Tales from the Trail: Exploring the Importance of Recording and Reflecting in Trip Logs

If you’re anything like us, it can be challenging to remember what you had for breakfast, let alone all of the awesome things that happened on your latest adventures. Herein lies the power of trip logs! 

Today we’re talking all about how and what to record in your trip logs and how they can become an excellent tool for you in the backcountry.

Points covered in this episode: 

• Reasons to keep a trip log
• What keeping a trip log actually entails 
• When to refer back to them and use them outside of the field 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Claudia: If you're anything like me, it can be challenging to remember what you had for breakfast, let alone all the awesome things that happened on your latest adventures. Herein lies the power of trip logs. Today we're talking all about how and what to record in your trip logs and how they be can become an excellent tool for you in the backcountry.

[00:00:18] Hannah: Welcome to weatherproof.

[00:00:20] Claudia: We are your hosts, Claudia.

[00:00:21] Hannah: And Hannah,

[00:00:23] Claudia: Join us as we talk about the raw, real, and relatable elements of outdoor adventure.

[00:00:27] Hannah: before we get into that, we are going to beg you to join our email list@weatherproofpodcast.com and to hit that follow button wherever you listen to podcasts. This will really help us get this out into the world.

[00:00:39] Claudia: We are recording on the unseated territory of the Squamish and Li nations. We acknowledge and honor the stewards of this land on which we live, work, and play.

[00:00:47] Hannah: So when I think of journals, it definitely conjures up the image of 16 year old me writing in a pink diary in my bedroom about the latest boy I liked or what my parents did to annoy me. What are trip logs and journals? 'cause I'm gonna assume that that's not what we are here to talk about.

[00:01:07] Claudia: It's funny that you mention a pink diary 'cause my first trip log ever was from a 10 day ocean canoe trip in Desolation Sound and it was written in a fuzzy cow motif journal and I still have it to this day. It's in like my box of childhood things. I was 14 and. I can vividly remember recording trip experiences in it as I like sat on a rock and, and felt all the, feels like there's something so angsty about teenage emotions. But today's day and age, my trip logs have evolved and now they look more like this. They're not as much fun but they serve two purposes, like one) I record all of my personal trips and two) I record notes as an outdoor educator or as a guide when I'm on professional trips or school trips as I refer to them.

[00:02:12] Hannah: And so on your personal trips, , you're with friends, you're having memories and experiences that you wanna remember for a long time. I mean, I'm sure you do in your, in your guiding experiences as well, but there's something special about spending time in the back country with your friends.

I am imagining that you're personal trip blogs are probably a little bit more anecdotes and funny moments and that kind of thing. What, do you record that kind of stuff in your professional trip blogs or are they very much more rigid kind of documentation of, of what happened in case you need to refer to it later?

[00:02:45] Claudia: Yeah, my professional trip logs serve a legal purpose and so I'm required to keep them for a certain number of years. There're to protect me and the organizations that I work for in a guiding capacity should something ever be questioned or go to court. And I tend to keep those much more professional and factual than I would my personal trip logs. But my writing style is quite like detailed and thorough. I, I love to paint the best picture I can of my experiences on trip, and so it's a personal or a professional I spend a lot of time on them.

[00:03:29] Hannah: And so are you telling stories in your, in your professional logs?

[00:03:34] Claudia: Yeah, because most of my guiding in a professional capacity has been in outdoor education, I do my best to capture stories about students as though I were telling their parents about what happened in the field, and often I've drawn on my. Trip log entries to share stories with parents, in celebration of. Their kids' achievements or , our group's achievements. And it's super fun to be able to go back and remember those things often also, as an outdoor educator, I am in a position where I need to assess student performance. , these are school experiences. They're working towards certain objectives, and they have certain criteria that they need to demonstrate in their learning.

And so those tools also end up being helpful when it comes time to assess their performance.

