GoHikeUtah Blog

Coming soon (again).

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:39:07 -0600

The clouds began to gather in the distance. Dogs barked, the wind howled, trees shivered, and a feeling that something big was about to happen filled the air.

At least, that’s what I observed the day before we launched the site. Now, weeks later, the storm has passed. But to call it a storm is an exaggeration. The site launch was more of a light shower, if even that.

We’ve been receiving a lot of great feedback from visitors to the site and I am proud to announce that we are in the process of redesigning the entire GoHikeUtah.com experience.

What exactly are we changing? Almost everything. We’re making it easier to find hikes (whether you’re from Utah or not), easier to create and manage your own account, and we’re adding a lot of cool stuff too. But we’re not worried about whether or not the new stuff will look good or make us feel good, we simply want to give hikers like you exactly what you want in a hiking resource site. So, if you’ve got any feedback or ideas for the website, contact us.

Posted by Tanner.

A few things to keep in mind for this hiking season

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:35:21 -0600

So now that a lot of the most difficult kinks have been worked out of GoHikeUtah.com and now that the weather is finally starting to warm up, we’re getting really excited about the hiking season this year. Here’s a few things you should keep in mind as you venture out on your first hike:

1. Break in your boots again. If you’ve invested in some nice hiking boots, you may think you’ll have no problem slapping them on and hitting the trail right away. For the most part, better boots means less pain and discomfort that first time out, but I recommend walking around in them around for several hours prior to your first hike. This will give your feet a chance to readjust and for you to make any insole or padding changes before you hit the trail.

2. Check your emergency essentials. How long has your emergency blanket, first aid kit and flashlight been sitting in your day pack without a second thought? (it’s been way to long for me). Now’s the time to go through them again to make sure everything is in good working order so you can be sure you’ll be safe should an emergency happen on the trail.

3. Don’t hike the toughest trail first. Sure, summiting King’s Peak or Mount Nebo is a great feeling and triumph, but for your first hike of the year, it’s probably not the best idea (not to mention those won’t be hikeable until August anyway). Instead, take a few short hikes, then a couple of moderate ones, then go for the most challenging.

4. Notice Stuff. Many hikers make the mistake of just trying to “get there”, so they miss a lot of cool stuff along the way. Just last year while hiking Peakaboo Gulch, I had the chance to see a blue heron, a Western rattle snake and several scorpions along the trail that I otherwise would have missed if I hadn’t been paying close attention. Enjoy every part of the trail! And once you’ve done a hike, come back here and share your experiences with everyone else.

4b. Capture stuff. The second part of noticing stuff is to capture it, ideally on film. Those images will cement in your mind all the great things you saw along the way that you’d otherwise probably forget. I know it can be a hassle to stop, pull out the camera, find an angle and snap a shot. Believe me, I’m the last person who wants to slow down and mess with all that, but I’ve never, ever regretted doing it, and often wish I’d done it more!

Okay, that’s it. Now get out there and hit the trail.

Posted by Jonathan.

Having trouble creating an account?

Thu, 29 May 2008 08:36:00 -0600

Update:

We have fixed the problem with Internet Explorer, everyone should be able to create an account and fully enjoy everything GoHikeUtah.com has to offer. If you run into any further problems, please feel free to contact us.

We’ve been receiving a lot of great feedback about the website, so a quick “thank you” to everyone who has been helping us test it out over the past few days.

If you are having trouble creating an account right now, don’t worry, we’re well aware of what the problem is and we are working quickly to get it fixed.

It turns out that Internet Explorer doesn’t like creating accounts or logging in to the website, so if you want to create an account right now you’ll have to try using another (better, more reliable, and more useful) web browser like Firefox.

We will keep you up to date on the progress as we attend to the problem. Thanks again for all of your time and support.

Posted by Tanner.

Say hello to GoHikeUtah.com.

Sun, 25 May 2008 23:09:00 -0600

It was just a few weeks ago that Jonathan and I sat down in a conference room to talk about what we thought an online Utah hiking resource should be.

Jonathan and I decided that a true, online hiking experience would allow for actual hikers to add input into the hikes database, rather than being managed by a bunch of nerds behind the scenes. The website would be easy to navigate, easy to understand, and easy to become a part of.

We are proud to announce that our dream of an online Utah hiking resource has become a reality. Say hello to Go Hike Utah.

We still have a lot of work to do on the website, but we are already adding roughly five hikes a day to the database and we feel like we’re ready for feedback from hikers and users of the website.

Go ahead and join now to see what all of the fuss is about.

Posted by Tanner.