[JimK]

I started my website, Hiking Northwest, just three months after NWHikers started. I have recorded all my trips with mileage and elevation gain for 35 years. It was easy enough to transfer all the records from pen and paper to the Internet. Everything in one place and accessible from most anywhere. I bought a digital camera (1.2 megapixel with no optical zoom) and started putting up trip reports. The site has grown, week by week, ever since. March 26, 2017 marked the 15th Anniversary. In that time I have put up over 700 trip reports with over 22,000 photos. Over 450 of the reports are on this site. A lot of good hiking sites have come and gone over that time. Most folks lose interest. Completely understandable. Lots of folks now post reports on social media only. Things keep changing. I'd like to think Hiking Northwest will still be growing on its 25th anniversary. Time will tell. I put together a short feature for the anniversary. Some links to features like Paradise Ice Caves, Mt. St. Helens when the climbing route was reopened, and photos from Si and Tiger Mts. 30 years ago. Fun times. Still, it's hard to believe that 15 years could go by so fast. Thanks to all the hikers I have met on this site and hiked with over the years. Hiking Northwest's Fifteenth Anniversary And a few photos:

31 Years Ago

Summit Loo

Black Peak Larch

[Foist]

Congrats Jim! You're an inspiration.

[iron]

i enjoyed reading the summary of the 15 year mark. a lot of persistence to update the site for that long (and hike that much)!

[RichP]

Thanks Jim. I've used your site on numerous occasions for trip planning and have always found it helpful.

[I'm Pysht]

[drm]

My trip reports at http://www.deanmyerson.org/photoindex has been going about 10 years. You mentioned most people posting on social networks. I wonder what happens to my site after my demise. I don't do numbers like EG or mileage. Just description and photos. It took 6 months to get the site up and most of that was taken scanning slides, which I took in profusion for 2 decades prior. Fortunately most of the slide boxes had scraps of paper where I had written brief descriptions of each roll and each slide in the roll. The site doesn't get a lot of attention but a few times I have been contacted for permission to use a photo, a few times for newspaper articles, once for an environmental video, and a couple times for miscellaneous documents or reports (one by a forest service ecologist doing a report on wildfire). A long time ago I used to give an annual slide show of my best trips for those friends who liked such things (on had a spouse who always came and always fell asleep). Now it is so easy to send links of the trip report out, but there is no passing photos around a group. Fewer people saw them then, but there was that interaction.

[JimK]

drm, a number of us have had a mid winter slide show for years. This year's is next weekend. Well, it's not quite mid winter and the slides have become digital photos on a television but the idea is the same.

[fourteen410]

Actually, my first thought was "it's only been 15 years?" Guess I had figured you'd been tracking it online since 1987. Then I remembered that the internet wasn't around then

[puzzlr]

Congrats. I love that Dirty Harry's truck photo. It's such a dramatic example of how trees grow back faster than we grow older in this part of the world!

[wildernessed]

Congratulations ! Keep the momentum.

[nordique]

Jim, love your site, which has been a huge hiking resource for so many of us! I've only been posting hike photos, on Flickr, since 2005, and have only put up 960 or so hikes: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nordique/collections/72157594587368098/ Since 2005, I've had some orthopedic surgeries which cut into my hiking: right knee replacement in 2006 and right ankle replacement in 2014, plus other right leg surgeries (starting on day one of the Tet Offensive in 1968). I'm very grateful that I was able to avoid having my lower right leg amputated in 1968--but I've tried to take advantage of having an intact right leg ever since! In my 74th year, I continue to organize and lead three hikes a week, plus three rock climbing days a week. It's my idea of a balanced life! Keep up the great work, Jim K!

[contour5]

Congrats on the milestone, and thanks for the great resource. I wouldn't consider visiting the Teanaway without first consulting your pages, and many other places too....

[Get Out and Go]

In a post long ago, I believe I dubbed you, "Lord of the Teanaway." I suppose you can still identify every rock and tree them thar' parts. Hit The Trail and I met you once as we were coming down Basalt Ridge and you were heading up with TrailPair. I always check in on your site. Keep on truckin'....

[JimK]

Get Out and Go, I clearly recall meeting you folks as you were coming down. One of the benefits of having a website is that I can tell you it was on 7-23-11. We had a great overnight trip. I mentioned you folks in my report: "We met two other nwhikers members, Hit The Trail and Get Out And Go as they were coming down. They hiked up the ridge and descended into the meadow for the night. They also went up to the Entiat Crest. They verified that we would soon be reaching plenty of snow on the ridge to allow water if we camped there." My report is here: Basalt Ridge Report & Photos Some nice views:

Glacier Peak

Campsite

Clark Mountain

Clark Sunset

[Kim Brown]

Congratulations, Jim! I know you've had people from all over the US and even Europe contacting you for hiking information! Such an honor for you to have a successful website. Mister Teanaway!