View Full Version : Techno-Dummy
The Flatulator
03-05-2010, 10:16
I will be starting my third thru-hike in a little more than a month (4/13). I would like to do a trail journal so that I can share this with friends and family as I progress Northward. I know more about receding hairlines, hemmorhoids and arthritis than I do about new age technology. I don't own a cell phone and really don't care to either, but I would like to be able to update and post daily entries. I know some of you use a Blackberry or a Droid and whatever else is out there. I am totally unfamiliar with these and am asking for your patience and understanding and to help guide me onto something simple I could use. What are the advantages/disadvantages of what you are using and what do you feel is a good choice for a five month hike. Batteries? Rechargeable systems? Area coverage? Just because I am an old dog doesn't mean I can't learn new tricks....Thanks
Should have put it in straight forward.:)
Hope you get some good advice. I need to read about stuff like this, too.
garlic08
03-05-2010, 12:37
I'm not a dummy about it, I love technology, and I keep on on-line trail journal, but I choose to leave it all behind on the trails. I scribble journal entries every night in a notebook. I can usually find a public internet computer at a library, or pay for a motel or internet cafe, to get online to upload journal entries and do other e-business. If I go for more than 10 days without a computer, I mail the journal pages to a volunteer transcriber.
I tried carrying the old Pocketmail once, when that was high tech, and it was too much trouble and expense for the benefit, for me. I don't like carrying batteries or anything that needs a charger. One less thing to worry about in the rain, on the rocks, in town, one less bill, etc.
New tricks are nice, but the old ways are OK sometimes, too. I had to carry a cell phone for work, and I couldn't wait to give it back when I retired. I hated that thing. One of my greatest pleasures, whenever I walk out the door, it getting away from the phone.
I agree w/ Garlic in that the easiest way is probably to just photocopy your paper journal and mail those photocopied pages back to a transcriber. That's what I did for my PCT hike, and it worked great. I didn't want to fiddle with anything on the trail either, though I do now carry a cellphone to call my wife when I'm out there, but I don't use it for anything journal related. Any trail town that has a library will have a photo copier, and if you want to edit, just break out the pen and write directly onto the photo copies.
Hope this helps!
garlic08
03-05-2010, 12:44
PS: Please ignore my post above. Sorry, I didn't catch the intent of your question right away, and likewise didn't understand Mudhead's warning about "straitforward". I realize now you didn't want reasons not to buy something, rather what to get. Good luck finding what you want.
The Flatulator
03-05-2010, 12:50
You guys sound like me. That was pretty much what I had in mind to do. I always kept a paper journal on both of my earlier thru-hikes (went back and read them in anticipation for this new endeavor). I was planning to tear out the pages and mail to my wife and have her do the updates. I will be doing a fundraiser, so I want to make sure people have access to my trip and thoughts as I move along and remind them to open their wallets. I work in an office and answer the phone all day, so I can't wait to escape. Don't want to be tied to anything other than the sounds of the wind in the trees, the bird calls and the sweet smells of the woodlands. I have seen people texting (usually while driving, no less!) and was wondering if this was a good alternative since daily updates would be nice and keep people looking. Thanks....
PS: Please ignore my post above. Sorry, I didn't catch the intent of your question right away, and likewise didn't understand Mudhead's warning about "straitforward". I realize now you didn't want reasons not to buy something, rather what to get. Good luck finding what you want.
More along the lines of hoping to avoid the "debate."
We know how to use paper and pencil here in Maine.:)
As long as the gaseous one is happy, all be good.
garlic08
03-05-2010, 14:02
...I will be doing a fundraiser, so I want to make sure people have access to my trip and thoughts as I move along and remind them to open their wallets....
Best of luck on your hike, and especially the fundraiser, oh gaseous one. My hiking partner, Pickle, raised $15K for ALS and breast cancer research on our AT thru in '08, and paper journaling served the purpose just fine for that. Knowing that we were earning over $6 every mile added a real incentive and sense of purpose.
NashvilleBiscuit
03-05-2010, 14:13
I did not do daily entries from my phone but I know people who did. One recommendation I can make is to get a phone from Verizon and not AT&T. Most people I met on the trail with iphones from AT&T had services problems more often than those of us with Verizon.
I carried a blackberry and it did ok most of the time. Valleys and certain areas dont have service but my phone did great most of the time for my section from springer to front royal. The blackberry would work but it really is a phone for a job. There is a new phone out with Verizon made by Palm. Those are great phones and they work on the web much better than a blackberry. The droid would work well for what you want to do too.
The palm also takes good pictures and video. That would add a little to your daily posts.
Batteries on these phones wont last long if you leave the phone on but if you only turn it on to post you could probably go 4 or 5 days on a single charge. When you buy the phone the store will probably have extra battery chargers that you could buy. most of them are just another battery that plugs into your phone and gives it one full charge.
white_russian
03-05-2010, 16:20
Well you don't exactly need Verizon, but a carrier like Sprint that has a roaming agreement with Verizon works as well.
If you are wanting to update almost every night whenever you have signal you should look into a Twitter account because a lot of times you can only get enough signal to send a text message and not data or a phone call.
If you just want to update every few days with the previous few days journal entries then use Postholer.com and you can update by email or web interface. If you are going to have a smartphone you can type out the entries day by day and just send them when you have signal.
Postholer.com also can integrate Twitter so you can do full Postholer entries when you have data and Twitter when you can only text messages.