This Site
This tale may yet be told
Soon after I began to seriously plan for an Appalachian Trail thru-hike, I decided I should write a daily journal of my hike. And naturally, because I have been a website developer for many years, I would create a blog website for the journal.
Nearly all of the websites I have developed used an open-source content management system called Drupal. A new version of Drupal was in development about the time I started to plan for my hiking blog. I took the opportunity the learn about the new version while building my site. It was a luxury to work without a deadline.
Or so I thought. Eventually, the departure date for my hike began to draw close. I had to launch the site before leaving. Then, I found out I needed to have hernia-repair surgery, which would delay my hike. That story became part of my first posts.
Soon after I began hiking in April 2017, I realized that writing a daily blog on the trail was impractical. Each post took at least three to four hours to write and prepare the photos. Those were hours I could have spent socializing with other hikers or sleeping, and I abandoned the idea of blogging while hiking.
As it turned out, waiting to write my posts until I returned home offered an unexpected bonus. I had time to research and include extra details, like historical background about locations along the trail.
After I returned home from hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in late 2019, I rebuilt the front-facing side of my site, using another open source project. I rebuilt it again in early 2024, returning the whole site to Drupal.
Although I've always been satisfied with the way the site looked, I frequently thought of things I wished to improve. And so I rebuilt again in 2026.
The home page now features a photo taken of me by Kevin "Blue" Scott, I hiker I met on the PCT and CDT. You can find more of Blue's outstanding hiker and trail photos on his website, milesformoments.com. That photo and some others on this site were processed with AI. I wanted to create the style of mid-century casein illustrations, which were often seen in U.S. National Park posters.
I drew inspiration for the site's design from a 1967 Boy Scout Handbook, the same handbook I used when I joined Scouting that year.
Feel free to contact me if you have questions about how this site was built.
Days are growing shorter
Nights are getting cold
Though the wind cause trees to bend
This tale may yet be told