[00:04:27] Hannah: So all I can imagine, obviously we hope this never happens, but you getting called to the stand in a, in a trial or some kind of, , if you went to court for something and you reading out these wonderful stories about what your kids got up to on trip.

[00:04:44] Claudia: Yeah, I just started like nervous, sweating. I definitely don't wanna ever be in a position where I'm being called to testify about anything that happened on trip.

[00:04:53] Hannah: Yeah. Fair. So obviously if you're a professional guide, you already know that you have to keep a a logbook. For those of us who don't guide professionally why, why would I keep a logbook? What's the purpose? What do you recording it?

[00:05:09] Claudia: Yeah, so if you're not keeping a trip log for legal purposes, there's all sorts of other reasons you might choose to keep one. I have a terrible memory and so just being able to recall what's happened on these trips is, is really fun. I I love reflection. I think it's super helpful in terms of my own growth and learning. And so they're helpful reflection tools. The, the act of writing notes at the end of every day or at the end of a trip is part of that reflection process for me. But they're, they're great. Also to refer to, if I think I'm gonna go back to that area, or I'm gonna do that trip again. It's great to be able to record beta. Then refer back to it. You might choose to record campsite information. Maybe you have your own campsite rating system, and so you're, , compiling that kind of information. And then also just, , if you're interested in wildlife or geology or any kind of plant, ID like there, there are great opportunities to record that sort of information.

Do you record trip logs?

[00:06:11] Hannah: I am really sporadic with it. So I have here my trip blog from west Coast Trail in 2019, and that's more of like general kind of thoughts and feelings and like just a, I guess, more of a journal than a trip blog really. I opened it today and I did record things like what my pack weighed and, , that kind of information.

In there I also recorded what people around the campfire rated their freeze dried meals

[00:06:42] Claudia: Oh yeah, the classic

[00:06:44] Hannah: because you eat so many of them and it's really hard to remember what the good ones are. And then you see other people with freeze dried meals that you haven't seen before. And it's like, did, did you like it?

Is that a good one? When people really like a favorite one? I like recorded that, so I've got some of that information, but I have a general daily process of writing. I try to write most days. And for whatever reason on trip, that just kind of falls over. I think because I'm not in my normal routine, I'm not doing my normal things.

And so when I think of even just the trips I went on this summer, I've hardly written anything about what we've done. And you're talking about things like campsite ratings. The amount of places that I've been to that I want to go back to, probably not for 10 years because there's so many things to do in the world and I wanna do them all.

So I don't wanna spend time going back to the same place again. So it's probably gonna be a while before I go there, but in 10 years time, I'm not gonna remember anything other than maybe what the place felt like. And so being able to look back on your own notes of like, which campsites were good, what were the hikes like?

Because I get most of my information from blogs and other people's adventures and what they've written about, being able to refer back to my own would be so helpful and it almost makes me sad that I haven't done a good job of recording that information.

[00:08:13] Claudia: Yeah, I mean there are so many things there. Like one, if trip logs are just one more thing that you're gonna use, To beat yourself up, you have other priorities, don't worry about it. But also you changed so much in 10 years, and so if you think you're likely to go back somewhere, but not for 10 years, like having a recording of who you were then and your experience of a place 10 years later could be so interesting. Is it, , gonna make or break your experience? Absolutely not.

[00:08:42] Hannah: I even think of like trail ratings. So the amount of times I've done a trip and read about someone's rating on it, whether it's like speed, like how fast they did it in, or like whether they considered it medium or hard or whatever. And to be able to rate your own so that you can go back 'cause you do this hike that someone said was easy and they did it in three hours and it takes you five hours and it's really hard, or the other way round. And it would be really interesting to have a record of kind of what you thought so that you've got something to compare it to. If you've rated all these trails in the space of a year, it's probably, it.

If one says hard and one says medium, the hard one's probably harder. But even just that, going back a few years later, once maybe you have more experience or you've spent more time outside and then remembering . I found this really challenging last time and now it's easy or we did it an hour faster or whatever.

