Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
He had a binder of important stuff to know - where the campgrounds were, where the grocery stores were, possibly other things like location of post offices, bike shops, where to buy camp stove fuel, or medical services. Thus he had all he needed to know for group logistics. But, if you asked him a question on where to find something else that was not necessary for his guiding duties, he was clueless.
The leaders are given guides containing information compiled over the years from the experiences of other tour leaders. (My favorite quote about a campground in Maine was "Combat camping at its finest.") But it's to be expected that a leader won't know where to find everything if they are not familiar with a route. If I were touring alone in an unfamiliar area and another tourist approached me to ask where he could find something I might not know the answer. There is a certain level of self reliance required even if one is on a group tour with a leader.
Also, on ACA tours, and as BobG notes below, the office does not make lodging reservations. The leader does to the extent they might be necessary. (Staying in a place like a city park didn't require reservations, but our motel in Cleveland did.) On my Northern Tier trip, the early days were set in stone in order to get people into a groove. After that, we usually sat down on a rest day to plan out the following week or so. Participation in planning was totally voluntary. The leader would then contact the places we planned to stay to make any necessary arrangements and get exact directions. I don't remember our first leader having a cell phone. If he did, it didn't work everywhere because one day he went missing for a while and found at a grocery store in Chester, MT using a pay phone to call campgrounds.