Suggested Hiking Resource

[Greg]

Originally Posted by coberg

So are you thinking of supplying only one response for each inquiry? If so, then you're right, that's an excellent format.

Perhaps. Or maybe multiple results could be displayed, with links to detail pages, kinda like our state skiing pages:

http://skiing.alpinezone.com/resorts/?state=VT

I'm thinking the results would be based on the following three criteria:

• Location/State
• Hike Type (Dayhike, Basecamp, Backpack)
• Difficulty (Difficult, Moderate, Easy)

[MtnMagic]

I can't believe I missed this thread a whole week ago. When you figure out the works, I'd be happy to add many non-4k hikes. These are most of my hikes in the Whites. I have many left to do and many under my shoes!

[salida]

Again I'm going to say this, I think we should have a classification in the trip report on what the trail would be like to hike up in the winter and ski down. I think it would add another dimension to the trip reports and give us skiers and hikers something to think about. Just a suggestion.

Porter

[SilentCal]

While I don't usually go out in the winter, some information on non-4k hikes on their wintertime conditions would be helpful for those who might want an easy snowshoe or ski-run. This would be a good idea for beginners to try out and get some experience before attempting some of the harder hikes in winter.

[Greg]

Originally Posted by Stephen

complete current project: 2 weeks (ETA: April 8th)
Complete infrastructure and registration scripts for hikes: 2 months (ETA: June 8th)
automated registrations for FOT48: 1 month (July 4)
Display and search functions for hikes, 1.5 month (ETA August 18th)

Is this still an accurate schedule? I'd like to resume the discussion on this. I hope we're not being too abitious to include all this information. Any other thoughts?

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Greg

Is this still an accurate schedule? I'd like to resume the discussion on this. I hope we're not being too abitious to include all this information. Any other thoughts?

I'd say I'm about a week behind right now... the three day weekend coming up will allow me to get back on schedule...assuming I don't blow the entire weekend on Geocaching. But with my wife gone for the weekend and the kids at their grandparents', the temptation is strong to run around the countryside looking for McToys...

Let's lock down the actual values we'll collect on the form over the next 2 weeks. We also need to determine which items will be mandatory, and which will be optional.

-Stephen

[Greg]

Originally Posted by Stephen

Let's lock down the actual values we'll collect on the form over the next 2 weeks. We also need to determine which items will be mandatory, and which will be optional.

Sounds good. Here are my thoughts:

• Hike Title *Required
• Location/State (drop-down list) *Required
• Hike Type (Dayhike, Basecamp, Backpack) (drop-down list) *Required
• Difficulty (Difficult, Moderate, Easy) - again, purely subjective so no sense in getting too detailed here (drop-down list) *Required
• Trail List *Required
• Trail Distances *Required
• Vertical Gains (Eliminate this one?)
• WMG (or other guide) Page References *Optional
• Trail Map/Cell references *Optional
• WMG (or other guide) Book Times *Optional
• AZ Member Summary *Required
• Water Sources *Optional
• Nearby Campgrounds *Optional
• GPS Coordinates *Optional
• Waterfalls *Optional
• Views *Optional
• Hike Variations (perhaps we can include other miscellaneous content here, like skiing options?) *Optional

Is the above too ambitious? I would really like to have a system where all of the fields would be populated most of the time. Maybe a single "comments" field would suffice for Water Sources, Campgrounds, Waterfalls, Views, Skiing, Hike Variations? A standard template will be the key here.

[SilentCal]

I like that. I think vertical gain should be included because it's helpful to know just how much you are climbing. Maybe make it part of trail distance. Most of the optional catagories can be put under a comments section with those catagories being highlighted. Would the section allow for individual comments about the hike and a possible link to an AZ photo album of that said hike? Maybe showing the trailhead, viewpoints, points of interest.

Can't wait to see the new Flags site

[Greg]

Originally Posted by SilentCal

I like that. I think vertical gain should be included because it's helpful to know just how much you are climbing. Maybe make it part of trail distance. Most of the optional catagories can be put under a comments section with those catagories being highlighted.

As for vert - is that total gains/losses? Is it trail/trail section specific? We'll need to define this.

Originally Posted by SilentCal

Would the section allow for individual comments about the hike and a possible link to an AZ photo album of that said hike? Maybe showing the trailhead, viewpoints, points of interest.

This is something I'm looking into for other areas of the site as well, but I'm having a tough time finding the exact mod I want. What I'm envisioning is that all content pages on AZ, i.e. every article, hiking suggestion, ski area challenge responses, etc. will have an associated thread in the forums. At the bottom of the particular page, the thread will be displayed (also in the forums proper) to provide a way to comment on said page. I think this will add some great dynamic content to AZ pages, as well as help increase activity in the forums. Stepehen - not sure how much phpBB experience you have, but any help here is appreciated. Something we can discuss over PM perhaps.

Originally Posted by SilentCal

Can't wait to see the new Flags site

Thanks for reminding me. I'll start a thread in the Flags forum.

[Greg]

Originally Posted by Greg

Is this still an accurate schedule? I'd like to resume the discussion on this. I hope we're not being too abitious to include all this information. Any other thoughts?

Any update here? Are we close in terms of this schedule? Here's a thought, although this may go beyond the scope of version 1, but how about authentication of the editors being done by a phpBB Usergroup?