March 26, 2019 marks the 17th Anniversary of the Hiking Northwest website. When I started my site NWHikers was 3 months old. WTA's site had trip reports but they did not allow photos or lnks. Almost all the original personal hiking site links on my site are now defunct. A lot has changed. Facebook was founded 2 years after Hiking Northwest. There was no Instagram or Twitter. Like I said, a lot has changed. Through it all I have kept hiking and kept adding about one trip report with photos per week year round. Unlike many sites with just a few photos or a dump of many I include photos from start to finish on a hike with captions for every one. It is a lot of work but to me at least it walks through the entire trip rather than just showing two dozen summit shots.

I would like to have time to scan and add more of my old photographs. Perhaps sooner rather than later. Back in those days with film I would take a dozen or so photos on a day trip. Now it might be 200. A lot has changed. Back in 1982 I started hiking regularly and I listed the mileage of each trip. In 1987 I began to list the trip, mileage, and elevation gain. That gives my 37 years of tracking mileage and 32 years of listing each trip. Thanks to the Internet I now have 17 years of trip reports with photos. It gives me plenty to look back on and lots of info for each trip.

The Internet has also allowed me to meet a lot of other hiking fanatics. I have had the good fortune to hike with lots of people. In the old days we just had Signpost and Pack and Paddle monthly magazines for hiking info and trip reports. It would be hard for young hikers today to imagine getting old trip reports in the mail once per month. I contributed a few reports back then. Now we have instant updates on trail conditions, road closures, and additional information. Map and compass have given way to GPs units. Film rolls of 24 or 36 pictures have been replaced with SD cards that allow up 10,000+ photos. That is one change I especially like.

Who knows were we will be in another 17 years? All I know is that health allowing I will be out on the trail,l taking photos, and writing trip reports. Here is a breakdown on how the site has grown.

Trip Reports 2001 - 02
Trip Reports 2002 - 39
Trip Reports 2003 - 49
Trip Reports 2004 - 42
Trip Reports 2005 - 34
Trip Reports 2006 - 49
Trip Reports 2007 - 43
Trip Reports 2008 - 56
Trip Reports 2009 - 54
Trip Reports 2010 - 54
Trip Reports 2011 - 46
Trip Reports 2012 - 49
Trip Reports 2013 - 50
Trip Reports 2014 - 53
Trip Reports 2015 - 46
Trip Reports 2016 - 42
Trip Reports 2017 - 49
Trip Reports 2018 - 58
Trip Reports 2019 - 14
Total Reports      - 829

Features               - 50
Photos           - 27,201




Jim Kuresman - 3-26-19