How do you keep a journal on trailjournals?

[Socrates]

I like the idea because I'm creative and love to write, however I just don't understand the process... Ok, you're out in the woods... Computers are a rare encounter... When do you get the chance to write about so many days? How do you upload photos unless you're at home?... I know it can be done... I just don't know how. Help please...

[Blissful]

I know some used their cell phones (esp those that did them every night). Or used pocket mail when there is phone access. Others mailed journals for those at home to input. Still others did them when they had internet access in town. I plan to use a combination since my cell I have won't cover past VA (it has a keyboard in it). I will use good old fashioned writing as well.

[Marta]

If you're long-winded in your writing, a PocketMail is a good way to go. You can type up your entries, then email over an analog phone (land phone, or analog cell phone), when you get a chance. You need to have a transcriber somewhere who will cut and paste the entries onto the TJ website.

What I did for photos was to mail my full camera cards to my TJ transcriber. She burned them onto disks, and uploaded some of them onto TJ.

You can also do this yourself--go to libraries and hostels and motels which have computer access, and work on your TJ directly. It's time-consuming, and your entries will be spotty.

Being a transcriber can be a lot of work, especially doing the photos. (Right, Laurie?) There's a link on TJ about finding a transcriber.

[rafe]

I like the idea because I'm creative and love to write, however I just don't understand the process... Ok, you're out in the woods... Computers are a rare encounter... When do you get the chance to write about so many days? How do you upload photos unless you're at home?... I know it can be done... I just don't know how. Help please...

Ummm. Folks have been keeping trail journals for a long, long time, Socrates. They used to take pictures using this stuff called film. And they'd keep journals using these strange instruments called note pads and pens.

Keep a CD burner or "image tank" in a bounce box. Or... have a spare CF/SD card. The one filled with images gets sent home, you start working with the 2nd. Rotate. Etc. I still use a paper/pen journal. Write in it as the mood strikes me or when there's a nice place to sit & write. Or at camp after dinner. A digital voice recorder could be useful for recording thoughts or conversations on the fly (they're pretty tiny and light.)

[hopefulhiker]

It's pretty easy to set up a journal on trail journals.. It's accessible from any computer with internet... You can get to these at libraries or hostels along the trail..

After I saw people using Pocket Mail.. I had to have it! I got it in Damascus and started journaling every day.. Every few days I would download all the email journals to my home email and my wife would copy them over to trail journals.. Also I had two SD cards that when they would fill up I would mail them back and my wife would pick pictures and post them on the trail journals... It worked great..

Pocket mail weighs 8 oz and has a good little backlight so you can type at night.. It has an 800 number to call and can upload and download bunches of emails in less than two or three minutes.. Its a great morale booster too....

[Sly]

I think I'd be more inclined to wait until I could burn my photos to CD and mail that home or where ever instead of mailing a SD card back and worth.

[Footslogger]

I like the idea because I'm creative and love to write, however I just don't understand the process... Ok, you're out in the woods... Computers are a rare encounter... When do you get the chance to write about so many days? How do you upload photos unless you're at home?... I know it can be done... I just don't know how. Help please...

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Probably many ways of skinning that cat ...but I kept a daily written journal and then sent those pages home about every 2 weeks or so. My wife transcribed those written pages into my journal on Trailjournals.com. Occasionaly I would get a chance to logon to Trailjournals myself and post entries but for the most part it was a team process.

'Slogger

[freefall]

I think I'd be more inclined to wait until I could burn my photos to CD and mail that home or where ever instead of mailing a SD card back and worth.


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Probably many ways of skinning that cat ...but I kept a daily written journal and then sent those pages home about every 2 weeks or so. My wife transcribed those written pages into my journal on Trailjournals.com. Occasionaly I would get a chance to logon to Trailjournals myself and post entries but for the most part it was a team process.

'Slogger
These are exactly how I kept mine updated. And I carried two memory cards for the camera. I would rotate them every few days just in case something happened to one of them I wouldn't lose huge chunks of pictures.

[Frosty]

I like the idea because I'm creative and love to write, however I just don't understand the process... Ok, you're out in the woods... Computers are a rare encounter... When do you get the chance to write about so many days? How do you upload photos unless you're at home?... I know it can be done... I just don't know how. Help please...It's so easy a caveman could do it.

[Pacific Tortuga]

Do any hikers use tape recorders that can be up-loaded with a USB plug to someone to transcribe for them ?

[Johnny Swank]

I'm looking into that PC. I used a tape recorder on the Mississippi and transcribe a fair amount of that manually. What a complete pain in the butt! I do like having the recorder on hand though, because I'm far more likely to blab about what happened during the day than break out a journal.

If nothing else, you can cobble something together by setting up a GCast account and play you recordings over the phone for someone else to listen too. I used a cell phone on the Cape Fear River and was able to do some podcasting directly whenever I had a decent connection.