Those like progressive changes are

[00:09:39] Claudia: Absolutely. And I think beings have this obsession with rating things, categorizing things, comparing things, and capturing those rating systems is so hilarious. And people have ratings for all sorts of things, right? Like Camp meal. Greatest bathroom view, best campsite, hardest trail, all sorts of things. Those ratings don't have to be standardized in any way. They can be according to whatever criteria you see fit. But it's interesting to kind of compile that information and be like, oh yeah, like this trip rated super high in terms of , mountaintop views, but actually the camping was pretty shit or whatever. 

I get so much pleasure in going back on my trip logs and, and reading those kinds of things. And sometimes it's less about the trip beta and more about my experience of the trip, and sometimes it's about really helpful route information.

[00:10:35] Hannah: Well, and our memories are so garbage. Even just thinking about how I felt say on the Skyline Trail this year, which we did, at the start of August, so that's just over two months ago. And what I would've written on the day about what the hike was like, or how I felt, or what I thought of it versus what I write now, like now is gonna be like rose colored, oh yeah, it was a great trail. I absolutely loved it. 

but if I actually dive in a little bit further, it's like, oh no. I remember the last seven kilometers down a fire road being really tough because I just wasn't hiking fit yet and my body didn't handle it super well. In a year's time, I'm probably hardly gonna remember that and just remember how great the trail was and even times where you do the same trail repeatedly.

The one for me is Geoffrey Lakes. It's something that I do pretty much every time someone comes and visits and in my memory, I miss a significant chunk of the section between the first and second lakes, and that's the part that's like, it's actually relatively steep and it's kind of long. And every time I think of Joffrey, I think, oh, super easy hike.

And then I get there and I'm halfway through and I'm like, oh yeah, I forgot. I forgot that this fits actually really hard. So over the years, you can just imagine how much of both the good and bad and interesting things that you just forget.

[00:11:56] Claudia: Yeah. I'm really bad at gauging and remembering things like that too. For me it's the chief. I always think we're done the wooden staircases way earlier or sooner than we actually are. And same thing, I'm bringing people up there pretty regularly and and I always describe the big boulder that's about halfway through and that marks the end of the staircases. And I lose my credibility almost instantaneously. 'cause I'm like, yeah, yeah, we're almost there. Like this is the end of the wooden staircases. And then there are like three more before we actually get to the boulder. Everyone's like, what? Like damnit, I hike this thing all the time. How am I messing this up so bad. So consistently too. 

But yeah trip logs, field logs are great for, for just consolidating our learning and our experience of a place, and I think I'm a lot like you in that when I look back on experiences, what I remember most is the culminating emotion that I have or derived from my trip experience, and that is great. In terms of warm, fuzzy feelings. 'cause I, I always feel the same way after I accomplish something challenging or, or when I come off trip. Like I feel the same way. I'm elated and I'm stoked and I feel so successful. But those feelings aren't that helpful in terms of being able to tease out tangible data or information about a trip and that makes it really hard to answer that question. The question that we love so much, like, how was your trip? Because all I can really remember is the emotions that color, that experience,

[00:13:35] Hannah: and talking about credibility. If you're telling someone That wants to go to the same place about what it was like and you're remembering from a year ago, and you tell them, oh yeah, it was pretty easy and blah blah. And then they go there and they're like, this is not at all what you said. It was like, I mean obviously everyone's different, but being able to give them a little bit more specific and I guess like measured real time information instead of what you're remembering.

This year a colleague of mine actually went and did the West Coast Trail and she was asking for information and I don't remember some of the specific stuff and I actually couldn't find my West Coast Trail Journal at the time. But a trail like that where you've got so many different campsites, everyone kind of stays at different ones.

You're not booking specific campsites. It would've been really helpful if I was able to give her , this campsite's a really good one, or don't stay here, or This day was really long. But it was just all pulling from memory of four years ago and it was probably not particularly helpful.

