My son has had a rough first week on the PCT but he is getting his bearings. I am posting his blog here as it is an interesting read, and I hoping he will find encouragement from people following and sending him comments. It can be lonely out there. www.alexzinda.com is his blog. Best to start from day 1 or 2.
phazelag
Cant figure out the URL button. Maybe a Mod can correct for me.
www.alexzinda.com
phazelag
He has a nice site with some beautiful pictures…easy reading, too. I googled Alex Zinda PCT 2012 and found his journal. Maybe his Mom could put it on here too if she’s his transcriber. 
Lady Di
This is Alex’s Dad I am posting is Journal on Postholer.com for him as he posts it to his website http://headnorth2012.blogspot.com/ or www.alexzinda.com, but I could do it on this site too, but this seems to be a very old style site and even though I am very techy, I am not mastering this site. So I am not sure I will be able to. I dont even see a help link to learn the site. If anyone wants to educate me on the basics please email me.
Phazelag
I dont mind at all donating to this site to post a journal, but usually you get some minimal information about how the site works prior to making a decision like that. I can appreciate the minimalist nature of a site, but if there is absolutely no support mechanism for self help, I dont see that making it easy for the site to grow to new members. So even though I would like to share my sons journal for him here, I am not sure about it, or if its worth it. I am sure I cant be the first guy with these questions, but the search feature isnt helping me out in answering questions.
phazelag
Donating? I didn’t know you had to donate in order to post a journal. If so, that’s new in the past couple years.
markv
FWIW, I’m pretty sure a donation is still a donation, ie voluntary in nature, a nice idea, give what you can. Or don’t. Lord knows it won’t go towards improving the site, but it might just keep it up and running for a few more years. Think Internet version 1.0. That’s the time and place this site was developed, and apparently all it ever aspires to be.
loophole
-Dear Alex’s parents,
How is Alex’s hike going? It was a cool read for a short time. I’ve look here, there, and everywhere else I can think of on the internet, but he (or you) has (have) stopped updating. Bummer.
I’ve always found trailjournals.com to be super easy to use. People’s comments about lack of growth is valid, but I use the blue tabs on the left side of the screen like a menu bar to get where I want to go and to add what I want to add. With a little html research, you can discover how to do cool things like posting multiple photos to one entry and enabling hyperlinks. Even without that knowledge, it’s an awesome site. Of course, it’s a moot point if he has stopped hiking or stopped hiking updating. Let us know, and all the best!
-kisses, jewel thief.
jewel thief