Handwrite journal entries or bring technology?

[Kirby]

I was curious what types of method people have used for keeping a journal. Do you all handwrite yours, then send them home to someone to type up, or do you bring some type of device to type them yourself?

Kirby

[AT-HITMAN2005]

i'm partial to the hand written one, for sentimental value. of course i got lazy and stopped writting for awhile. then picked it up again in the north. but i did keep track of where i stopped every night.

[Spirit Walker]

I write all my journals by hand. Then the following winter, I sit at the computer and type them out. I enjoy going over the journey, after the fact, and adding in those memories that never made it to paper the first time around.

I'm very low tech on the trail. No phone, no computer, no gps. Don't need or want any of those ties to 'civilization'. YMMV

[jersey joe]

I enjoyed writing my journal entries out at the end of each day. I mailed them home at each post office so someone at home could type them up and post them. Worked out rather well.

[Frosty]

http://alphasmart.com/k12/K12_Products/neo_K12.html

Handwriting is out of the question for me. Illegible beyond belief. I cannot even read my OWN writing, and the last time I handwrote a grocery list, my wife came home with the Ambassador to Afganistan, two gallons of water from Lake Erie, and a 1954 Hudson Hornet.

[jersey joe]

not a bad gadget...up to 700 hours of life and 2lbs isn't too bad, but a lot more than pen and paper.

[Frosty]

not a bad gadget...up to 700 hours of life and 2lbs isn't too bad, but a lot more than pen and paper.For sure. I try to keep base weight under 20 pounds (for non-winter hiking) and this little beauty doesn't make my job any easier.

[rafe]

Hand-written, transcribed later. Electronics on the trail consists of camera and cell phone... and headlamp.

[Cuffs]

I hiked with Frosty back in the spring and took a hint from him...

I write a journal at the end of the day. But even at my age, I am already having brain farts and sometimes cant recall all the events of the day... Frosty carried a very small digital voice recorder. I use it to record events throughout the day then listen to them later to add to my written journal.

The newer models have a built in USB plub-in. If you use voice recognition software, you can easily upload your trip notes without even writing them, very handy!!

[Miu]

I bought a used Pocketmail composer for my upcoming 2008 hike, but my initial thoughts on the gizmo is that it will be annoying to type on the tiny keyboard. I think I'll end up ditching it and using paper and pen...that way I can draw too. I'll just mail them to someone at home who can transcribe them for me.

[LionKing]

I jot down notes, names, locales and short hand some info and tehn when I get to a library or cafe bang out the details in living color.

Svaes time, but the days I forget to jot donw stuff piss me off as then I have a blank for certian names or places, especially after a few days of nto keeping up with them.

I try to make a point of doing at least partial journals in my notebook every night, or its forgotten to a point.

[mountaineer]

I kept a handwritten journal, but got worse and worse about keeping up with it as time when on, until I wasn't keeping one at all in the end. However, every day I marked in my data book where I stopped, and if I camped, stayed in a shelter, in town at a hostel, etc and that helped me be able to go back even after the trip and trigger memories for each day.

[Footslogger]

In 2003 I hand wrote my journal entries and sent them home about every 2 weeks for transcription and upload to my web page. Not sure how I'd do it if/when I undertake another long distance hike. Pretty sure I'd still hand write most of my updates but thinking these days about using a small digital voice recorder to capture things/thoughts as they happen during the day - rather than trying to remember everything at night in my tent.

'Slogger

[Alligator]

Pick whichever type of device that you find easiest to employ and you know you will use. The most important thing is to get what you want recorded.

[iesman69]

During my multi-day section hikes, I found that scribbling on the pages of the Companion I'd brought worked for me; sort of shorthand...allowed me to remember spots where I overnighted/lunched/met other hikers/etc. Once home, I sat down and put pen to paper. A small digital voice recorder seems like a good idea tho.