[00:14:37] Claudia: Yeah, in those cases, you wanna be as helpful as possible. You wanna be as accurate as possible, and sometimes it's just easier to be like, I think you should refer to the internet

[00:14:46] Hannah: And so are you recording things before you go? Are you recording things on trip? Are you recording things at certain times of day? I guess start with maybe in your guide life or personal, but what does it look like for you actually out in the field when you're using your trip log?

[00:15:02] Claudia: It really depends on what kind of trip I'm going on. A hiking trip, the route information tends to be a lot lighter than in a kayaking trip on a kayaking trip, because I'm bringing paper charts, I will usually mark. and route information on the chart itself. But in my trip log I'm recording things like the marine weather forecast. I keep track of tides and currents, like I might do any calculations or keep track of any pertinent information. In my journal itself, and then I can keep it in my P F D and I can refer to it throughout the day when I'm trying to make decisions or, thinking about my next move. Having that kind of thing handy is really helpful. 

On the West Coast Trail for instance, there is some tide information that you need to know in terms of crossings and things like that. But for the most part, Hiking trips tend to be pretty light unless there's something really particular about the root that you wanna keep top of mind and you don't maybe have service or , your phone's not an option. It's nice to have that stuff prerecorded.

[00:16:13] Hannah: Yeah, totally. And then when are you recording things? When you're writing? \ I imagine it's in your sleeping bag , before you go to sleep for the night?

[00:16:21] Claudia: Yeah, that tends to be when I keep track of my notes. If I'm with a bunch of people and there's some downtime, like folks are napping, I'm a notoriously poor napper, and so I tend to take notes, , when other people are napping or when we've got some downtime. If there are long days, then have been known to fall asleep taking notes, at the end of the night.

So I try to do it whenever I can and I'm inspired to, and I'm not super exhausted 'cause the quality of my entries tends to be much better in those moments then sometimes at the end of a long day. 

But there's something really special about recording the events of the day. Late at night in your tent by headlamp, especially if it's like raining, like those moments where you're solo in your tent and there's like just incredible ambiance.

Like I, I love it. I get really excited about it. So that typically is when I tend to do my log entries. If I'm. Writing for fun or I'm doing any kind of creative writing, which I am sometimes inspired to do. And I only have my TripLog, then I'll do that whenever.

[00:17:32] Hannah: You're inspiring me now to go back and write a few things down about some of my trips this summer. While it's somewhat still fresh in my mind. 

I do though record a bunch of like root information and screenshots of what other people have written and said, and obviously using Gaia and fat maps and whatever for navigating But I don't consolidate it.

So I really love that idea of like writing it down in one place so that you can refer back to it, especially in the future. 'cause going through the screenshots on my phone in however many years time to try and find the information that I had about whatever trip or just redoing all the research again.

Yeah, I love that recording it in one spot so that it's just easier to refer back to. But what do you use? Are you recording in your phone? Are you recording in written form? Do you record longer things in your phone? So you don't use up your whole journal out in the field? What's your equipment of choice?

[00:18:30] Claudia: It depends. So if I'm keeping a log for legal purposes for my job, then I will use a right in the rain waterproof paper bound so that pages can't be ripped out or if they can be ripped out, you, you recognize them. They have Table of contents at the beginning. So you can include page numbers for trips or assign page numbers to trips. The pages themselves have page numbers and then they have boxes that help you, like write maps or draw maps, and you can add a scale like they're, they're awesome. There's a ruler on the inside cover of the right in the rain. So yeah, I'll use something like this if they're for professional notes. These tend to be expensive. And so if I'm writing a lot, then I'll sometimes do it in my phone and then record it in a paper journal or, in a write in the rain. But it really depends on what I have access to.

[00:19:30] Hannah: And so getting into a little bit more of the details, we've kind of brushed over things that you include based on like why you would keep a log book. So like legal reasons. If you're wanting to refer to it in the future, to either share with yourself or with other people the information that you've gained from the trip, whether it's like root information, beta, what campsites were good to stay at, all of that kind of stuff.

