Just a thought

Good idea. Anyone out there use this one or similar?

I prefer a plain notebook that lets me record however I want. It's easy enough to start each entry with things like weather, number of portages, lakes traveled, etc. so that they can be seen at a glance without reading the whole entry. Running out of room for text seems to be the norm so I want nothing but blank paper.

Alan

And while we're talking journal preferences I like mine to have the spiral binding at the top of the journal. This keeps it from interfering with my hand when I write; especially, as a right hander, when I fill up one side of the pages and then flip the notebook over to start writing on the backside.

Alan

Although I prefer it, I gave up doing a written log/journal years ago. My penmanship has always been pretty bad and after a trip that was particularly unkind to my fingers, I opted to go a different direction.

I now take along an old MP3 player that has a "record" feature. I made this selection after using a more conventional recording device for a few years and dealing with short battery life. (The MP3 will play for several DAYS without a recharge ... more than enough for a 2 week trip where I'm recording 10-15 minutes a day ... so long as I'm not listening to a tune or two at night).

My standard protocol is that I make a daily log each evening after I turn in. I recount the days events, weather, special observations and so on. I generally do this in the dark (so I'm not doing this during an "active" part of the day) and I often catch a few background sounds in the process ... patter of rain on the tent fly, call of loons, wind in the trees, etc.

Of course, I will sometimes have supplemental recordings as events warrant. My particular device also date-stamps the file so I know precisely on what date each recording was made.

When I get home, I download the audio files to my computer and then transcribe them as time permits.

But, I have to admit ... I still find great value in having my thoughts flow from by brain to the ends of my fingers. That aspect is hard to replace.

dd

I just take a small micro cassette recorder and record the days event each evening by the fire. It's nice to hear the crackling of the fire, the loons in the background, the rain hitting the tarp, the thunder, your partners thoughts on different events during the day, and so on.

i have a waterproof journal that i take along sometimes. however, mine is very basic and doesn't include the area to "jot down names and addresses of friends you meet on the trail" such as the one Pinetree linked to... :)

mostly i keep my daily journal on the back of the trip map.

quote dentondoc: "
I now take along an old MP3 player that has a "record" feature.
My standard protocol is that I make a daily log each evening after I turn in.
dd"

I seriously hope each entry starts with, "Captain's log: stardate 42073.1...." :)

I carry a journal and write in it occasionally, but I wonder if I don't make more notes in the margins of my maps.

Doing a video journal starting this year. Hopefully will be capeable of posting a video on you tube for each years trip.

I use a surveyor's field book. They're designed for outdoor use, a little rain doesn't affect them. If you write with a pencil they don't smear if you get a few drops of water on the page. Plus I get them free, so there's that.

Thread title made me think of the Log Lady from Twin Peaks...

i bring a journal every time and have never used it. A solution like denton docs recorder is the only thing that would work for me.

quote muddyfeet: "

quote dentondoc: "
I now take along an old MP3 player that has a "record" feature.
My standard protocol is that I make a daily log each evening after I turn in.
dd"

I seriously hope each entry starts with, "Captain's log: stardate 42073.1...." :) "

Actually, my selected intro is, at least for me, more appropriate. I picked part of a lyric from a Phil Collins song ... "another day for you and me in paradise."

dd

I'm pretty good about writing in my journal. At the end of the trip, I write up a recap about what worked and what didn't, what to leave at home, etc. After soaking the journal a couple of years ago, I picked up a Rite in the Rain notebook. Good stuff!

quote Wables: " At the end of the trip, I write up a recap about what worked and what didn't, what to leave at home, etc. "

I always mean to do that but once I'm off the water it never happens. I had awful weather for the last 1 1/2 weeks of my trip last year and spent a lot of time bored in the tent so I started making up a list just like you mentioned of things that did and didn't work on the trip. It's great to read back through that and it was nice to do it while they were fresh on my mind.

I really enjoy writing in my journal each night before bed. Helps clear my head and sort out my thoughts. This last year I took a nice audio recorder thinking I might like to shoot some video, record my thoughts, and get some ambient noise. The mood didn't strike so I hardly pulled it out the whole time. It lived in a small roll top dry bag clipped to the thwart for easy access during the day. One day I opened it up and found it soaked with water. It had been rainy for the past few days and even though the dry bag was hanging vertical the water must have wicked it's way through the folds and into the bag. That was a surprise. The recorder never did fully recover.

