Is there a single guide book or set of official guide books for the CDT? Is it worth buying them for at least planning purposes or are maps more important? From reading some journals it seems like the trail changes slightly every year much like the AT used to in the good old days. Where do you go for current updates?
Big B
There is only one up to date “official” reference and that is the bear creek (aka Jerry Brown) Map Books. I would rate those maps at 5++ stars. They are that good - the most accurate and easy to use maps I have ever had on a hike. I am a bit of a techie type and they work great with a GPS. With those maps I never got lost for more than a very bit short amount of time, and they always got me right back on track. (www.bearcreeksurvey.com)
There are some guides put out by the CDTS which run north to south and some hikers use those. In a lot of places they route you somewhere other than the official route, but very few hikers do the official route for the entire distance anyhow. When I hiked I went northbound and had a hard time figuring the descriptions, which all flow in the opposite direction. It was very confusing to me and I ended up relying on maps alone. (http://www.cdtsociety.org)
There is another set of maps by Jonathan Ley that often follow trails that neither CDTS or bear creek show. Those maps are free and on CD. They also have some other useful hiker friendly information on them and I found them helpful. They are not very GPS friendly. (http://www.phlumf.com/travels/cdt/)
On my hike I used 95% bear creek maps plus a few Ley maps which I pre-printed for alternates I wanted to try. I also carried the Ley CD to use in case of a fire or other closure. I was stopped in my tracks when the trail was closed by a fire in Montana. None of the maps showed a large enough area to help. Jerry Brown quickly produced a map that he thought would avoid the fire and made it available on his web site. I borrowed a computer in Lincoln and printed it, then hiked around the fire with no problems.
You also should get Yogi’s guide. It really helps with re-supply and access issues. (http://www.pcthandbook.com/index.php)
The trail changes every year so you should wait until spring to get maps. I think there is a new Yogi’s guide out so maybe start with that.
rideon
Most hikers on the CDT follow a mixture of the official route and other more hiker friendly routes, such as the ones described in Jim Wolf’s guidebooks and the ones shown on the J. Ley maps. The official route avoids some really nice places (like the Gila Cliff dwellings and hot springs and Ghost Ranch) and has some very long waterless sections. The Bear Creek maps show only the official route. The Wolf guidebooks are very good at giving detailed directions to water sources, which can be hard to find.
Ginny
On my SOBO thru-hike last year, I used Yogi’s town guide and Ley’s maps & a compass. Many hikers are convinced that GPS’s are the only way to go, but I enjoyed the navigation without one and only got somewhat lost (ie figuring out which BLM or FS road to take) twice. I didn’t buy the Wolf guides and never felt that I needed them. If you choose to go sans GPS and Wolf guides, you should have some navigational skills. Most of the new trail building on the CDT right now is in northern NM. The brand new sections are easy to follow. Happy Trails!
freebird
When Tweet and I did our NOBO thru in 2011 we carried both BC and Ley maps, a Garmin Colorado, and Wolf. After two weeks in NM we jettisoned Wolf - the maps worked better. After experimenting with going back and forth between Ley and BC maps, we stopped carrying Ley except for the places where we had planned an alternate. We did the Gila River, Cirque, and Macks Inn alternates which are not official so we used Ley in those areas. We got lost a few times using both Ley and BC, but…
Ley maps are great as long as you know exacly where you are on he map. When you get lost they become worthless. At that point it is bushwhack or go back. With the BC maps it is much harder to get lost, and when you do, it’s really a straightforward process to get back on track. The UTM grid setup combined with a gps is absolutely rock solid. We were new to gps, so we studied and strictly followed the methods described in the mapbooks, which, BTW, worked every time. The trail has thousands of intersections, marking is horrible in places, and you have to refer to a map constantly. (at least we did) With a gps and BC maps you can determine exactly where the trail is and how to get to it. Not so with Ley or Wolf.
Saratoga