But going into a little bit more detail, , what specifics are you really trying to get into your log each day.

[00:20:01] Claudia: Yeah, so I separate My entries into two parts, whether professional or personal entries. And I'll do a log, which is of a snapshot of the day. So starting location, end location, distance traveled, elevation change weather, names of clients or participants who my co guide is Any pertinent root information and then I will kind of keep a point form description of major events of the day. In my reflection, I will expand upon what happened and like my. Impression of what happened. So it's not just a recording of day, the day-to-day events, but also anything I wanna note about my decision making near misses, any incidents, anything relevant to keep track of or to know for next time any gear notes that I have. And then yeah, my experience of, of the day. I have my trip log from the Sunshine Coast Trail when I did it the second time. And were some hilarious things that happened that I'd totally forgotten about, but also every entry is full of comparisons of my experience the first time that I did it. And so what I. Thought was really cool is that there was something about being on the trail again, that really focused my initial experience of it or my, my memories of my initial experience of it. So I was kind of flooded with nostalgia and also so happy to be like experiencing an entirely new and different trip.

[00:21:47] Hannah: So please share with us one of your favorite entries.

[00:21:51] Claudia: So this is actually like our first day of hiking. So we'd come in to the trail the day before, and then this is our, our first day, day one. So day 1, 8 30 to 2:30 PM hiking time, Saturday, July 11th, kilometers three to kilometers 16, rainy, cloudy with sunny breaks. Feather cove to Manzanita Hutt cell service. Woke up at five when the boys got up to pee. So much unzipping and zipping. Went back to sleep till my alarm went off at six 30. Lunched at Wednesday. Lake would've been fun to swim, but it was cold and wet, so we passed lots of snakes. Got to camp at two 30. Opted not to set up camp in case of rain. We talked about maybe sleeping in or under the Hutt. Sarah's friend, Danica and her husband arrived at the Hutt a few hours later. She recognized me right away. They set up in the loft for the night. Her shoes burnt in the fire, and he got stung by a wasp on his right testicle.

[00:22:49] Hannah: Oh my God.

[00:22:50] Claudia: Louis and I built a fire. It was awesome. Ate dinner after the boys napped on the picnic table and next to the fire, chatted with Danica and at t n. Then started getting ready for bed at eight 50 in bed by nine 30. So sleepy

[00:23:03] Hannah: That is such a beautiful snapshot of the day, like a little bit of feeling, a little bit of just specifics. It kind of takes you back and I'm sure reminds you of things , that weren't in in kind of present day memory.

I love it.

[00:23:19] Claudia: Yeah. So , like nothing serious or fancy there. Some highlights, some experiences of, the trail 

[00:23:29] Hannah: and so we are obviously referring back to them for memory sake for using, if you were going back to that place to kind of . Get your own beta or remind yourself of what the experience was like last time, and then to share with other people. If you've got someone going to the same area that you've been before, what are some of the other reasons that you, or do you ever refer back to your journals other than those, those reasons.

[00:23:53] Claudia: I mean, I use them for debriefing often, , if I need to touch base with somebody about something that happened on the, in the field, like if I have a, a. Detailed recording of what actually happened. It makes it much easier to debrief later on, especially if it's, if it's something that was really emotionally fraught, it can be nice to, to record what happened and then take some time away from it, calm down, make some sense of it, and then come back together to debrief. Still knowing that you have this like recording fresh from the moment. I also have, , a big, scary dream of writing a novel or, , a series of essays or making a coffee table book. , something about my musings in the field and I don't really know what that looks like yet, but that's, I would say, has been the goal of my writing my entire life is, To at some point somewhere down the line, compile all that information into something that I can, , publish into the world.

But who knows?

[00:25:00] Hannah: We look forward to that day.

