Is Yogi’s PCT Handbook worth buying?

[Derek M.]

My wife and I will be attempting a PCT thru hike this coming season and we transitioning into full-on planning mode.

With that in mind I've been considering purchasing Yogi's PCT Handbook…

Problem is: I've heard a lot of conflicting reports about the value of Yogi's PCT Handbook. I've heard everything from "OMG, I couldn't have done my PCT hike without this book" to "You're better off just getting info off the internet instead, her book is kind of like a paper blog."

The only thing I'd want to get out of the book is information on trail angels, information about what stores carry what for food resupplies, and general town information.

Concerning her town information, I've heard everything from "Her book has absolutely indispensable information" to "I would have been better off just using Yelp, her recommendations were highly biased and I almost never found them helpful."

Can anyone with experience hiking the PCT and with Yogi's book please weigh in?

What would I actually be getting out of the book?

Thanks!

[Buck Nelson]

I often say "it answer's questions you didn't know to ask." One of the major advantages of both her PCT and CDT handbooks is that they pull together a vast amount of information that's scattered and may be difficult to find if you are trying to research it yourself.

Yogi has a lot of personal experience hiking these trails, and she draws on the knowledge of many other experienced long distance hikers.

A wise purchase in my opinion.

[George F]

Short answer – yes, buy it.

I carried the PCT Atlas and hiked a lot with a couple that had the Atlas and Yogi's. For all its flaws if I only went with one source I would use the Atlas again for the combination of maps, profiles and points of interest. If I was hiking with a partner I would absolutely carry Yogi's as well. And if I went solo I would find a way to get it sent to me in pieces at resupplies. Besides having more information on the towns, being text based made for observations and descriptions that made the trail easier to follow during the tricky bits and could add to the overall experience.

[Jeff Jeff]

The planning portion doesn't have much value unless you have little hiking experience. If you do have hiking experience, you can just fill in the gaps by doing a little research online. I found the trail guide very helpful, but not necessary.

[jimmer ultralight]

I have been trying to buy the Colotado Trail Guide and both on her site and Amazon, it seems unavailable??

[Link .]

Just by it directly from YOGIS BOOKS ,her website

[jimmer ultralight]

Yogis site does not seem to actually list the book for sale..

Theyve got CT bandanas,post cards etc, but NO guidebook links.
And, like I said, Amazon shows it to be out of stock.

[Ken Thompson]

Perhaps too early for next year just yet. Email her.

[Buck Nelson]

http://www.yogisbooks.com/pacific-crest-trail/

From her homepage you just have to click on the trail you're interested in…
http://www.yogisbooks.com/

[jimmer ultralight]

I thought she might be sold out right now..I am going to contact her tomorrow

In the meantine ,there are a few other CT refernce books I will order as well..

[Greg Mihalik]

There is definitely some link weirdness going on.

If I click the link above to go to Yogi's Books and then click on the PCT monument, I'll be taken to the book. If I then go back, and click on the CDT monument, nothing happens.

And the reverse is true – If CDT first, then PCT fails.

So if it is the PCT book you want, go to Yogi's Book, and click on the PCT monument.
No side trips allowed.

(XP and FireFox 33)

[Bob Gross]

"some link weirdness"

Blame it on the North Korean hackers. Everybody else does.

–B.G.–

[jimmer ultralight]

Thats a relief..I thought it was just me and Android Kitkat 4.4 that had a problem with those links.

Turns out its just another North Korean prank..

Carry on.

[Miner]

Yogi's PCT guide is 2 parts.

One part is a planning guide. If you don't have your gear fully figured out, you get multiple opinions on what has worked for others. It also gives you the resupply options and methods. An experienced hiker, especially with long distance multiple resupply hiking will know most of it already.

The 2nd part is the trail guide. It gives trail notes for different points along the trail, what years water was found there, common places people get turned around or take the wrong path, etc. It also comes with the town guides: what's available for resupply, where to mail packages, hotels and hostels available and the rates, etc. Some of the information can be found on Half Mile's Maps (though Yogi's guide predates Halfmile's maps by several years). Yogi also updates her guidebooks every year as other hikers give her feedback and based on her own research.

I bought it for my 2009 hike and found it useful. When I do the CDT, I'm planning on getting that guide as well though I already have my gear dialed in. I do believe you can find most of the information you need for the PCT from other sources for free, but you'll have to spend the time running it down yourself. How much is your time worth? If you don't buy it, you'll still survive and can finish but you may have several moments when you wish you'd known something ahead of time.

[Derek M.]

