[at-l] Handbook/Companion/Data Book/Guide ??

[stephensadams at hotmail.com (Steve Adams)]

Sloetoe,

Reference your post, dated 1-8-04, disagreeing with my post, that same date, 
quoting you here, ?No.?  You advised ?The profile is skewed towards 
magnifying altitude changes, not flattening them. Showing the profile 1:1 to 
linear distance would show a mostly flat line, where we'd all bitch the more 
about how ?inaccurate? the profiles are.?

I was quoting (paraphrasing actually) someone, whose name I?ve forgotten, 
who posted the same information on this or another website.  His is a known 
?ATC name? and he claimed to have been present during the discussion of 
placing the profile on the AT maps.

You may be right.  He may be mistaken.  I may have misunderstood him.  Who 
knows?

I don?t know where my maps are at the moment but it might be illuminating to 
see whether the lines delineating differences of altitude on the profile 
correspond with the linear scale of the map.  Even if they do, however, I?m 
not sure that would mean the maps can closely represent trail conditions.

I have used the profile expecting some prediction of where I might find a 
flat and level site to make camp.  I have determined; when the profile 
appears flat I probably won?t find a good site, and; if the profile promises 
the AT will be an incline/decline, I invariably find terrific camping sites. 
   (This is guaranteed to be true if I ignored the incline the night before 
and camped on a poor site shown to be level.)  IF I use the profile it is, 
perversely, to look for an incline/decline where I fully expect to find a 
satisfactory site.

Two questions:

1)  ?... we'd all bitch the more about how ?inaccurate? the profiles are.?  
This suggests there is a known fixed level of bitchiness about things.  I?d 
appreciate knowing where to find such a bitchometer; it would make my life 
much easier.

2)  ?Showing the profile 1:1 to linear distance would show a mostly flat 
line ...?  (If I may be allowed to ?pull a Felix.?)  Wouldn?t a 1:1 profile 
of an altitude disparity of say 2,500 feet require your profile to be almost 
half a mile wide?

Steve

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