Re: [at-l] Trail Journals - Rememberance or Legacy

[Slyinmd@aol.com]

In a message dated 12/20/98 8:50:37 PM US Eastern Standard Time, AT-
L@fallingwater.com writes:

> PS. If anyone's interested in keeping this thread alive. We can talk
>  about the techniques of keeping a journal, private .vs. public, print
>  .vs. web, upcoming changes in technology for the journal writer. 

Going into the AT I hadn't hiked in 25 years, never mind, written anything
meaningful.  I thought I could do both, but I reached the point "the hike" was
more important then writing about it.  I do regret the descision to drop my
journal.  

One of the things that prepared me for my hike was reading others experiences.
I believe Ron and Linda's '77 AT journal was the first I read, that let me
know just what I was getting into.  The others I read were Gusty's '96 hike
and George Staffanos (Then the Hail Came) '83 hike.   They contained a wealth
of intangible information that guide books don't offer to prepare oneself
mentally for the trail and I sugest any potenial thru-hiker doing the same.

One thing that I did find useful to me in remembering my hike,  was to atleast
keep track of nightly stays.  Another time, when I promised Wingfoot that all
was not lost, I kept notes of daily happenings.  I did this for several
hundred miles and was going to use this information to re-construct 'the lost
journal' entries for '97 and for my continuating journal on Trailplace in '98.
But I got lazy and reaching Katahdin more important. 

Writing is hard work, atleast for me, and I don't know how many times I
crunched up a piece of paper with only one line written, to do better.  

I think I have the hiking part down, and any help in writing is appreciated.  

 Sly

Sly
* From the Appalachian Trail Mailing List |  http://www.backcountry.net  *

==============================================================================