I've found that for me personally my fingers are more articulate than my lips.

Alan

Yup gotta write..........I didn't realize the need until one of my first actual backpacking trips to Isle Royale. The park service gave me a single sheet of paper which had numerous questions on it and a tiny pencil. I filled both sides journaling with amazingly small print and when I returned I made a "scrap book" of sorts. Subsequently I made numerous other scrapbooks which included the journaling, plane and boat tickets, photos etc. But the collection of physical books were starting to take up to much room so now I do it digitally at blogspot. Free and easy........Several years later its nice to go back and relive various trips. If not for this I might have largely forgotten many details about trips........its like "Oh yea, I remember that"!

quote maxxbhp: "I use a surveyor's field book. They're designed for outdoor use, a little rain doesn't affect them. If you write with a pencil they don't smear if you get a few drops of water on the page. Plus I get them free, so there's that. "

This is what I do too. No spiral binding to get in the way when writing or hooked on something. The field books are durable with pages that don't tear easily. I have used both hard cover and soft cover, but prefer the soft cover. The soft covers are more flexible, can easily stick it in your back pocket if you want easy access to it.

Mine were very simple. Little spiral bound (3 for $1.00) books that I got at the drugstore near our home. Preferred the spiral on the top, but not too fussy. Put it in a pint-size ziplock bag with two pens. Carried it in my waist pack and would make notes, very quick notes, throughout the day and usually a longer note in the morning and evening. In the car on the way home I would re-read and sometimes flesh out the narrative, and then when I got home I would make this into the narrative that went along with our trip books.

The first trip books were photo albums with many photos and pages of narrative interspersed. Later on I went to doing online books on Snapfish, and the narrative was still a part of the story. We don't seem to mind the books taking up space on our bookshelf, so we haven't gone to any sort of blog. Lots of memories there, and we do take them down sometimes and look through them, or pull them out as a reference when a question comes up.

I am old. I of the generation that still likes to have a book that I can hold in my hand.

quote Wables: "I'm pretty good about writing in my journal. At the end of the trip, I write up a recap about what worked and what didn't, what to leave at home, etc. After soaking the journal a couple of years ago, I picked up a Rite in the Rain notebook. Good stuff!"

I used the same one last year and liked it. Although I didn't get it wet, I like that it would be ok if it did. It does have some lines where it says 'body of water' and 'wildlife observed' and what not, but I just cross that out and write on the whole page like it's a notebook.

This is the one I have, although I see there are other/cheaper options available elsewhere...
Rite in the Rain Journal

Not waterproof, but durable, relatively compact, no spiral and a good firm cover for writing. I've used them for years and fret about them disappearing in this digital age. Chemistry notebook.

My wife has kept a journal of each trip since our first Quetico trip in 1978. She uses a spiral bound notebook and then removes the pages and they are stored together with other years. Some day we want to type them and create a booklet so that perhaps our children or grandchildren will read them. I seriously doubt that they will read the pen written pages. Linda is a very good writer and her written thoughts are beautiful. We need to find the time to get started typing them.

I have done the written journal but in honesty never really looked back on those. A few years ago I started using the record option on my smart phone. I almost always reflect on the day as I prepare to go to sleep and recording those thoughts was easier than pen and paper. I have grouped the nightly recordings into trips and now will listen to them from time to time, especially when traveling...my commentary on talk radio is often better than the commercial political crap. The comment about hearing the rain and the other sounds of the night is spot on and adds something the written journals did not provide.
The link Pinetree posts does offer some themes to include, but I doubt I would spend the money. However, as a gift to someone as part of their first trip, that might have merit.

quote Alan Gage: "

quote Wables:

I've found that for me personally my fingers are more articulate than my lips.

Alan
"

I totally agree. When all the chores are done and I'm sitting by the lake as the evening sets in I feel so connected when I'm actually writing (the way Miss Stover, my penmanship teacher taught me back in the 50's). The movement of pen to paper seems somehow important and significant (to me). Maybe it's the right hemisphere of my brain being stimulated, maybe it's the boxed wine.

Dave