Testing blog posted via email

A father's view of his son hiking the PCT.

(this is a test of sending an email to my blog for posting).

By helping my son, Adam, post daily updates to his blog while on the PCT does take time.

It also is not without worry and concern.

When yourchildren grow up, leave your home and become independent adults, you do not get visibility into their daily activities.  You don't get to see them make mistakes, take risks they shouldn't, fall down, get hurt, encounter danger, or do things that would drive you crazy.  The adage: "What you don't know, won't hurt you." applies.  

If they don't share these things with you, you can assume they are safe, happy, and healthy.  Of course, you can assume the opposite but that will drive you crazy, so often, we assume they are OK.

So, when one of them takes on an adventure like hiking the PCT, you know it is dangerous.

Many people deal with this by asking the child to give them frequent updates  as to their safety. Since many trails do not have cell phone coverage, it is not possible for them to call or text you.  A common solution to this is to have them us a device to 'spot' their where-a-bouts with an "I'm OK" message.  When they spot, you get a email and a pointer to a website showing their exact location.

My son, who hiked all the 14, 000 foot mountains in CO did this when he hiked. I would see this spots and know where he was and that  he was OK.  If he escaped death on the mountain, I would know it after the fact by reading his blog about it.  But, since it was after the fact, I knew he was alive and safe. 

But, his hiking the PCT and asking me to do his daily blog updates is different. It is like having a window into his risky activities that I can watch and worry about his safety.  Because he does encounter bears, mountain lions, bad weather, falls, raging creeks, and relationships issues on the trail, I see daily that he is at risks. And, I worry daily for him.

So, I suspect many parents of thru-hikers have these worries and thought that maybe I should start blogging about a parent's view of a thru-hiker.  

What do you think?