Navigating the trail in 2018

[fastfoxengineering]

Paper maps and compass?
Awol book or electronic PDF?
To guthook or not to guthook?
Any other resources?

I carry a smart phone and a Casio Pathfinder watch that has a compass. The smart phone also has a compass. Neither are superbly accurate, but should be proficient on the AT.

Knowing what I have with me, what resources would you recommend to bring on trail? Is AWOLs guide worth carrying?

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[colorado_rob]

As discussed in another thread about "maps or not", I found having a map very useful in the Whites, but not necessary anywhere else, unless you just love maps, like many folks do. I did use Google maps on my phone a couple times to re-find the trail twice; despite what many say "just follow the white blazes", there are a few places where one can easily get off trail if not paying attention. I hear Guthook is fantastic, that's in the category of "why not" if you're carrying a phone anyway, except for battery drain. I'm a voracious reader on the trail and like to save my phone battery for reading (kindle app) at night.

I really liked having the paper AWOL with me, I tore it into many sections, only carrying what I needed for a few weeks at a time, a couple ounces in a sandwich sized zip-lock; so handy just to dip into pocket and look at current page vs. bring out phone, unlock, etc, and saves battery life on phone not needing it. I also carried the PDF version on my phone in case I lost pages or a whole section of AWOL. I also used AWOL as a journal, writing notes in the margins.

I also always, everywhere when hiking, carry a very small, way less than an ounce, compass. Comes in handy every once in a while, so easy to get disoriented in that long green tunnel.

Just my Modus Operandi, we're now repeating the AT for my wife's benefit, probably not changing anything with respect to this subject, meaning it worked very well the first time.

[moldy]

Simple navigating of the trail requires none of the above. It's a "follow the yellow brick road" type of deal. Now to enhance your enjoyment of the trail or to give yourself a navigation back up when the white blazes fail you it's smart to have your phone, watch and a AWOL type guide or guthook app. While maps are great for section hikers they are too much of a pain in the butt and expense to fool with on a thru hike. On a thru hike another valuable resource is the combined assets of your hiking family or team that you will find along the way. Somebody will be in possession of the information you need.

[soumodeler]

I would say the majority of thru hikers have nothing but an AWOL guide. The guthook app is great, but at $60 for the whole trail not nearly as popular. You could easily get by with the pocket profile maps from Anti Gravity Gear.

[Puddlefish]

I went with AWOL and Guthook, and recommend taking both.

I found the paper AWOL guide great for resupply planning. It was easy to open to a physical page, look at the elevation and distance and decide how far I could get in a number of days. It has solid information about route crossings with resupply/lodging options, including shelters, and water sources. Which even let me decide how much water I needed at any given stretch of the day. I had it backed up on my Kindle, but the print was too small, and the navigation to clumsy for it to be of use. It's heavy. I tore it into six sections, and had someone mail them to me at hostels/towns I knew I wanted to visit anyway. I wrote notes on the pages, marking my daily progress with the date, which is a nice memory aid when recalling the trip.

Guthook was also amazing, in that it tells you much of the same information. It had the same information on water sources, road crossings, and shelters. Far less information on towns, resupply and lodging. It had a few extra tent sites included, and it often had up to date "shared information" on the water sources from other hikers. Where it really shined was telling you exactly where you were. It's one thing to realize that there's water 4 miles ahead, but it's also easy to walk by that water at times when it's not an obvious source.

I bought maps for the entire trail in advance, at great expense. They were heavy, and I never used them. I also only made it to Virginia.

[lonehiker]

On a thru hike another valuable resource is the combined assets of your hiking family or team that you will find along the way. Somebody will be in possession of the information you need.

Nothing like relying upon someone else for your informational needs... Maybe someone on your team could even carry your pack for you?

[Puddlefish]

Nothing like relying upon someone else for your informational needs... Maybe someone on your team could even carry your pack for you?

That's not how I read Moldy's advice. In context it was part of a statement that there's a community on the trail. I was prepared, but I still got a lot of bonus information by just chatting with the people around me. There's local knowledge from day hikers, there's knowledge from multiple thru hikers, there are all sorts of people on the trail who are only too happy to share information.

[Gambit McCrae]

Nothing like relying upon someone else for your informational needs... Maybe someone on your team could even carry your pack for you?

