400 Blog Hikes!

I am still in the process of posting some of my old Ohio hikes, but I thought it worth noting that I completed my 400th hike for this blog during a trip to the Smoky Mountains last week.  I number my hikes in chronological order, so Hike #001 was my very first hike (Governor Bebb Preserve in Ohio: I first went there as a kid with my dad).  I will post a master list eventually, but for now here is a run-down of my milestone hikes:

Hike #100: Highbanks Metropark near Columbus, OH, hiked in July 2001.
Hike #200: Rim Trail at Bryce Canyon in Utah, hiked in May 2006.  Side note: my Grand Canyon hike was #201; DOH!
Hike #300: Twin Lakes State Park in southern Virginia, hiked in April 2010.
Hike #400: Deep Creek Loop at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, hiked in October 2012.

I am working on writing up my 4 hikes from the Smoky Mountain trip.  I will get them posted after I get the trail descriptions written.

I am also on track to challenge my record for number of new hikes in a calendar year.  My current record is 40 new hikes set in 2010.  I already have 35 new hikes this year, and it is only October.

Here's to 400 hikes, and to 400 more!

Great Lakes Summer Trip

I am now in the process of posting 11 hikes I took as part of a hiking trip to the Great Lakes this past summer (July 2012).  These hikes are located in Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.  The Kentucky and Indiana/Illinois sections are now complete.  I am working on the Michigan/Wisconsin/Minnesota section now.  After I complete that section, the two sections in the western USA will come next.

Also, I have almost finished updating as many of the "old" hikes as I can by adding Google maps and pictures from the trail.  Unfortunately, I have found that I have fewer old hiking pictures than I had hoped, so many blog entries remain without pictures.  In particular, many hikes in Georgia, Virginia, and Ohio remain in the old format.  Many of these trails will require re-hiking before I can update them.

Google Maps

As I continue to think of ways to make this blog better, I am now working on adding a Google map of the hike to each blog entry.  I am entering these maps by hand and not from GPS, so the accuracy is not the best.  In particular, the maps are designed only to give you an idea as to the trail's route.  Also, since the Google map does not consider every curve in the trail bed, the distance calculation given by the Google map will almost always underestimate the actual length of the trail.  The best estimate I have for the trail length is still given in the introduction of the trail description.

Virginia Completed

It took awhile, but I finally finished posting all 51 of my hikes from Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware.  I have a hiking trip to the Virginia/Kentucky border scheduled for early June, so I am going for Kentucky next.

Pic Tags and Archives Added

My work toward posting my Virginia hikes continues.  In the meantime, I know that some people only like blogs with pictures.  Thus, in the "List of Trails" page on each blog I have added the tag "(pics)" beside the blog entries that have pictures.  Hint: look in the South Carolina section for lots of entries with pictures.  Also, I have added a hikes archive on the right side of each blog to help returning visitors keep track of my newest blog entries.  The archive sorts blog entries chronologically by date of entry.

Tennessee/North Carolina Completed

The construction of this blog continues state by state.  The Tennessee/North Carolina section is now completed. With that section, I have now posted almost 1/3 of my total number of hikes.  I will continue to work up the eastern seaboard with Virginia and nearby states coming next.  I have 51 hikes in that section; it is the third largest section behind Georgia and Ohio (I lived in Virginia for just over 2 years), so it will take awhile.

New South Carolina Hikes

I'm back from Christmas break, and I have updated my South Carolina hikes to reflect the trails I hiked last fall.  I now have 17 hikes posted for South Carolina, almost double my previous number.