[at-l] AT Maps & Guides

[Bob C." <ellen@clinic.net (Bob C.)]

The  mail  this  week  brought  the  "Ultimate  Appalachian  Trail Store" annual
November catalog.

Items of special interest:

A  sale on trail guides and maps for 2003 thru hikers (and anyone who just wants
to  dream.)  All  11  guide  books and maps, plus the 2003 data book are selling
through  Dec.  24  for $171.75. Starting at midnight that day the price jumps to
$280.50 for non members and $224.30 for members.

--A bargain price for just the maps. ($156.10 for members, but for just an extra
$15 you might as well go for the Guide Book/map package.)

--Virtually every book about the trail that is still in print.

--And  for  those  who  really  want  to understand Benton MacKaye's thinking as
opposed  to  arguing about it, a reprint of MacKaye's "landmark 1928 work," "The
New  Exploration,  A  Philosophy  of  Regional Planning" New Yorker magazine has
called  the essay "a long lost classic." The price? $8.95 for non members, $7.60
for members. No. I haven't read the essay, but I will one of these days.

Some  (maybe  most)  thru hikers consider the guidebooks unnecessary. But I find
them  essential  for  planning and for identifying special attractions along the
trail.  Plus  there sale provides badly needed income to the ATC and maintaining
clubs.

BTW  to take advantage of the special guide book price, you need to be a member.
It's  easy.  Just  open www.appalachiantrail.org and click on join. Dues are $30
for  most.  Those  over 65 and younger than 18 get a $5 discount. Aside from the
discounts,  dues  are  an  important, and needed, fund source for ATC. They also
make  you  eligible  for discounts at three of the trail's best hostels, the ATC
hostel  just north of Harpers Ferry, The Bears Den, in Northern Virginia and the
Mansion  at  Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Pennsylvania, or at least they did
when I went through in 1993.

Weary