How do people update TJ?

imported
#1

I am enjoying reading many of the posts on Trail Journals.com. But, I am wondering how these folks update their journals from the back country.

Hound Dog

#2

dog, we email directly to a friend or relative who posts them for us, or when in a town library or hostel/hotel with a computer, we direct connect and update. some folks hand write their journals and mail them home while others use pocketmail devices for email. a few use a cell phone and talk to a family member who updates it.

burn

#3

If you truly want to update from the backcountry, I saw this in Backpacker magazine the other day. 'course, it’s a bit pricey.

Disco

#4

You can judge a hiker by how often they update these “trail journals”. If it’s frequently, he or she is a poseur who spends a lot of time in town and can’t handle the trail. The infrequent posters are true hikers. The ultimate hikers post the entire trip when they are finished.

Blugster

#5

you can’t judge a hiker by how often they update. and you shouldn’t.

Updates keep mom & dad from worrying if their hiker is dead at the bottom of a ravine. Updates keep a hiker from having to post hundreds of pages at the end of a long journey. Updates keep trailjournals going.

I just realized you are probably trolling and I fell for the bait.
So beit.

Wild Hare

#6

Oh I see. Your worried about keeping a website running and saving time at the end of the hike. I am not trolling. I am simply showing where your priorities are. Clearly they are not to nature or the hike. But feel free to keep taking your technology breaks at every town you pass. I will be glad to have you off the trail. Poseur.

Blugster

#7

Hound Dog,

When I hiked the A.T. in 2000, most of us who kept journals hand-wrote our entries each day (or night, more often). The pages would accumulate until each time we had access to a mailbox. We’d then mail our latest batch to our transcriber–often someone we’d never met, but who’d volunteered through this website–and that person would type in our entries. As in my case, a transcriber often posts one entry per day, so it mirrors what it’s like on the trail. However, it is rarely, if ever, the hiker him/herself posting the entries, and the dates of the entries you read are often a week to two weeks earlier. I saw few hikers in 2000 using hand-held devices to write or send their entries; perhaps that practice has grown since then. When I did occasionally see someone with a little gizmo, they’d type in their entry and, when in town for resupply, showers, etc., they’d make a call and send the latest journal updates, so theirs weren’t quite so many days behind. Most towns along the A.T. did not have internet access, and most hikers were too busy with other town “chores” spend time online. (Resupplying, showering, doing laundry and EATING take a lot out of a zero-day!) Oh, and most often there was a time limit (usually about a half-hour) on public computers, so not enough time to do a lot of typing. I checked my email twice in six months, and had time only to read through and reply to a few.

ramkitten

#8

Burn & Ramkitten: Thanks. I feel like I have gotten to know many of these hikers by reading their journals. I can’t wait to get out this week for my section hike.

Hound Dog

#9

I am with you. I’ve just started reading journals and I must say I am touched. It’s great to see people from all backgrounds and age groups starting out their hike. It’s down right inspiring. Also, it’s nice of them to share their experience with us. Plus, I find it interesting to check on their status and see what equipment they bring. I am planning a thru or I should say section hike on the LT in Vermont in August. I am thinking I will be running into some of these folks… those that make it that far.


I’m a high tech junky and would love to post a lot. But the only electronics I will be carrying are my camera and cell phone. Cell phone is for convenience to connect with friends who will be joining me at times. But, if I could I would be posting a lot.


8)

HikerDude

#10

High technology has its place, and to maximize the hiking experience, I think that its place is far away from the trail.

I use a pen (although it is a fancy space pen) and paper. I capture significant moments as best as I can, and then every three days to three weeks I mail them home for transcribing to the internet.

Aren’t moms the BEST?

Tha Wookie

#11

Indeed, Tha Wookie - and I am sure your mom is reassured to receive your updates.

Blugster, I noticed you ignored or avoided that first priority.

“I will be glad to have you off the trail.” wow, I didn’t realize that hiking was such a competitive sport. I can’t see what difference it would make to you one way or the other, but if it will make your day: done. I am not a hiker.

Wild Hare

#12

Yeah, in 2000 my Mom was my transcriber. She got to follow along with me on the trail through my journal. Since she had double knee replacement surgery, she was unable to hike the “conventional way.”

It worked pretty well except for the occasional situation where she couldn’t decipher my writing. One notable example was when she recorded the trailname Camo as Coma. :lol

I got a good laugh about that one - my apologies to Camo.

Jeffrey Hunter

#13

“You can judge a hiker by how often they update these “trail journals”. If it’s frequently, he or she is a poseur who spends a lot of time in town and can’t handle the trail. The infrequent posters are true hikers. The ultimate hikers post the entire trip when they are finished.”

Riiiiiight. That’s the guideline voted on by Congress and signed by the President himself. What year was that? Oh wait… that’s your opinion. Screwed up opinion in my opinion. I mean, come on, dude, a person can surely take as long as they want to write and mail journal updates. A person can surely take as much time as he or she wants to type on a personal electronic device to send in when a phone is available. A person can spend three days in a trail town typing journal entries. That doesn’t mean they’re some kind of poseur loser who can’t take the trail. There’s no rule that says you get into town, take care of your business, and split. There’s no rule that says when you quit hiking for the day you must spend all your time fraternizing without any time to journal. Idiotic to think someone is less of a hiker if they journal daily and make sure they get it somehow onto Trail Journals or any other website hosting their journal.

“High technology has its place, and to maximize the hiking experience, I think that its place is far away from the trail.”

Eh, your opinion. I agree for the most part. Hiking in Alaska, though, good ol’ GPS technology is very handy quite often. I also carry a digital camera which is surely high technology. I’m not a photo nut, don’t use the camera very often but I carry it and it doesn’t one single bit lessen my experience hiking. I’d never carry a cell phone, I don’t agree with people who do but that’s their choice and if it doesn’t bother anyone then they have to live with the fact that they’re contributing negatively to American society by owning one… even though they are handy for emergencies they are more bad for society than they are good. What about Pocketmail? Does that lessen one’s experience on the trail? I doubt it. What else? That covers most high technology that one would carry. Oh, I’ve also started carrying an Mp3 Player on certain day hikes. An Mp3 Player?! GASP! Yup. Certain day hikes that I go on I often go on just for the exercise when I know the trail like the back of my hand… a little good music in my ears can get my pace up and/or give me something to do when there’s nothing particularly thrilling about the same day hike for the 110th time. The only tech that bothers me is seeing someone with a cell phone (unless it’s for a life threatening emergency) but what gadgets I carry only make my experience better and I suspect that is true for most everyone.

If high technology isn’t for you, how come you hike in synthetics and not cotton and wool? Or is it just electronic technology that you object to?

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Peace, Love, & Freedom
CW

Don’t Believe in Trail Names