The CDT Society offers a series of guidebooks.I would like to know if anyone has used these books and what they thought of them. My son and I used Jonathan Ley maps, but I’m not good at reading maps. I’d looking for a guidebook.
susie burns
Guidebooks - Continental Divide Trail
system
#2
I used them this year, they range from being invaluable to useless. Depending on which route you take, new sections of trail, how recently the guidebook was updated etc.
The Southern Montana, New Mexico and two supplement books are excellent as of 2010. I didn’t end up carrying the other ones, they weren’t worth carrying for me. But others found them useful.
Maybe half the people I hiked with this year had them.
Jim’s doing a pretty good job of keeping up-to-date with everything though and I do think they’re worth the cost.
Keep in mind they’re written southbound, except the Northern Montana one which is north and south. Kind of annoying to read a guidebook backwards. Kind of really annoying.
You probably should get comfortable reading a map, that’s what you’ll use more than anything most of the time. It’s really not that hard and the more you do it, make mistakes, pay attention, you get better.
Heaps
system
#3
I am like you: I really love using guidebooks. My husband hates them, and much prefers using just maps. On the CDT it helps be able to do both.
We used the Wolf books on both our northbound and southbound thruhikes. I think they are terrific. They have a level of detail that can be very useful on the CDT - esp. regarding exact locations of water sources, elevation changes, etc. (Every 50’ climb or descent is noted, not just the major ones.) The description of alternate routes is also great, since you can decide which routes to take based on things like water availability, exposure, etc.
OTOH, it can be difficult to coordinate the guidebooks with the addenda - so it is a good idea to read through the section you are hiking ahead of time and cross out those routes that have changed over the years.
Ginny