How to post a trip report

[forestkeeper]

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[forestkeeper]

This location is just after the 1st outhouse, I believe. It's on the north side of the road. You can barely make out the lower falls from the road. But once you start hiking in, you can see it, then you can almost see the upper falls. The trail is on the right side of the stream and rather primitive, so watch your step. It is really slippery too, so my walking staff helped greatly! The upper falls is a good 35' to 40' tall and is very impressive. This one is very comparable to the ones in the Gorge. The trail goes right along and through the stream and from the lower to the upper falls, it travels only inches next to it. Very fun. I hope a lot of people can go check it out.
Will

[pdxgene]

I suck with computers so I'll let others handle the solutions but I do feel your pain. For a long long time I was having to post them using dialup. I'd get halfway thru the eternally long process and the computer would time me out and lose the whole thing. It finally got to the point where I'd do one or two pictures at a time, submit them, and then keep editing one or two more in after that. Talk about annoying...

[Martell]

It's hard for me to tell what happened since I don't see your original post. Did it just disappear?

I'd say that it's not normal, but it can be challenging at first until you figure it out.

A couple tips:
-Try reading this thread on uploading pictures: http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/vie ... p?f=8&t=49
-Some people have more luck using an outside service for photos like Flickr, and then linking to them inside the trip report.
-You can hit the preview button more frequently, that way you'll catch problems quicker.
-If you have a lot of text, you could type it up in advance in Notepad (or Word, etc) then paste it into your trip report.

If you were posting in the middle of the night, there's a chance that the server went down for a reboot or something and that caused a problem.

[forestkeeper]

Now that sounds like a plan! A few months ago, I moved to my Grandpa's old place, which is located between Estacada and Oregon City, and people out here don't have cable yet, so it's Dialup through the phone company. Maybe that's the culprit. But I think I will start doing it that way, we can edit it as many times as needed. Thanks pxygene. I feel your pain too. When I was married, I was living in Colton, which is another area that doesn't have cable, and at one time...I was filling out this online application with the ODOT, and about three hours into the resume....my pc freezes....then I lost everything.

[forestkeeper]

No, after I planted a red rose, and it grew into a brown thistle, I just deleted the whole thing in fear of anyone that were to see it would think, "Who is this idiot?" It is like describing a beautiful sunset at Rooster Rock, downloading the picture of the sunset, clicking submit, then you read about the awesome sunset at Rooster Rock but there is a picture of the Empire State Building at 1pm underneath your statement about the beautiful sunset at Rooster Rock. I just think my laptop is demon possessed and everytime I submit anything, you can hear a evil gremlin laugh.

[Grannyhiker]

This is actually the only site on which I have figured out how to upload images, and I really appreciate being able to do it from my own computer instead of having to use a host site (which charges you $$ after you've loaded a couple hundred images). It did take me quite a bit of practice to learn. That's what the "User Test Forum" section is for! Practice using the link Martell gave you. Yes, the first time you do the images they will be backwards, but there's a way around that. As I recall (and my recollection may be faulty), after you upload the images, you insert the last one into the text first. Play around with this in the Test section until you figure it out. It's been a couple of years since I posted a report, so I'll have to go back to Test, too!

That being said, I've found that it's better to type up the text of the trip report in Word (or whatever word processing software you have). I then edit it and only then copy/paste it into the forum. This prevents timing out while you're composing the report, and also gives you a copy of your trip report on your own computer. Only then upload the images into the report.

If you post your first report in the User Test Forum and leave it there, the more expert folks here can tell you what you did wrong and how to fix it.

It's actually absurdly easy--once you figure out what you're doing!

[Crusak]

I usually hit the 'preview' button first, and see how the post looks. Then if I'm happy with it, I go ahead and hit 'submit' and check it out again.

[forestkeeper]

Thanks everyone for your insight! I didn't even know there was a preview option.

[forestkeeper]

I just tried to edit the 1st post. The site wouldn't let me download any pictures. Even though I was able to download pic #3 on the downloader, it only appeared as pic #1 on the trip report publisher. So my own experience tells me that this is a nice website to learn about hiking and trails, but the PH software is pretty inconsistent w/ Windows 7. I'll try w/ NW Hiker.