Agreed,
Carry what you need.
I haven't done the whites yet, But I have done about 1500 miles ...Started out using the big fold out Nat geo map...Useless for the AT as long as you aren't needing to get off the trail for an unexpected reason. From that I went to the pocket maps as mentioned above...Much more useful if you stay on top of your current waypoints. All it tells you is that if you are at Wilbur Damn Rd that Vendeventer shelter is 4.7 miles ahead and that it has a water source. But it doesn't tell you that that water source is one of the worst water tails in the south and you will hate yourself for not carrying the extra liter you need from the road...Which brings me to guthooks...By using guthooks, it allows hikers to give a real time update of water sources and activity along the trail. If you don't like hanging out around bear activity, then you could read that on guthooks and plan around where you are going to stay early on in the day instead of getting to the shelter late, skimming the shelter log to find this info. It also does all the math for you so there is no mistakes made in how far you have left for the day. It also shows you real time location on both a elevation profile as well as an overhead map view. I know it has shown me in the Smokies that I was no longer on the AT, but on another trail by mistake...saved me a bunch of time in that instance...at about 1 am on a Friday night it saved me at the bland trailhead of finding the trail nobo on the other side of the highway...If you were to say get off the trail to go potty, and got lost...You could pull out guthooks and see you were 1600 ft from the trail and walk to the red line (the AT) using the overhead view...possibly saving your life. Now a lot of folks will bring up the "technology, don't rely on it" remarks but the fact is we do in todays time. I have a high quality water resistant smart phone, in a waterproof, impact resistant case, and a battery pack that can recharge it 3-4 full times. I have never carried a guide book on the trail, mostly because I am a section hiker, and there is no need for me to carry information for the whole trail when Im only walking 30 miles of it this weekend. If I were thru hiking, I would choose the awol guide, and bounce it 3 times down the trail, tearing it into 4 parts. Tearing off my next 1/4 and mailing the rest on down the trail...This does 2 things...It keeps you weight conscious as well as keeps the book from having the wear and tear of 1500 miles be time I actually need that last New England section.

In the end, if you are good to go with "getting there when I get there" then one can very easily as moldy said follow the yellow brick road on the AT.

[QuietStorm]

I can’t tell you how many times Guthooks has saved my ass. Just hiked a section near War Spur in VA. There is literally about two miles with no northbound blazes. I would see one occasionally if I turned around. The trail was steep downhill and looked like an eroded gully. If I didn’t have Guthooks I would never have thought I was on the AT. Same for sections of NY, which is notoriously poorly blazed.


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[Dogwood]

Navigating "the trail?" ??? The backpacking/hiking world does not revolve around any single trail as if that trail is levitating above every other. The OP's question should be more accurately taken in context of the AT. And, for accuracy it should reflect that in the wording. Or, assumptions are made that some folks apply to all trails regarding navigation. That would be a mistake. That's my controlled rant for this wk.

[LAF]

I have used AWOL and guthook both, and like having both. It's nice having a few hardcopy pages of AWOL's guide with me so I bought the looseleaf version for ease of splitting up into whatever size "sections" worked; so instead of carrying 8oz of paper, carry what works..... For me, I found having a couple pages in a ziplock in my pocket was quite handy if I was curious. And I don't like relying on everything being electronic, nor do I want to rely another hikers kindness and sharing for my lack of preparedness sooooo.....and AWOL's guide can act as a kind of mini-log/diary, making notes to help remember the trail when looking back on the experience. Small handwritten notes carry something that is inherently missing in electronic notebooks, for me.

[ldsailor]

I like Guthook. A few times I have wandered off the trail and Guthook helped me get back on. It's great for locating water and showing a hiker where he/she is in relation to points on the trail. If you are concerned about cost, try HikerBot (https://www.facebook.com/HikerBot/). It does the same and more at no cost. I tried it out on a stretch of the PA AT in September 2017, and it performed well. I still use Guthook, though, because that's what I'm used to.

I carried the AWOL guide with me for awhile, but the entire book is too heavy and I don't like ripping pages out of a book and burning them. So, I scanned a portion of the book pertinent to my 2017 LASH and printed out the scanned pages. As I completed a section of the trail, I burned the relevant page. A hassle, yes, but if you don't like burning books, it works.

