New Partnerships. alabamatrail.org !!!!

[Magic City Matt]

Hey everybody,
I am very excited to announce that AlaTrails has a new partner in our growing online community! We have been working with the good people over at alabamatrail.org and we have come to the agreement that that our efforts would be best if combined. If you don't know alabamatrail.org was started a long time a go by Lee Van Horn who has maintained the site all of this time because of his love for the Alabama's great outdoors and Bio Diversity.
Over time we will be merging the resources of the two sites together. Lee will be serving as both a trail guide expert and a moderator of the forums here. We will be integrated the current set of trail guides on his site into the trail guide database as well as adding some sections to both the main page of the site and the forums to accommodate the wealth of information Lee has collected over the years.
For right now we have fixed the forum over at alabamatrail.org and are currently hosting it from here so users who currently have accounts can sign in and get any information from their accounts they need. You can access the new board at the old site location of

http://www.alabamatrail.org/hikingAL/

or at the current forum location of

http://www.alatrails.com/hikingAL/forum/

So let's everyone give a big welcome to Lee and make sure and thank him for all of the work he has done over the years.

Thanks

Matthew

[Joshua Szulecki]

Great news! A warm welcome to Lee and all the folks at Alabamatrail.org!

I also posted a few times on the forum, before Matthew started Alatrails, and I sincerely hope that some of those great people are still around after the outage, and start popping in here.

Just as a quick note, I assume somebody will be posting on HA about what is going on, but can somebody look into the fact that HA is opening in a frame right now?

[Lostsheep]

Welcome I guess. Sounds good and it's always great to have more people!

[alabamat]

Thanks everyone, and thanks especially to Matthew and Jay for helping to move the alabamatrail board and get it up and running again. I'm going to be working on posting some of the trail guides from their over to here and working with Matthew to get this organized and functional. Thanks again.

Lee

[PastorLarryT]

WELCOME!  Good to have both sites available here!!!

[Mountain Dog]

I've been a frequent poster on HA.  What I liked about that site was my ability to follow threads by trail, not a general discussion section.  What I disliked was the infrequent postings.  It sometimes seemed like not many people kept up with that site.  I think combining the two will help the latter problem.  I visit this site some but not frequently because all hiking just about falls under the general discussion heading and a lot of it did not interest me personally.  What would I like to see in the merger?  I'd like to see threads identified by major trails, a section for "other trails" where people having hiked other places could leave trip reports or just good information that others might find useful,  a gear forum section, trail descriptions Lee developed, updated when possible, and specific links to other trail specific web sites, such as the Pinhoti Trail Alliance and the Sipsey Wilderness hiking Club.

Places like Whiteblaze and Backpacker frequently have questions about where to hike in the south or questions about alabama trails.  I usually respond and refer them to whichever site seems appropriate.  I look forward to the day I can send them here and they will have a one size fits all.  All they would have to do is to use the information available here.

[Joshua Szulecki]

Mountain Dog,

Pinhoti Trail Alliance and the Sipsey Wilderness Hiking Club are already in our links section.
http://www.alatrails.com/...ex.php?action=links;cat=1

The threads identified by major trails and trip reports requests are somewhat addressed by features in the non-forum section of the website (Home), in the Trail Guides and Trail Journals section. Non-Alabama trail information would be well-suited for a personal trail journal. The new part of the site (Home) is very new, and isn't totally populated with content yet, because it relies on user submissions.

We have a gear forum: http://www.alatrails.com/...index.php/board,23.0.html

You can reach most of the goodies on Alatrails via a blue menu below the Alatrails logo. "Home" is for the main page, which links to the forum as well as the trail guides and journals. The links section is labelled "links", and etc...

[Mountain Dog]

Well, I guess you have stuff somewhere.  You do have links which I like. 
If I study the site enough I'll figure it out.  The strength of Lee's site was that I did not have to look around for what people said about some trails.  I've hike every section of the Pinhoti at least three times and I still looked at that forum to determine what people were finding.  It was a pretty simple system to navigate, a couple of clicks and I was in business.  I could find current information, notices and even trail reports really easy.  Whiteblaze and Backpacker are similar.  They all had a lot of information scattered around but you could prety much find a forum topic and exaust the subject there without going other places.  These are just my thoughts.  Maby they will help, maby not. 

