Since this blog went live in August, 2011, over 400 articles have been posted. Among the topics are articles on how a healthy lifestyle can be maintained. There is a series on the basics of snowshoeing. Another series called 'Inspiring Profiles' brings stories of people who have been an inspiration to the writer, to this blog.
Diagnosed with early Parkinson's in October, 2004, this blog became an outlet to explain to others what living with this disease is like day to day. These articles are posted within or close to the month of April...Parkinson's awareness month.
Readers will find much of this blog covers the experiences from my biggest passion, being outdoors, in particular, my exploits while hiking and backpacking.
When I began the review, I had no clue what people found to their liking. One thing is clear, as this text is published, over 23,000 hits or clicks on a keypad somewhere around the globe have found their way to 'The Hiker.'
There is no way to determine how many are first-timers and how many are repeat readers. Hopefully both type of visitor to this blog will tell us by using the "Comment" box at the bottom of every article.
Results of the review follows beginning with the top 10 articles having the most hits.
#1 Never Summer Wilderness - A Place of Bewildering Vastness: Published 8/27/12, the article describes a five-day backpack trip with two good friends. 772 hits
#2 Cherry Creek Little League Intermediate Champs: Published 7/23/13, this piece caught on fire with parents, grandparents and fans of Little League Baseball. 425 hits
#3 Out of Control - Really: Published 11/28/12, this is the only political article to date on this blog. The topic is political campaign fundraising. 241 hits
#4 Wilder Gulch Trail - Vail Pass: Published 9/6/12, is a recap of a day hike...nothing special. So I have no clue why this piece made the top 10. Maybe tourists in Vail looking for a day of fun typed a key word that became popular. 218 hits
#5 Inspiring Profile (3rd of 3 profiles): Published 5/18/13, it's the life story of Linda Kelly. 191 hits
#6 Hiking Boosts Brainpower: Published 4/19/12, Does hiking/backpacking really make you smarter? 166 hits
#7 Woods Quarry Trail: Published 4/24/12, this little-known trail in the Flatirons outside Boulder is popular now with 155 hits.
#8 Unparalleled Adventure: Published 8/13/13, the article describes the annual multi-day trek taken with three fellow-backpacking buddies, deep into the Weminuche Wilderness of Southern Colorado. 152 hits
#9 Preview Cub Lake - Fern Falls: Published 5/27/13, this scouting hike describes what hikers can expect on this day hike. 143 hits
#10 Grizzly Gulch: Published 8/21/13 this is likely to have made the list due to the curiosity of readers when they saw the word 'Grizzly.' 135 hits
These top 10 stories combined attracted a total of 2,463 hits on this blog. Check them out for yourself.
Articles with the most hits by year:
- 2011 Introducing Inspiring Profiles Series 100 hits
- 2012 Never Summer Wilderness Trip 772 hits
- 2013 Cherry Creek Little League Champs 425 hits
- 2014 New Format, Announcement 89 hits
When it came to the Browser people used to find us, the breakdown of page views included: Internet Explorer, 7,008 (30%); Firefox 6,176 (26%); Chrome 5,014 (21%); and Safari 2,991 (12%). The rest of the pack of Browsers include Mobile Safari (455), Bing Preview (360), OS,FBSV (342), Opera (373), Mobile (259), and Bing Web (83).
The final stat. we looked at was page views by operating system. This indicates the diversity of devices used around the globe to access the web. Windows led the pack with 14,680 views or 71%, followed by Macintosh, with 2,275 (11%), IPhone 1,443 (7%), IPad 814 (4%), Linux 713 (3%), and Android 448 (2%), The rest each had about 1% of views including Black Berries, other Unix, ipod, and Windows NT 6.1.
So much for statistics.
As you select articles on this blog, you will notice a generous dose of images have been added to help bring stories to life for the reader. Photography is a hobby of mine for many years.
No claim has been made regarding my skills as a writer. There is some history behind the mass of scribbling on the ages of this blog. As a teen, there were daily entries in a diary. While in the Army, a newsletter was developed for members of my unit. As a father and youth coach, again a newsletter was developed exclusively for families of the players. As a member of American Legion Post 1001, Newsletter Editor and Post Historian positions were enjoyed. A career in Quality Engineering was made more enjoyable by adding Business Unit Newsletter Editor to the list of jobs performed. Finally, in 2011, at the age of 65, a compilation of life experiences was published for my two daughters in the form of a 300 page Legacy Letter. That makes this blog the final chapter of a lifetime putting thoughts to print. I trust readers will continue to find reason to visit this site.
To those who have found 'The Hiker' informative, educational, inspiring, or entertaining, tell us what brought you to this blog and your thoughts after visiting. If you are a first-timer or a repeat reader, we welcome your comments about a specific article or the blog in general.
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