My son and I are going to be attempting a thru hike starting on Easter weekend. I’ve already done 650 miles on the A.T. and Long Trail and kept a journal each day. Some of my best thoughts happened while hiking and I couldn’t stop to write them down and wouldn’t you know it, I couldn’t remember them when I did stop for the evening. Can anyone recommend a reliable digital voice recorder to take on the hike? Thank you for your input.
Trail Name – 96 (ninty-six)
Terry Imhoff
Most MP3 and phones have this capability. So check into that…if you carry either you already have a digital voice recorder. Of course the MP3 be the better option because of battery life. As for reliability the MP3 player is also the better choice too.
Jim
I’ve used a Sony model ICD-8120 for years to journal with. It’s a digital recorder, easy to use, easy to play back when I’m writing my journal. It weighs 2.3 oz, about 3 inches long, 1 inch wide and 1/2 an inch thick. It uses two triple A batteries which last me at least half a thru hike before I need to replace them…probably because I turn the recorder off after each time I use it.
It REALLY helps at the end of the day to remember every little thing. 
Stumpknocker
Even if it had the capacity (and many do not), I wouldn’t trust a DVR or equivalent in the case of something as irreplaceable as a thru-hike’s worth of voice journaling. Instead I would use a lightweight analog microcasette recorder, set to the slowest acceptable recording speed. I’d also hang onto the full cassettes (they don’t weigh much) for the duration of the trip, rather than risk losing them in the mail.
DVR’s also tend to be pretty lousy in terms of data organization. At least you can label microcasettes as to the date or range of dates contained therein. Tapes are also a lot easier to isolate and repeatedly replay specific passages, compared with DVR’s.
blisterfree
After reading blisterfree’s comment, I realized I wasn’t real clear in my comment above on how I use my recorder.
I never have more than the current day’s walk recorded on my digital voice recorder. The last thing I do in my tent every night before falling asleep is to write my journal for that day. It’s my way of winding down for the day.
My digital voice recorder is cleared of any recordings when I’m done each night.
That method works great for me because using the recorder to play back any thoughts I had during the day, people I met, or anything that happened gets written each night.
Most of the thoughts I have during the day would be lost without the recorder. My body is tired when I crawl into my tent at night and I guess my mind must be too because without the recorder I find it impossible to recall all that happened that day.
Stumpknocker
i am so happy to get this information!..thanks guys!..(i’ve always wondered, mr stumpknocker, how you journaled so thoroughly…(guess we all thought you just had a photographic memory!)…as for me, i’m OLD!..and so it’s good to see here that i have some options to help me out in all my ‘senior moments’!..a DVR will definitely be easier than trying to assign ACRONYMS to the b-zillion things i think about during a day of hiking! (which is what i have done in the past!..sheesh!)…
idn’t great, though, how hiking sort of clears your mind so you CAN think?..this is one of my favorite things about getting out to the mountains for a long, long walk!..no more ‘clutter’ in the brain…so…ya wanna ‘KEEP’ those good clear thoughts!..
thanks, y’all, for helpin’ all of us learn better ways of doing this!
maw-ee