[Tipi Walter]

Keeping is journal with pen and paper is one of my favorite things to do and can fill up slow dark hours on a long backpacking trip. Like having a book, it is another thing to read when waiting for dawn and after 4 or 5 days there's enough written to do some interesting rereading. Often times a certain tentsite or trail when written about will jog old memories of other camps and all of this can be duly noted.

I think that a voice activiated gadget would be perfect for writing trail descriptions, just talk as you walk, etc. But I'll stick with the humble pen and paper for the campside record.

Note: Always have two pens!! On one long trip my only pen died the first day and by breaking it I was able to expose the ink-filled felt and write with that but it looked like a caveman's scrawl. So now I just slip an extra ink cartridge into my tentpole repair sleeve and tape the ends.

[doggiebag]

I was curious what types of method people have used for keeping a journal. Do you all handwrite yours, then send them home to someone to type up, or do you bring some type of device to type them yourself?

Kirby
I carried a regular journal for writing things about the day. Everything from temperature, barometric pressure, cloud types ... in addition to names and places and even how I felt for the day. On a daily basis by keeping track of details like weather conditions ... you'll be better able to predict future events by reffering to your hand written notes. In addition - you can also write on your trail guide or in my case thru-hikers guide. After a couple of weeks or months on the trail all shelters start looking and sounding the same. I go with handwritten journals which I transfer to my trailjournals site when I get to a town with high speed internet access. Oh yeah ... don't forget your camera ... take videos if you have the capability. It helps to aid you in remembering who, what and where. You can also upload those when you get Internet access - thus clearing the devices memory.

[taildragger]

Just use your hands and

write in your journal

Tecnhology sux, isn't that the real reason why we're all getting to the trail

That and those d@mn TPS reports :mad:

[Uncle Tom]

Electronic . An electronic device, saves someone from typing it in later, making it that much quicker and easier for your transcriber to get your info posted on a site such as Trailjournals. The main point I want to make is --> Get your experience out ASAP, so that others can "walk" with you as closely as possible to the actual time you are hiking. I had a reputation as a hiker who received frequent trail magic and offers of places to stay, events that happended as hits on my Trailjournal snowballed and the Guestbook filled up.
I had no problems with my used Pocketmail device. I kept it dry and clean in a ziplock bag. I highly recommend it. The service plan for 1 year was, I think, $140. I was also used the device for may address book, and selectively retrieved e-mails while on my AT thru-hike.

[doggiebag]

Electronic . An electronic device, saves someone from typing it in later, making it that much quicker and easier for your transcriber to get your info posted on a site such as Trailjournals. The main point I want to make is --> Get your experience out ASAP, so that others can "walk" with you as closely as possible to the actual time you are hiking. I had a reputation as a hiker who received frequent trail magic and offers of places to stay, events that happended as hits on my Trailjournal snowballed and the Guestbook filled up.
I had no problems with my used Pocketmail device. I kept it dry and clean in a ziplock bag. I highly recommend it. The service plan for 1 year was, I think, $140. I was also used the device for may address book, and selectively retrieved e-mails while on my AT thru-hike.

I agree 100% ... it's motivating to hike knowing that you are not alone in spirit. Being able to update my trailjournals site on a timely basis was quite helpful to my morale. Since I had folks cheering me on. Every little bit of a morale booster is what I needed after several months. It was all worth the effort.

[faarside]

I use a combination of pen/paper tablet, and my Dell Axim. For me, most "basic" trail notes go directly onto paper during breaks; however, I sometimes feel the need to capture a "stream of thoughts" or something emotional not conveniently capturable in writing. During those times, I use the voice recorder feature in my Axim, as well as it's "keyboard" (at night) for typing written entries in my electronic travel journal. I eMail my journal entries when I have Internet access. I also use the Axim as a book reader, MP3 player, and map respository. It's very light, compact, and holds a ton of stuff with the 4GB SD card.

Happy Trails!