[alabamat]

I think that over the next few months we'll have separate threads by trail here as well Mt. Dog. I've talked with Matthew about this and I think he agrees. One thing I'd say is that I doubt that there will ever be enough hikers and trails in Alabama for there to be a large number of posts about specific trails. That was Matthew's concern as well. But, because we use the threads as a resource for disseminating trail info (perhaps more than keeping up lively discussions), I think that the separate threads are needed. If we put them all together in one site perhaps that is the best of both worlds.

Lee

[Joshua Szulecki]

Bearleader,

I hope Matthew re-reads this thread when he gets back... I was thinking along the same lines as you regarding the trails threads. It wouldn't be a half bad idea to create an Alatrails Pinhoti Hikers (etc...) "Club" on the forum, for trail specific discussion. Another option I see is something like we had with the news ticker for a while there, where there was sort of a subdivider in the forum that was sort of a psuedo forum. The simplest option would probably be to just auto-append the subject of messages to include a standardized trail name for trail specific information, and allow users to sort by trail in the display options in the forum, or something similar.

I'm sure that Matthew will figure something out if it looks important.

[Mountain Dog]

Thanks Lee.  I still owe you, maby I should blame you when it is 90 degrees and I still have 2,000 feet to climb before hitting a camp site before dark, for getting me involved in hiking.  The gear makers also thank you.

BL 67 seems to have missed my point, one saying what I like in sites and hoping my thoughts would help make this site even better and possibly THE go to site for Alabama hiking.  It would appear when the site started trying to get everyone to advertise this site on other forums the people running the site had an inclusive mentality.  We've had many people try to create their own web sites only to fail.  As good as I find Solo's site, he even tried to create a forum which basically went unused.  I agree a central site is a good idea and would be invaluable if all clubs would support it.  I do not advocate separate sites for each trail or forum links for sections of a trail.  I've also hiked much of the Sipsey and I found the information and format of Lee's froum to be very helpful.  I've also hiked the Connecut(sp) and other smaller trails in Alabama.  My only point is that a central site with easy to navigate forums by main trails and even a general grouping to minor trails would make the exchange of information easy.   I really hope this site does become the inclusive site promoting all of Alabama. 
FYI, I started hiking late in life.  I accidently found Lee's site and because the information was so good (trail descriptions, trail profiles, and forum exchange) I started serious hiking.  I've since gotten a nephew, two son in laws, one daughter, a friend in La, and general friends interested in hiking.  Some have hiked all of the Pinhoti and most of the Sipsey in between other hikes.  So you see, I am very partial to informative and easy to navigate web sites that just might make the difference in the quality and number of hikers in generations to come.  I hope this site becomes the central repository that might even lead to the fragmented trail clubs working together.  These are my thoughts and I'll gladly move on if Matthew finds such input to be offensive.

[Joshua Szulecki]

Mountain Dog,

I don't think BearLeader missed your point. I think we just have a small misunderstanding .

I assume (might be wrong) that you are taking issue with his suggestion that you start a new club for trail specific threads. What I'm 99% sure he meant is that Alatrails has a feature where groups within Alatrails can form a "club" on the forum for discussion of a specific topic. Therefore, hikers of the Pinhoti, or some other trail system, could form a "club" to discuss that specific trail. We created a similar "club" in the forum for Alatrails Nature Photographers, so we'd have a place to discuss photography without cluttering the main forums. You can find these "clubs" in the forum home, under Clubs and Organizations.

As far as organizing the posts on Alatrails by trail, I prefer the current layout of the forums, but I do think there are many ways that Matthew could implement what you are looking for without changing the actual format of the current site. The new part of the site, where trail guides are posted, also has the functionality you are looking for, as each trail guide has a comments section. You can see what I'm talking about in my tiny guide to the Ruffner Mountain Trillium Trail, where there is a comments section at the bottom. http://www.alatrails.com/taxonomy/term/30

Alatrails is a work in progress, and suggestions like yours are essential to honing the experience, so keep offering suggestions, and don't worry if people don't agree with you. The site is designed well under the hood, but there are certainly little interface tweaks that need to me made. We all have issues with one or more formatting issues on the site but ultimately Matthew will figure out what works and what doesn't based on our suggestions.

[alabamat]

Thanks for all the kind words Mountain Dog, although I'm not sure that I advocate hiking in 90 degree weather anymore.  8-)  I am escaping the southern summer for the Australian winter this year, hiking through Eucalyptus forests and to deserted beaches.

it is good to know that the work has made a difference, I had thought about just letting alabamatrail.org go off line there as it was a lot of work to keep it up and I haven't been able to keep the info up to date. Now I'll try to see if there is a way to get the information up to date and keep it available without requiring too much grief on any one person's part.