[00:25:02] Claudia: Thanks. And then because in my life as an outdoor educator, I'm often doing the same trips over and over and over again. I tend to refer back to my professional entries in preparation for the season. So when I was at Saints, we, especially with my grade 10 group, would go back to the same trip locations with fresh students year after year after year. Our, Our, programming was really dialed. These locations were amazing and , especially when you're doing something in three year cycles. You can really nail it. And there's a familiarity there that, that lends itself well to being able to focus on programming and on student learning rather than on like, getting through the

trip. And so I would, I would go back to my journals and my debriefs and I would review information and I would think about like what I had found challenging in my guiding capacity or in my teaching capacity, or even what the students had found challenging and I'd, I'd. Be able to find ways to incorporate that information into my lessons or my front loading before we went on trip, or I would really emphasize those things when we were on trip in support of their learning and their experience.

[00:26:18] Hannah: Awesome. Yeah, the main time that I actually religiously keep a trip block is avalanche season. And that's very specific information. But it's going through that same process of recording things before you get into the field of like what the forecast was or what the concerning layers are or aspects .

What the avalanche problems are. , the other thing that the TripLog that I use prompts is those . Pre-trip conversations, like, what are your concerns today? What are the group dynamics? Those kind of questions to prompt those conversations. And, and then as we've talked about in many episodes before, the power of having those debriefs on the way home and talking about the things that maybe did go well or maybe didn't, or the things that

You can pick out from the day where it could have gone badly, it didn't. But were there moments that you weren't totally comfortable with? And whether that's sharing with the group or just recording in your own trip log so that you can look back at it. And sometimes that's interesting to look back and see that you're often feeling the same way.

You're often feeling like you didn't speak up, I didn't feel comfortable, and you didn't say anything. Or if you're seeing that a few times, well maybe that's something you need to like really work on. And talking about prepping for the next season, it's a good opportunity to, to look at that when you're going into the next year and, and have a look at those, where you've been, how many days out in the field you've had, what kind of days you've had in the field, but then also if you have made those little notes of like what went well, what didn't, so that you're just learning and growing.

' cause I think one of the beauties of recording, whether it's trip blogs in journals, or just like writing in general in your life, is. Being able to see those themes. 'cause when, when you're having a bad day or you're having problems in your relationship or problems at work, or something comes up and you write about it, sometimes that can be really cathartic and it can give you that clarity that you need to deal with something, which is awesome.

But if you look back over history and you actually see that you're kind of regularly writing about this, that helps you to. Recognize and be like, actually, this isn't just a problem that comes up occasionally. This is actually something I need to deal with. And I, I think of that with, with your debriefs in, in the outdoors as well.

[00:28:42] Claudia: Yeah, it can be a great tool for like holding up a mirror, right,

and reflecting our trends and patterns back at us. The things that we're, because we're so in it in the moment, we don't recognize as being trends or patterns. Totally a great tool to hold us accountable to the, blind spots that we might have. And I think the thing to remember is that trip logs and journals are just a tool, but they're part of a larger system that can allow us to consolidate learning, that can allow us to measure our growth, that can allow us to synthesize. Our experiences in such a way that paint a much bigger picture or point to some learning or some truth. That's really important for us to, to be able to confront.

[00:29:33] Hannah: totally.

[00:29:34] Claudia: I often. On trip, and I'm in a position where, because I'm hiking for long periods of time, sometimes in silence, sometimes in solitude,, I am spending so much time like actively reflecting on what's happening in my life and what's important and what I'm struggling with. Or like, to me I hardly ever dwell on the positive. So I'm not like hiking through the woods being like, oh, my life is so great. Like, I'm really killing it. My relationship is going so smoothly. Like That's not what's happening in my head. In my head, I'm like, oh, like I really wanna work this thing out. I really wanna find a solution for this problem.

