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Every year I look forward to new trail journals from the new hikers heading north. Anyone find any interesting ones so far? I find some people are just better writers about their travels than others. Below is an interesting one I found so far from a man heading north with his son:
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=293903
Trail
Father and son team, cool!
VTATHiker
03-19-2012, 16:22
Badger's is well done:
http://www.trailjournals.com/location.cfm?trailname=12965
VTA hiker, nice call with Badger's. Well written, concise and funny. I love his signature at the bottom, it's all good. An older gent showing those young whippersnappers a thing or two.
For several years now a small group of friends of mine form the AT fantasy hiking league. We each pick a team of 10 hikers from Trail Journals.com. 1 point per mile. My team rarely wins because it is not easy to pick who will make it. It's just fun to follow the hikers along and see what happens to your team.
rocketsocks
03-19-2012, 22:03
For several years now a small group of friends of mine form the AT fantasy hiking league. We each pick a team of 10 hikers from Trail Journals.com. 1 point per mile. My team rarely wins because it is not easy to pick who will make it. It's just fun to follow the hikers along and see what happens to your team.Do you get extra points for overcoming adversity say like your hiker gets 5 points for carrying 2 gal.of water 75 miles through a drought area?:-?any way.....that sounds like a cool idea,have fun.
I have had three of the dozen or so journalers I have been following so far dropout before Georgia. It will be interesting to see if any of them make it the whole way through. So far it seems most have dropped out due to the mental strain more so than for physical reasons.
--louis
granbob http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=369558 and jarhead http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=369839. My husband and I have enjoyed their journals.
I also like True blue. http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=369722
Snowleopard
03-20-2012, 11:47
Badger's trail journal is fun:
Later Donu caught up with me when I was taking a break at Gooch Mountain shelter and said in all seriousness, "Aren't old people supposed to be like ... slower?" I wanted to say I was only 27 but prison ages a man, but only laughed.
bamboo bob
03-20-2012, 11:52
Most journals (including mine) just talk about Ramen noodles and rain. They need a lot more sex and violence don't you think?
southpaw95
03-20-2012, 14:41
"Seek It's" is well writen and is ABOUT THE TRAIL. He his doing it a little different than most thru-hikers.
Nice pictures also.
southpaw95
03-20-2012, 14:51
Seeks It
I got the name wrong
rocketsocks
03-20-2012, 16:26
Most journals (including mine) just talk about Ramen noodles and rain. They need a lot more sex and violence don't you think?They can come here for that....I do
rocketsocks
03-20-2012, 16:27
They can come here for that....I doForgot to smile :),I hate when i forget to smile.;):sun
underscored
03-21-2012, 01:25
For several years now a small group of friends of mine form the AT fantasy hiking league. We each pick a team of 10 hikers from Trail Journals.com. 1 point per mile. My team rarely wins because it is not easy to pick who will make it. It's just fun to follow the hikers along and see what happens to your team.
This is genius. Can I do a self-nomination? I'm not on trailjournals - but dammit I'm going to be in that (10?%).
Bags4266
03-21-2012, 06:40
He already misses his wife and dogs..... They have only hiked 16 miles!!!!! The dogs I could understand
Mike2012
03-22-2012, 12:21
I'm over at trailjournals as Mike2012 but I keep the juicy crazy bits in my hand written journal. 110 miles in and gettin slim!
ATSeamstress
03-22-2012, 15:51
I'm enjoying Cubby and Boston's ADT journal.
pyroman53
03-22-2012, 16:29
I'm over at trailjournals as Mike2012
Not that I could find
rocketsocks
03-27-2012, 07:46
"Day pack" aka "FOG" started yesterday 3rd time round some great info on gear selection."Seeks It"very intuitive writer,and some great pictures that somehow just seem different from others,great sense of composition.
Half Note
03-27-2012, 08:33
How often are there places to update an online trail journal? I wouldn't mind doing one of these but the idea of typing a lengthy thing on the iPhone or bringing the laptop just doesn't seem appealing. Do most hostels have a computer and internet access?
Cookerhiker
03-27-2012, 08:59
.... Do most hostels have a computer and internet access?
Along the AT corridor, they do. Also many libraries in the AT communities offer computers with free internet access. The problem if you're hiking "in season" with all the other thrus is time limits - it's hard to do a quality 4-5 day update on-line when you only have an hour available. Still, I managed to do it hiking Maine in '05.
On my Colorado Trail thruhike last year, I had computers accessible at 4 of the trail towns but chose to hold off posting my trailjournals.com account until I returned home.
"...but the idea of typing a lengthy thing on the iPhone or bringing the laptop just doesn't seem appealing."
If you're bringing some sort of smartphone along anyway, note that I've been happy using a folding bluetooth keyboard. Yes, it adds weight, but nothing like having a laptop PC, and I found that I would happily type up a decent length of text at the end of each day on the trail, whereas had I been using pencil and paper or, as you say, trying to use a little on-screen keyboard, I would not have done so. It was also somewhat useful in town for typing up emails, posting to facebook, that sort of thing. And I guess I'd add as another benefit that since I always typed up my journal entries at the end of the actual day represented, all of the memories were fresh, it wasn't someone else transcribing confused scribbles read by me over the phone a few days later. Okay, and also, with the text typed directly into my phone, which is also my internet device, it's easy to directly upload it, sometimes while I'm on the trail, which meant that family and friends could get a more timely update of what I was up to.
I don't suggest that this is for everyone, but I've been surprised at how rare this approach seems given how many hikers keep a trail journal of some sort, and these days, how many also carry a phone with at least some basic intelligence.
Half Note
03-27-2012, 13:11
Cooker and Brian - All of that is good to know. Thanks for the tips!
One Half
04-04-2012, 22:47
Reading his now and laughing most of the time except for when he falls, breaks something or loses something.
campingfever
04-05-2012, 06:49
Badgers is the best I have read so far.
T.S.Kobzol
04-05-2012, 07:40
Today I found a couple hiking the Arizona Trail. Interesting journal in many aspects, one of which is a trail I do not know a lot about. http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=371888