13 days from now I’ll be taking my first steps on the approach trail. Most things are as ready as they can be AND there’s not much time left to make any drastic changes, so I fill the remaining time mostly just enjoying the family, friends and comforts of home. The 1-mostly time gets stuffed with little micro prep tasks / decisions. Things that might need to get done, it’s OK if they don’t and they can shrink or expand to fill the time I want to give them. Things like getting fuel for my stove (I can get that at the check in if I don’t get it before), mapping out a few more days in FarOut (I need to resist this one actually – only want 7 to 10 days roughly planned when I start), or how to keep track of the day to day.
I’d like to journal while I’m on trail. I’ve read all the pre and post hike reports of people with exactly the same intention that end up ditching their journal a few weeks or even days in. I’d like to journal for the benefit of both the experiencing me (so I can note and process what I’m experiencing as I go) and the remembering me (so I can look back over the totality of the trip and see what I might have learned). So the decision to journal (at least to try at the start) is made. The decision still up in the air is how to journal.
The easy option is to use the new Jornal app in iOS. It makes it easy since it pulls in any pics and locations from the day. It also adds no additional weight to my pack. There are at least two downsides to this approach though. First it’s just “bits in the cloud” vs something that’s real in the world. It might be a bit of clinging to the “real”, but it seems there will be so little that’s tangible after my hike, so having this one artifact seems important to me. Second, I find that writing is different than typing in terms of where it takes me / what it lets me find the words to express. I think a paper journal will be a more complete exploration and documentation of my experience than a digital one.
The less obvious choice is the paper journal. The benefits / costs of the paper journal are the inverse of the digital. Benefits : I’d have at least one thing in the world as a record of my hike. I’d write / explore more than I would in digital. Costs: it would add weight to my pack. Also, it might get destroyed or lost and not have a backup “in the cloud”.
For now I’ve placed a hard bound leuchtturm1917 journal in my packing bin for the start. The weight is worth it.
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