And like, ah, this thing is driving me crazy. Like what am I gonna do about it? So being able to capture all of those thoughts feels really productive for me. It feels like I'm major brain dump, and it feels like my brain is so active and uncluttered in those environments, in those remote wilderness environments that I'm like, why wouldn't I? Take advantage of this. But if you don't do anything afterwards about it, like if you don't review, if you don't go back, if you don't read, like, , it doesn't really matter.

[00:30:41] Hannah: And yet another reason that we love being in the outdoors is research has proven . Time and time again that that kind of low steady state activity is a really good time for us to solve problems. Not necessarily going for a run, but going for a walk, going for a hike, those kind of things where your body's moving, but your mind's not particularly busy, but because your body's moving, we just are actually, our brain is so much more capable of solving problems in those situations, which is why sometimes when you are hiking through the woods, you like

Figure out your life's purpose or solve that difficulty that you've been having for a long time. 'cause it's just giving yourself the space and and movement that allows you to do that.

[00:31:26] Claudia: Yeah, our students fight us all the time on not being able to bring their technology, like their electronics, their cell phones, like all the things into the field with them. They really like rail against that rule, and so intentional on our behalf. We're like, actually, we want you to be bored. We want you to be so bored that. Your brain shifts into this other plane, , where it, it's turning inward and engaged in that act of reflection because it literally has nothing else to do. And , the experience of not being distracted, the experience of being so bored that you do turn inward and start combing through the catalogs of your memory , That is such a powerful experience in today's day and age. And then, , the reason we also get our students to keep journals, keep trip logs is for them to practice, like putting pen to paper and then capturing that reflection that's happening on the daily as we're out in the field. It just makes me so happy whether. Kids refer to their journals ever again, doesn't matter to me. I just get so excited that they have this tangible artifact that's captured their experience that they can take with them, , as they grow up. I.

[00:32:47] Hannah: And I think that's the thing is life gets busy on, on trips, you get busy, you're, you're trying to fit everything in and , set up camp and cook dinner and whatever. And so I know for me, I, over the past couple years haven't prioritized riding a trip lock, but it is being able to take those like.

Special moments and captured memories and thoughts for the future. Whether it's just for fun to read around the campfire one day or practically to give yourself that, that information or to be able to give that information to someone else. It's, , I guess what you said, it's not something to use to beat yourself up for not doing, but it's like an icing on the cake kind of thing.

We're really good these days at taking photos and videos because social media has kind of made that even more of a thing. So we're good at like capturing the views, but sometimes it's really cool to be able to capture the feelings as well.

[00:33:42] Claudia: And however you wanna do that. Like if you are an artist and you love to draw or doodle or paint and you can figure out, , your preferred method or system to make that happen, do that. If you bring your phone with you everywhere and you actually like, just wanna capture video, I have a couple. Really hilarious videos from like inside my tent at night where essentially I may as well have just taken a voice note because you can't see anything except darkness. 

[00:34:13] Hannah: We will share those on Instagram next week.

[00:34:16] Claudia: oh yeah, they're funny. But, and, and , as I'm talking about this, I'm like, maybe I'm just like a digital hoarder, Maybe this is like my hubris and my ego kind of coming out and I'm like obsessed with like documenting. But there's something really powerful to me about going back to my recordings and, and my journals and. If you aren't someone who is good at recalling your successes or dwelling on the things that you've done well, I would highly recommend indulging in this practice, or, , cultivating the discipline to this kind of practice because it's really meaningful. It's, it's been really meaningful for me.

[00:34:58] Hannah: I hope that's inspired some of you the way it's inspired me to get back into that habit of writing a little bit more when I'm on trip, so that I can have those little tidbits to share with myself, with others, both practically and just for memories and emotions and feelings as well.

[00:35:19] Claudia: If you have journal entries that you wanna share with us, we'd love to hear them, read them. Message us at weatherproof podcast on Instagram. I.

[00:35:31] Hannah: And if you love today's episode or any of our other episodes, please share it with a friend and follow the show wherever you listen to your podcasts.

[00:35:41] Claudia: Happy adventuring.