[pct-l] Hand-written trail journals

[ksmraleigh at comcast.net]

I kept a hand written journal each summer 2000-2006 as we section hiked the PCT. When I read it now, I can actually often remember where I was sitting, what I was nibbling, the light, the weather. And I think that has to do with the slowness of pen and paper.
It is kind of the difference of the romance of the old library card catalog versus the new super searching electronic catalogs which wonderful as they are, lack the hand written notes from librarians long gone.
Which ever way you choose, do keep some journal. They're as great as pictures for recalling moments of your hike.

Jenny Martin

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: jennifer <bbarnicle22 at yahoo.com> 
I was just thinking of this very thing (handwriting journal versus typing one). I was looking for a ruler and knew I had one in my one geology field book and found my journal from the 6 week backpacking/mapping trip in the Mohave from a few years ago. I did really enjoy looking back at it and all of my notes that I would otherwise not have had had I typed as I went (I did type up something when I got back, using the journal to help remember the details, to send to fiends and family who were interested). But the part that still gets me is that I type a lot faster than I can write, so typing into something it appealing to me as it would take less time. Though there is a part of me that doesn't want all that technology on the trail, so I think I will probably carry a journal and a pen and write it all down by hand. Then I do have something that I could give someone if they wanted to know about the journey. Either that or a small recoding device so I can just talk into it and then type
 up something at a latter time. I was thinking of maybe trying to type it up while in town so friends and family could follow along, but maybe not. I'll just go with the flow. 

Jen

Dirk Rabdau <dirk9827 at yahoo.com> wrote:
With the advent of new technology, a person can update his or her trail journal from almost anywhere a cell connection can be found. From the latest smart phone to pocketmail, the march of "progress" continues.

I ran into a friend yesterday who is an avid sailor. He takes his boat out on the open ocean for weeks at a time and keeps a hand-written journal of the adventures. When I asked whether or not he considered carrying a laptop or another electronic device to keep his journal, he offered an opinion I hadn't considered. "The value of a journal isn't entirely in the actual journaling. There is something very satisfying about picking up an old journal on the shelf and examining it for what it contains. Besides the day's proceedings, the margins are often filled with long-forgotten notes, rough charts and estimate, and items collected along the way, such as an old photograph. These are things that an adventure make."

This made re-evaluate what I would bring along on a long-distance. The Internet is a terrific medium, but does the medium itself come with its own self-imposed restrictions? The reason I bring an old Palm III and keyboard on the trail has more to do with the fact that I can type much more quickly than I can write. But I am under no illusion: there is nothing romantic, 20 years later, about HTML. Picking up an old journal, its pages yellowed and spine worn, suggests history, and with it, a certain sense of nostalgia. The age of electronic text certainly will not carry the same currency. 

Thoughts from the legion of trail journal keepers out there?




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