The main thing I want to know is what food is available where. Like, how well stocked is gas station X? Do they carry tortillas? How about summer sausage?

If Yogi's guidebook doesn't have that much info then I'm much less interested in it.

I have also heard that many of the resupply addresses Yogi lists in her guidebook are incorrect. Is this still true?

[Miner]

The year I used her guide book, the addresses were accurate. She usually updates those every year, so unless someone was using an older version, ordered it before the yearly update and didn't bother to later download the updates available online, or something changed after the start of the hiking season, they should be accurate. I did hear that this past summer, she drove the entire trail checking and verifying things in detail since she was releasing a new version where she completely changed the planning guide part (with new featured hikers and their gear) along with updates to the trail guide.

The guide will tell you the kind of resupply is available and how limited it is (Very limited, convenience store, small grocery, full supermarket). She isn't going to tell you the individual items available. But you usually know what you'll find based on the type of store it is. Tortillas are pretty much available everywhere with a store (unless it says very limited). Summer Sausage less so, though if you count slim jim meat sticks, they are everywhere as well.

[Bob Bankhead]

One of the big risks with re-supplying locally as you go is the uncertainty of inventory levels.

Just because everyone says they were always able to get fuel at location X does not mean location X won't have sold out just before you get there. This is especially true if you are traveling with, or worse yet, behind, the HERD. Think "biblical plague of locusts" descending more or less en mass on a tiny resort store, all essentially looking for the same things. Then you show up two hours later. The store at Belden Resort right after the Biker Weekend comes to mind – takes a long time for them to re-stock.

This is why it's important to know which resupply points are excellent candidates for a pre-shipped supply box vs. rolling the dice when you get there.

YMMV. No, it WILL vary. Flexibility is required. Without good advance planning, flexibility will be forced upon you at the most inconvenient times.

You have been warned, Grasshopper.

[Link .]

PMAGS site is great to check out for the CT and PCT

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Tons of info in the book isn't valuable, but I still recommend buying it.

The entire first half has a few good bits on planning, but mostly it's just a collection of opinions on a wide range of topics similar to what you'd find here in the BPL forums. It's a semi-fun read, but I'd use BPL to plan your gear, not Yogi's book. This planning section does have some good musings on resupply strategies which I found valuable, but you also don't want to overthink it.

The most valuable thing in Yogi's book are the mailing addresses and hitch hiking info. These pages are updated each year, so they're as accurate as you're going to get. These pages are at the end of each section in the second half of the book. If you are using a smartphone with halfmile's or Guthook's app, then you don't need the rest of the "on trail" pages which describe stuff like directions, water sources etc.

Regarding re-supplying, my wife and I didn't plan any food in advance. We flew into San Diego and grabbed groceries for section A and B, with the section B supplies getting mailed ahead to Warner Springs. I highly recommend not planning your food, as it's a ton of work, postage and it's hard to really know what you're going to want, plus it limits your ability to grab hiker box scores. For the first month or two we just hitched into towns, raided the hiker box and then grabbed groceries for the rest. After the Sierra's we were tired of grocery shopping every town day, so we'd mail out 2-4 boxes from each big town with cheap food. Using Yogi's resupply pages with addresses it's easy to do this. In South Lake Tahoe we mailed out the rest of California, in Ashland we mailed out food for oregon, and at Cascade Locks we mailed out food for Washington.

[Mike Henrick]

You could get by without it but based on the fact that you're planning your thru hike already, I'm guessing you're not the type to "wing it" and would like some certainty in the planning process. If that's the case, it's worth the money to inform yourself and go into your hike feeling prepared even if you may be over prepared.

Disclaimer: I contributed to the latest version of Yogi's guide (for free).

[Seth Brewer]

http://www.planyourhike.com

This is where I copied down my 18 resupply addresses for most of California and pre shipped all my food drops till Kennedy Meadows around the time i flew out – and had a few shipped the week after I was gone. Never did use Yogi's guide – but never did need it. I used PCTHYOH app on an iPod touch, and used Guthook's Guide and Halfmiles PDF maps and trail guide that I downloaded. Never really needed anything else.

I also used this site to get my info for my other big shipment from Cascades Locks for all of Washington.

[Ryley Breiddal]

I found Yogi's PCT guide handy. At the time I hiked the PCT (2007), I needed help with gear selection, which it provided in a well-organized way. I needed help planning resupply (where, when to send a box, when to buy locally), I found it incredibly helpful for that.

I'm sure all the info is out there somewhere, but having in one place was very valuable to me. Having reliable people weighing in on exactly how they did their resupplies was useful.

[Author]

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