Check it out http://sourcetosea.net/CapeFear/audio/audio.html

[Frosty]

Do any hikers use tape recorders that can be up-loaded with a USB plug to someone to transcribe for them ?Not a tape recorder, but I use a digital recorder when I hike. Olympus WS-100. It has a USB connector built right in. Weighs just under 2 ounces.

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1170

You can use Naturally Speaking dragon Software to convert the recording to text, but it doesn't work so well if it is windy out or if you are walking through leaves or if you are sucking wind as you speak. Even with all the errors introduced this way, though, it is still easier than transcribing from a voice recording.

[Pacific Tortuga]

Not a tape recorder, but I use a digital recorder when I hike. Olympus WS-100. It has a USB connector built right in. Weighs just under 2 ounces.

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1170

You can use Naturally Speaking dragon Software to convert the recording to text, but it doesn't work so well if it is windy out or if you are walking through leaves or if you are sucking wind as you speak. Even with all the errors introduced this way, though, it is still easier than transcribing from a voice recording.

YES, that's the ticket, can a caveman use it ?

[J Link NJ]

where can u get a pocket mail?

[freefall]

Do any hikers use tape recorders that can be up-loaded with a USB plug to someone to transcribe for them ?

And if their computer has decent voice recognition software, they wouldn't have to transcribe. Just push play and the computer transcribes for them!

My Mac has excellent voice recognition.

[Socrates]

where can u get a pocket mail?

http://www.pocketmail.com/

[Johnny Swank]

Freefall,

Isn't that Mac speech recognition just for commands and such. I've tried ilisten with middling results, but my Mac's pretty old and doesn't have enough memory to really drive that program.

I'm getting a MacBook, partially just to use Naturally Speaking on the Windows side. I've used that, and it works really well about 85-90% of the time. I can live with that.

[Footslogger]

where can u get a pocket mail?


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Here's another source. Got mine here. Half the price as on the PocketMail site.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-BLACK-BOX-POCKET-MAIL-THE-COMPOSER-PKTM010_W0QQitemZ5862220892QQihZ008QQcategoryZ294Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item5862 220892

'Slogger

[handlebar]

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Here's another source. Got mine here. Half the price as on the PocketMail site.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-BLACK-BOX-POCKET-MAIL-THE-COMPOSER-PKTM010_W0QQitemZ5862220892QQihZ008QQcategoryZ294Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item5862 220892

'Slogger

You still have to subscribe to the pocketmail service. You can get a 6 mo subscription andn take it out shortly before you start your hike---be sure to set it up to NOT automatically renew otherwise you'll automatically be re-upped and your credit card will be charged.

I used mine every nite to type out the day's journal by copying a template I'd set up and emailed to my pocketmail email address. I sent a copy to my wife and one to my Yahoo email account. If she had time, she'd post using cut-and-paste into trail journals. If not, when I got to a town with internet access, I'd do it.

Pics are another matter. 5MB pics take a long time to download to trail journals and hog up the server and internet time is short on the trail. I had 3 memory sticks to set up a rotation to home, but it was a major hassle for my wife to download to trail journals. Also, I was always afraid of what might happen to them en route. Another option when in town is go to a rite-aid, CVS or similar pharmacy and download them to CD's. Send the CD home and when you know it's arrived safely and is readable, then you can clear the camera card.

I'm very glad I kept the journal as it lets me relive my hike.

[Photofanatic]

Hey everyone, its been a while. Some may remember me from my hike in 2004. Photography is my thing. I carried a complete professional camera outfit. Fortunately I shoot digital and had several 1 gig compact flash cards. Back then my Nikon D100 shot at the highest resolution 374 images onto a gig card. I only carried two lithium ion batteries as well. How I handled my images was to bounce CDRs, padded envelopes and stamps. I would burn all of my images without editing them just to get the job done. Then stick the cd into an evelope, stamp and mail it home. If you are keeping a handwritten journal just scan the pages and treat it as another image adding it to the cd. You can edit all that stuff later when you get home. You can throw away the paper that you had written on then hike on.
Finding a scanner and burner is fairly easy. Librarys, copy services, camera stores, any attorneys office will scan and burn for a small fee, All you have to do is go into any business that would have that equipment and ask. I was never turned down if they had the equipment available I also met many locals with pcs that welcomed me into their homes where I could burn, scan, email. Managing your pics and journals will be one of the easier tasks along the way.


Hope this helps
Photofanatic

[Footslogger]

[quote=handlebar;313572]You still have to subscribe to the pocketmail service.

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Didn't mean to infer/imply that you didn't need the service. Just that this was half the price of the same device they are selling on the PocketMail site.

By the way ...they started with 9 units and 6 of them have been sold as of this morning.

'Slogger