We used and liked all the books. [When considering the overall cost of a thru-hike, the cost of an additional guide book seemed insignificant.]
We planned our trip using the Companion & the Data book.
We traveled with an intact data book, relevant pages from the Appalachian Pages and the Handbook, and a downloaded (on our smartphone) older version of the Companion. [All together, the mail dropped pages & data book weighed less than an intact guide.]
We found…
the Handbook especially rich town information.
the Companion great for knowing the little extras about the trail.
an intact book (the data book) nice for long term trip planning (and reflection on where we’d been)
Most often we used the Appalachian Pages because of its excellent format. And we had a Southbound version – that was very much appreciated.
I reckon “I can’t seem to pick one” either!
I have used all of them, sometimes just taking whatever someone discarded in a hiker box (free is cheap). I found good and bad in all of them. I will probably use the Pages next thru because I think it will improve and I like supporting the ATC.
Interesting thread.
Speaking only for myself, I have to say that I'm more interested in a book's usefulness and accuracy as opposed to its format.
Reliable fact-checking and accuracy beats "easy on the eye" every day of the week.
get all 3 then just take the averages for miles and elevation. By the way, I was just looking through the handbook, and did you know the record for hiking the AT is 37 days? (that should get lonewolf going)
LW and I actually agree on some things. Cold beer is good. Records are OK but not official in any ATC way so HYOH.
I swore by the Handbook. If you want more historical info go with the Companion. There were many errors in the Appalachian Pages, but very visual people/people who didn't carry maps liked this one. To be fair, it is a newer one and they are ironing out the kinks. The data book is a little too bare bones for most people.
I would like the companion more if it did not list all the town information in one long paragraph, perhaps create a new indent paragraph for each thing, like "lodging" and "groceries".
Also, cut down on the history of all the shelters. While it's nice to know some history, the history of some shelters seem pointless.
A bigger size font would be nice as well.
Kirby
They are all excellent resources. just pick one. get going.
Although there are certain shelters that are worth a paragraph, like mentioning that Mountaineer Shelter was built in a 36 hour period or how Overmountain Shelter came to be a shelter.
I'm fond of the quotes about each different section of trail that comes before the data. I'm always humored by how locals interpret their section of trail in comparison to what I think.
Now that I think about it, I think it would be great if on the data page where a town is listed it adds on what pages one can find the information on (ie:Mile 1956.2:Monson, ME(P. 136), that way hikers can easily figure out on what page relevant information is listed on.
Hope this helps,
Kirby
I have all of them and have used them to varying degrees. The one I like the best for its format and used for our thruhike was the Handbook. It gave us info our friends carrying the companion didn't have on water sources. My biggest complaint with the companion was the long paragraphs and the lack of listed water sources and road and trail crossings.
-Hot Cheese