As to the forum. I don't want to direct the alabamatrail.org forum over here until there are separate forums for the Pinhoti and the Sipsey. These really are meant to provide information and answer questions about these trails, and having separate forums is the best way (in my view) to organize that information so that it is accessible, even if the rate of posts to those forums isn't as much as to the more general forums.

Until that time I really appreciate Matthew's help in getting the alabamatrail.org forum back on line and in hosting it.

Best!

Lee

[Joshua Szulecki]

You know, looking at the "Hiking and Backpacking" section of the forum, I'm not sure that I still agree with my original statement. I think maybe a Sipsey and Pinhoti specific section might not clutter the Hicking and Backpacking section up all that much, since right now there are only three options. Any more than Sipsey and Pinhoti might be pushing it, but I think it would remain pretty simplified. While I think the new site sections for trail guides could probably be modified to provide similar functionality with even more regional specificity, I think added a sub-forums for Sipsey and the Pinhoti would probably be the easiest for Matthew to implement. Of course, I'll be happy with whatever Matthew ends up doing.

[Joshua Szulecki]

Ask and you shall receive... Matthew appears to have added a Pinhoti and Sipsey child board to the General Discussion forum.

Pinhoti: http://www.alatrails.com/...index.php/board,32.0.html
Sipsey: http://www.alatrails.com/...index.php/board,33.0.html

[Mountain Dog]

Thanks for the clarification of the "clubs".  I can barely turn on a computer so my inability to follow information or to create a club is probably a matter on my ignorance.  I know we can over do it with forum links so I do not know what is possible or not.  But, from my perspective, even Lee's site could add links that would help.  For example. where do you find information about all the trails on Cheaha mountain.  One of the prettiest is Nubbin.  I was blown away the first time up it.  There was plenty of water and the creek/falls were absolutely beautiful.  High Falls, now there is a pretty falls.  I've seen the one in the Sipsey that BP said was the second most beautiful in the US and it can't hold a candle to High Falls.  Chinnabee Silent with Devil Den and Cheaha Falls is a must trail for people wanting an easy trail for the young or beginners.  Get the point?  I do not know how to provide information and discussions but I was thinking forum links such as :  "Pinhoti", "Sipsey", "Cheaha Mountain Trails", "Miscellaneous Alabama Trails" and possibly another one for "Hikes outside Alabama"  I regularly surf the trails on BP and White Blaze to see if I can help people.  I'm amazed how many times people post looking for trails and they do not know anything about hiking availabilities in Alabama.  I ramble on don't I?  Oh well, having grown up in Russellville I have a soft spot for Alabama and think others are missing out when they drive to Georgia, Tennessee or even to Arkansas to find mountain trails. 

[Joshua Szulecki]

High Falls in Talladega NF is prettier than the famous ones in Sipsey, meaning Parker or Upper Caney? Careful saying that in front of the Alatrails resident waterfall chaser. Me and High Falls don't get along. Rock colors and fall position are all wrong for photography. But then, we are all entitled to our opinions, even if they are wrong.

If you want to post some trail guides for Cheaha and other places, but don't know how to work the website to do it, just write the information up in a standard e-mail, and send it to me. Just ask and I'll send you my e-mail address. Our trail guides section is still pretty sparse, so I'd love to help in getting some more guides up.

[alabamat]

No problem, we're working to incorporate more of these abilities. Thanks to Matthew for getting Pinhoti and Sipsey forums up and running!

Lee

[Mountain Dog]

You are righ JS, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  I first hit High Falls on a summer hike when I started at the Cheaha (281) parking lot.  I hit High Falls that afternoon and boy was it hot.  The good thing was there were no people around.  My partner jumped in.  I am more bashful.  Like an oasis, the falls and the pool beneath were almost spiritual.  I can't find the BP article but the falls they referred to as the second most beautiful in the US (if I remember the catagory properly), was Fall Creek Falls.  The falls were nice and there was moderate water.  I passed by last Dec  So, I did not need to cool off. 

I put a question on the Pinhoti forum link about trail reports before I saw the preceeding post.  Send me an e-mail at wjcjec@juno.com.  I do not check that one often but I'll get back to you on one I use more frequently and we can go from there as far as reports.

[Nalgene Ninja]

Yo Lee, are you still writing for BPL? I noticed your name in the "BPL Bible".

http://www.backpackinglig...ckpackinglight/00070.html