail 10 times more and still see new things every time you hike it. (just ask warren doyle or “Pirate” or any of the other serial hikers)
Happy trails!
freebird
The Data Book was invaluable to me on my thru-hike, with information about trail mileage, road crossings and distances to town, shelter and campsite locations, water sources, etc. available at a glace. If I HAD to choose between the Data Book and The Companion / or Handbook, I’d go with the Data Book. I referred to it multiple times a day. I did also carry the Thru-Hiker’s Companion, though, and often looked over the next section of that before heading in town. But I don’t recall (it’s been almost seven years now since I looked at it) that the Companion (or Handbook, for that matter) had all the water sources listed, for one thing. What the Data Book offers, along with the additional town info in either of the other two guides, would be, in my opinion, perfectly sufficient. Just don’t be surprised, though, if occasionally information in the Companion or Handbook is already outdated once you’re on the trail, even if you have the latest copy. Things change and can change suddenly in towns–ie. businesses close, rates change–and I found quite a few instances where what I read was not what turned out to be.
As far as maps, I didn’t carry them and wasn’t sorry. I did look over people’s shoulders when, in camp, they’d look at the profile of the next day or so, but just for curiosity-sake. I only veered off the trail once on the entire hike and quickly realized my mistake and knew where I’d gone wrong, no map necessary. One thing the maps did provide that neither the Data Book or my Companion did, was indication of additional water sources that sometimes paralleled the trail, so occasionally there ended up being more water available than I’d known beforehand. But that wasn’t really a big deal, since more than enough was better than less than expected.
Overall, I think the A.T. is quite forgiving of even those who set out with not much information at all (not to mention little or no backpacking experience). With usually plenty of water–with a couple of notable exceptions maybe, but still not THAT big of deal–and so much access to towns, it’s quite easy to adjust as you go and learn on the trail.
ramkitten
That’s definitely all you need. don’t get Wingfoot if you already have the Data Book, that would be redundant. The maps and Data Book will be plenty. For the most part, the Trail is pretty heavily worn, so there’s not a problem with accidentally wandering off somewhere.
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