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View Full Version : Is trailjournals.com worth a flip?



Big Suave
03-17-2009, 23:20
Just wondering how many people use this site, how user friendly it is, and if your friends and family can actually find you on there? Thanks

SGT Rock
03-17-2009, 23:21
Worked for me.

garlic08
03-17-2009, 23:24
It's been surprisingly great. On-line journals really added an unexpected dimension to my hiking. Not only do friends follow, I've actually met some new friends via the site. Highly recommended.

Some hikers delay posts because they don't want people to know exactly where they are.

JDCool1
03-18-2009, 01:08
The best way to answer your question, is to try it out. Reading the journals, viewing the pictures provided me the best information about the trails I have enjoyed. WB's special essays and articles on the home page provide a lot of info. The forum backs it up with real hikers. The TJ forum does the same. Well worth your time to review it.

Tennessee Viking
03-18-2009, 01:17
Its a great tool for keeping updated on friends and other hikers that you meet as they walk the trail.

Most people will update it by sending letters home with daily accounts. A few that carry the technology will update it every day or trail town.

Its also a great tool for trail clubs to get news about shelters, water, and trail coniditons. When I see a hiker write that a section is dry, I head out to leave a water cache for others.

Does TJ have a setup for day & small section hikers?

kayak karl
03-18-2009, 06:12
Its a great tool for keeping updated on friends and other hikers that you meet as they walk the trail.
Does TJ have a setup for day & small section hikers?
i didn't see a section for short hikes, but i dont see why you couldn't use it that way. title one "my 2009 AT hikes" then 2010 hikes, etc. it would be a good way to keep track of hikes. i am looking at Blogger.com for tracking kayaking trips for my sons and i.

SGT Rock
03-18-2009, 06:21
I've used it for shorter hikes.

hopefulhiker
03-18-2009, 07:22
I think they do a good job over there...

stumpknocker
03-18-2009, 07:33
It's my favorite online site. Been using it a lot lately reading journals and looking at pictures about the western Trails. :)

Cookerhiker
03-18-2009, 08:29
I like TJ and have used it for both long and short hikes. I've also met people through TJ. When I hiked all of Maine in 2005 (http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=113704), I perused TJ beforehand to find thruhikers who I expected to meet there when I started in mid-August.

Frick Frack
03-18-2009, 08:54
We used TJ and it was amazing the number of visitors to our site who we met along the way. One section hiker, actually a handful, picked some TJ's to follow and when they went on their section hike they ran into us and knew all about us.

stumpy
03-18-2009, 22:41
How do you update the journal from the woods?

freefall
03-18-2009, 22:58
How do you update the journal from the woods?
1)Technology. A)More people are carrying Blackberries and updating from the trail.
B) A few, very few, actually carry laptops with wireless cards.

2) Trail towns. There are enough of these along the way that you can update your journal yourself at least once a week, sometimes more often.

3)Transcribers. This can be done a number of ways.
A) Call them with your update.
B) Email your update. This can be done via a cell phone,
pocketmail or public computer.
C) Mail handwritten entries to them to transcribe.
These are the methods I've seen used. Personally, I used the mailing to the transcriber in 2006. No one really needs to know where you are in the woods minute by minute so being a couple of weeks behind is not that big a deal. I am however, going to attempt to use Twitter this summer when I hike the CT just to see if it can be done. I will also keep a handwritten journal that I will update as I can online.