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Backpacking
AT Resources
AT Resources
Maps and Books:
The Thru-Hikers Handbook - This is a book by a guy who has hiked the trail seven times. It's the best book I've seen, and I believe I've seen them all. He also publishes a planning guide. I also have Christopher Whalen's planning guide, but it is now out of print. Dan's is better anyway.
A fairly large group of hikers use the Companion, and the Data Book is indispensable. My only complaint about the Companion is that it doesn't cover a lot of the small towns or tiny places that are a short road walk from the trail.
There's really only one set of maps, and you can buy them here. They are available on CDROM now too. I've seen them in person at Barnes & Noble, and they are really cool, but I think they would really only be useful to section hikers. If you're hiking continuously, the old fashioned maps are really designed for that kind of use. They are relatively water proof and they are of reasonable size.
you can live without them. I saw many thru-hikers with only the Data Book. I loved having the profile maps and found them very useful for planning. Others have a love-hate relationship with them, the profile maps in particular. The people using the Data Book only also carried the relevant sections of The Thru-Hikers Handbook, which tells you where the laundromat, restaurants, post office and grocery stores are, and you really need to know those things.
There are dozens of books about people's trips. There are also things called planning guides that are very much not workbooks, but more like "this is how I planned my trip". The best way to plan is to try a multi-day trip. If you can spare the time, do one with a mail drop or re-supply in the middle. This will give you the best idea of how to plan. Anyway, here are the travelogs that I own or have read:
Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods - A sense of humor is of utmost importance, and you'll find it here. He didn't finish, but most people don't.
A Journey North - I bought this recently, and it's uniformly awful. It's not helpful and it's not interesting
A Woman's Guide to the AT - Maine Rose was in the same forums I was when I was preparing. I don't own this one yet, but I'm betting it's good.
Lessons Learned - This one was very helpful. He surveys hikers regarding their Gear and methods and reports all the statistics and anecdotes. Many choices must be made in regards to gear, and this shows you that whether you finish or not has nothing to do with those choices or the money invested. It can also help you figure out what will work for you and what won't.
How to Prepare for it and Hike It - This is in the middle of the field. It's more of a "this is how I planned". It's better than some and worse than others.
Walking the Appalachian Trail - A general survey kind of book. More about exceptional hikers than ordinary ones.
A Season on the AT - I liked this one. You get a good feel through many anecdotes. She does a good job of covering the field.
Every year there are more of these things. I've not bought any of the books by Frank and Victoria Logue, but I've browsed many of them, and they look good. They just never fit any of my needs when I was standing there looking at them.
Web Sites:
The king daddy site is, of coure, the AT Conference's own site. If you live in any of the fourteen states, you should check out your local trail club too, because they are the ones that will know the trail near your home. I live in Virginia, which has a whopping 550 miles of trail. Not all of it is maintained by one club, but the club that does the Northern Virginia section is one of the largest, the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. Only the AMC maintains more miles of the AT. The ALDHA also has a useful site -- I think they are primarily about AT hiking.
There is one ubiquitous private all-things-AT site that's been around as long as I've been looking. Trailplace is an attempt to create a whole community of things-AT. There are journals and forums here. Like all journals, they can be addictive, so beware. The man behind this site is Dan "Wingfoot" Bruce, writer of the Handbook I referred you to above.
At least one person I actually hiked with has a website about the AT, Felix. Felix is one of the 10%, a southbounder. Really, whichever direction you hike is the "only way to go." Some people that I met on the trail do indeed have sites up: Single Malt, Gentleman Jim (detect a theme here?), Pace, and Stitches.
If you want to start a Holy War, start talking about slackpacking. Slackpacking involves hiking without a pack, which requires someone to meet you to support all the things your backpack normally supports. There are some nice folks who will help you do the whole trail that way, if you want, and they are over at Hike-USA. The slackpacking that I did do, I did not enjoy. I hated having a specific schedule -- I liked to be able to quit before or surpass my goal and not having anyone counting on me to be in any particular place at any particular time. YMMV.
I am a reader of journals in all forms, and reading other people's journals regarding their hikes was very helpful to me. Here are some of my favorites:
Then The Hail Came, 1983
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