January 7th, 2009 Sandra Friend
I’ve been tinkering with the idea of a more robust Florida Hikes forum since August, but wasn’t sure which of many different software and services to choose from. I was in the middle of testing a bunch of them in December again. While I was out backpacking last week and realized I wanted to share my photos with the folks who were with me on the trip, I thought … it’s about time. Let’s get this started. Heck with all this testing. So… here we go!
MyFloridaHikes.com is the new and improved version of the Florida Hikes forum, where you can upload your photos, make photo albums from your own photos and your friends, connect with friends, post videos, post activities under the events section, and even write your own blog posts. Best of all, it’s integrated with FaceBook and MySpace (Im looking into Twitter integration) to let you post stuff in the community and then share it with your other peeps. Pretty slick!
You can get to the new My Florida Hikes community either through the Forum section of the website OR by going directly to http://myfloridahikes.com. Set up your profile, post some stuff, share your trips with us!
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December 22nd, 2008 Sandra Friend
Over at The Florida Hiker, there’s a great blog post right now on learning to wield a chainsaw for the sake of trail maintenance. The Florida Trail Association offers these free workshops to their members several times a year, and if you want to go out and work with a trail crew on the FT, you need to be certified in chainsaw use. Check out what goes on in the workshop …
Meanwhile, I’ve added this site to the blogroll as another fine example of blogging on Florida hiking!
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December 22nd, 2008 Sandra Friend
I added this blog feed (to be accompanied by my own personal asides on hiking) to Twitter yesterday. Keep up and comment at http://twitter.com/floridahikes. You can follow my own rambles on a variety of topics, including hiking, at http://twitter.com/sandrafriend. Now get out there and enjoy this cool weather, perfect for Florida hiking!
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December 10th, 2008 Sandra Friend
Just got alerted to a thru-hiker out on the Florida Trail by trailname of Old Slo. Sounds like he’s been having quite the adventure, including getting lost - and calling in the ‘copters - in the middle of the Big Cypress Swamp. Hey, it’s a confusing place, I understand. His TrailJournal is descriptive and melodic, well worth following as he continues his journey north with almost-realtime updates. I love his easygoing pace and his little hiker buddy Nuts. Looks like he’ll be well past the Kissimmee River before I start my trip there after Christmas, but hopefully I’ll cross paths with him on my outings to North Florida and the Panhandle. Anyway, if you love following hiker journals, do not miss the Florida Trail adventures of Ole Slo!
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October 1st, 2008 Sandra Friend
It’s been almost seven years since I met Bart Smith at an FTA Annual Conference, when he sought me out to say “how’d you like to do a book together?” The result of our chat was Along the Florida Trail, which I section hiked to write and he thru-hiked to photograph. He already had two excellent books with notable authors, Earl Shaffer and Karen Berger. And after he packed up the things he left at my house while he was hiking and headed home to Seattle and family, we kept in touch now and again but not like we did while collaborating.
This spring, Bart’s wife Bridgie got in touch to tell me the exciting news that Bart would be wrapping up 16 years of hiking ALL of the National Scenic Trails, and he’d do it to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the National Trail System. She asked me to work with them on content for his website, which I was honored to do. Today Bart met his goal: all trails complete! Here’s the story.
His website’s a beaut, too, with slide shows from every National Scenic Trail. Be sure to take a virtual hike with Bart down the Florida Trail! Bart’s website: Walking Down A Dream.
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