Has anyone been able to find the 2006 ed. of the Thru-Hiker’s Handbook? I preordered it from Barnes&Noble for the scheduled jan 28th release, but they ended up pushing it back a month. i had to then cancel my order because i will be closing my accounts here in MI prior to my departure for my thru-hike. any tips on where to track this book down would be appreciated.
mando
mando
Mount Rogers Outfitters in Damascus has some for sale. Call them to get one 276-475-5416.
Wolf
Barnes and Noble completely cancelled my order. They told me that they could no longer secure this book, I put my check in the mail to Dan Bruce yesterday.
Tabasco
you can get the 2006 Thru-Hikers Handbook from wingfoot at trailplace.com.
from the atc you can get the 2006 data book or the 2006 at thru0hikers companion.
jerm
Just pick one up at Neels Gap when you go through. They have them there. Just think you will be a little lighter for three days
Sub 03
subman
Just go to www.trailplace.com, print out the order form, and send it with payment to Wingfoot. That’s how I did it, and I’ve had the new edition for at least a month now.
Skyline
How reliable is WF’s guide considering he hasn’t set foot on the trail in over 10 years?
Dry Leaves
His book is pretty accurate, since people send in stuff to himeach year, including new places, closed places, trail changes, etc. The hand drawn maps of towns are terrible at times, but the literal descriptions of every stream and other encounter are good and the mileages and hints about things pretty accurate.
A lot of hikers are able to complete the trail, or section, based on the excellent trail work/marking by the trail crews out there each year, and Wingnut’s book for planning before and while on trail. I have my torn up '04 copy that I will still use on my section this year, I doubt much has really changed.
-xtn :boy
airferret
in south, wingnut greast. north of mason-dixon, wingnut is useless. really bad on water sources. use data book from pa. north. he hasn’t walked a trail in the north in years, obviously.
a
It seems that during the '05 season it was popular to trash Wingfoot by quite a few thruhikers. I used his book and found it more reliable than anything else available. I often asked the people who were trashing him if they had ever met him. The answer was always “no”. I also asked if the other sources of information were more or less accurate. The answer was always “less”. I eventually concluded that those who trashed him were doing so just because it was convenient and the popular thing to do. Wingfoot may or may not be all the names he is called, but in my opinion his book is the best source of information for thruhiking the Appalachian Trail.
Nimblefoot
Wingfoot can be polarizing as hell sometimes, he just can’t help it. But you can’t say he doesn’t care about the AT, and his books are as good as the others–just different. I’ve found that to get ALL the info – if you really want it all – you need to combine the info in the Companion & Wingfoot. Each has stuff the other doesn’t.
It’s true WF hasn’t hiked the AT in years but he does have many contacts along the Trail and a huge phone bill every Nov. & Dec. I always get a call, and I know many others who say they do too, and we are his eyes and ears so he can stay up to date. (I do the same when asked, or sometimes even not when asked, for the Companion as do many others).
People complain about the data accuracy in ALL the AT info books each year–the Companion, Wingfoot, Data Book, the state guides, other privately published guides, and don’t forget the bitching about map profiles. Some of this (tho rarely the profiles) is due to changes that occur after the books go to press. It’s just the nature of the moving target which is the minutiae on and near the AT.
Skyline
accuracy is not subjective or political. in new england, there are enormously fewer hikers reading and using wingnut and by that time they are so trail experienced that they only use the handbook as a guide anyway. but, in 2005, I heard numerous thrus complaining about wingnut’s inaccuracies regarding water sources that were accurate in the data book.
I noted numerous inaccuracies and omissions in wingnut in the northeast and new england. just plain wrong or nonexistent. it’s not personal or political, but simply factual. thousands of hikers use the guides donw south, so they are fat with details. up north, the handbook is still usable, but not as dependable and, at times, just wrong.
Lots of hikers will complain about any little thing, just because they can, but the folks I heard voicing their concerns were seasoned, non-shrill, laid-back walkers. After a point, it hardly matters what the book says, people just laugh it off as part of the experience.
Objective truth is that wingnut is not so accurate up north. It’s wingnut’s responsibility to get it right: he’s the one selling the book and claiming the knowledge worthy of publication. wingnut needs to hike the north and do the updates himself, not get them over the phone, as he’s likely done for years. lemme tell you, the laziness is apparent.
a
If you know of anything that is definitely wrong in any of these Guides, especially the Handbook since that’s what we’re discussing, I’m sure it would be appreciated if you’d pass on the info to the appropriate parties.
Not only would the editor/publisher want to hear from you, but future hikers will benefit.
Example: I just received my ALDHA/ATC Companion earlier this month. There were about half a dozen items that needed changing in my area. I dropped Mrs. Gorp (editor) a line, she passed it along to the Field Editor, and everyone’s happy. I’d hope Wingfoot would accept your updates similarly, and suspect he would if offered in a spirit of cooperation.
Skyline
I just wanted to echo Skyline’s advice about notifying guidebook authors when their information no longer current (or just incorrect). This really helps future hikers out, and is a great way of giving back to the trail community.
I think you just have to accept that no guidebook is going to be accurate 100% of the time. That said, I honestly didn’t find that many inaccuracies in Wingfoot’s handbook on my thru-hike last year, in New England or otherwise.
For those who haven’t listened to the TrailCast interview with Wingfoot, I highly recommend it. There’s also a transcript if you don’t have time enough to listen to the entire interview:
http://www.trailcast.org/programs/14
http://www.trailcast.org/wingfoot-interview-transcript/
You may not agree with his ideas about “traditional thru-hiking” or whatever, but give the man some credit for popularizing the trail.
Pacer
I know wingnut engenders polarization and i didn’t intend to take an adversarial tone. however, some hikers are more observant than others and notice the mistakes more readily. I don’t know wingfoot and I have no opinion of the man and it wouldn’t be relevant in this context anyway.
The usefulness of passing information along by phone to someone who tells someone who tells the editor who then makes a note then updates the text is questionable, as illustrated by the handbook entries up north. Nobody can hike the trail in vermont and new hampster and pay attention to wingnut along the way and honestly tell me there aren’t errors and omissions. Most hikers who bought the book are off the trail by then, anyway, so there’s little constitutncy left to complain. Besides, most of us are busy walking, not cross-checking the details in his book. The ones I noticed, I noticed offhand.
ever play that game where the first person in a group whispers something into the next person’s ear and by the time it goes all the way 'round the message bears no resemblance to itself?
I’ll be happy to make wingnut’s corrections if he’ll pay me to hike.
a
It’s true the Wingfoot gets less accurate each state north you go, but most people agreed that the Data Book wasn’t any different. Most people seemed to get fed up with both books up north that they weren’t used much. Really, when you look at your Wingfoot and the next landmark isn’t for another eight miles, there’s really no point to using it at all. But since both books are roughly the same, the maps and being able to read the book forward in my opinion make Wingfoot’s the better book. Man, I can’t believe I just said that.
Also keep in mind that the books do miss water sources in Pennsylvania and beyond, but northbound, that’s when summer hits and the sources all dry up, so it would be pretty hard to say with much accuracy where the water is.
Though the second most annoying thing about Wingfoot’s book are his included lessons on how to hike, etc., that really need to be ripped out.
0101
was renamed …(drum roll)…
The Lies Book!
This, by two LT End-to-End sobo friends.
Some things change. Some stay the same. That’s why we have “editions” of publications.
javascript:smile(’:tongue’)
A Long Time Ago