By the way, I carried NG maps through GA and NC. I never looked at them. A lot of posts say you should have maps for the Whites. I will be trying to finish the AT in 2018, so I'll probably get those maps.

Last, if you use a compass on your phone, make sure you calibrate the Magnetometer sensor. The compass will most likely be inaccurate until this is done. My phone compass was way off without the aid of the GPS. Once I calibrated it, the compass reads perfectly with the GPS off.

[Rain Man]

I wonder how Inchworm might answer this question in hindsight?

I carry just about all of those sources discussed, including ALDHA's guide in pdf form on my smartphone. My opinions:

Guthook is 95% awesome.

Awol's guide is 98% awesome.

ATC's maps are wonderful too.

None of them are too expensive nor too heavy for an undertaking like the AT.

And, by the way, the trail is NOT always, 100%, well marked and obvious. Way too many hikers have lost the trail to claim otherwise, me included.

That said, a SPOT is about the only expensive weight I probably don't think is needed on the AT for most hikers. And I don't own and didn't take for the AT. (Might if I hike the John Muir Trail in California, as there's so little cell service and for my wife's peace of mind.)

However, I agree it's HYOH, so the choice is yours. But I'm okay with sharing my opinion, since it was asked.

[fastfoxengineering]

Navigating "the trail?" ??? The backpacking/hiking world does not revolve around any single trail as if that trail is levitating above every other. The OP's question should be more accurately taken in context of the AT. And, for accuracy it should reflect that in the wording. Or, assumptions are made that some folks apply to all trails regarding navigation. That would be a mistake. That's my controlled rant for this wk.

I mean we are in the AT thru hike specific Q&A subforum right? A subforum specific to the Appalachian Trail

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[fastfoxengineering]

Regarding maps in the White Mtns. I'm an avid hiker in this region. I understand how people can get a little side tracked up here. I think I gave 4-5 thru hikers a lift this year after taking a wrong turn and ending up at the wrong trail head. I've section hiked most of the trail in NH. I know this region very well and I, personally, am not to worried about knowing where the AT goes up here. Even if I were to get a little side tracked, I know all the points of interest and how to make my way there.

At this point. I was looking into getting Guthooks App and AGGs pocket profile set. Of course. They're both on the pricier side of things.

You guys are saying this leaves a gap in town amenity info though. Maybe it would be wise to get the PDF of AWOLs as well for my phone

Regards



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[Furlough]

[QUOTE=Rain Man;2186166]I wonder how Inchworm might answer this question in hindsight?

Good question. Conversely, after just re-reading Earl Shaffer's, Walking with Spring, I wonder what he might say.

From my perspective, I carry a map(s) for the section I am hiking, along with AWOLs guide. Gave the Guthook Apps a go from James River Foot Bridge to Rock Fish Gap. I liked the apps sufficiently enough to consider adding them to my repertoire for future sections.

Furlough

[Slo-go'en]

I went with AWOL and Guthook, and recommend taking both.

I agree. Guthook is great for knowing where you are, how far you've gone and how far you need to go. But for planning the AWOL guide is easier to deal with or refer to when it's raining and you don't want to pull out the phone.

[Slo-go'en]

I wonder how Inchworm might answer this question in hindsight?

I seriously doubt a map would have helped her. As has been pointed out many times, a map is useless if you don't already know where you are.

Guthook would have saved her, as it uses GPS not cell phone towers and it would have shown her how far she was from the trail and which way to go to get back to it.

[fastfoxengineering]

I seriously doubt a map would have helped her. As has been pointed out many times, a map is useless if you don't already know where you are.

Guthook would have saved her, as it uses GPS not cell phone towers and it would have shown her how far she was from the trail and which way to go to get back to it.

This is why I'm really interested in Guthook. Most of the time I just want a glimpse as to where I am on trail so I know what my day's going to go like. Especially after hiking aimlessly for a few hours between long sections. There are times when I really don't know if I've gone 4 or 7 miles and no landmarks to tell me otherwise.

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[eblanche]

As others are saying, no need to "navigate" and go with both AWOL's guide and Guthook app. I carried the loose leaf AWOL guide in smaller sections held together with key rings and always kept in a ziplock bag. There were times where the guthook app would have been useful but never a time when it would have been needed (for gps exact point, water info, etc).

Don't forget about power needs if you use the guthook app.