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Carnival of the walkers

13 comments on Carnival of the walkers

As you may know, I’m working with good folks at About.com on such things as blogs and one of the enthusiastic, blog-smart guides there, Wendy Bumgardner, has just started a Carnival of the walkers.

The challenge, of course, is that there aren’t a lot of blogs devoted just to walking. But we all do it. And I know there are good stories about good vacation walks with good photos and Flickr sagas memorializing these walks.

So do me a favor: Post about your favorite walks and walk photos and walk stuff (cameras, whatever) and send the links to Wendy: walking.guide@about.com.

I’m inspired by going on gorgeous strolls at Skytop last week and now that I’m back in miserably muggy Gotham, I want to smell the fresh air of freedom again. Beside, walking is the perfect topic for bloggers, isn’t it: Left-right-left-right….

13 responses to “Carnival of the walkers”

  1. Elliot Essman Avatar
    Elliot Essman

    Years ago another New Yorker told me that the best kept secret was that life is easier anywhere else. Why did it take me another 20 years or so to move from Manhattan to Albuquerque? I can walk right out my door and into the mountains. In Manhattan I had walks that stimulated the eye, but they would never be exercise because I’d stop too often to empty my wallet.

  2. Ross Avatar
    Ross

    About.com must be pretty desperate if they’re putting together a walking guide. What next – a “post your kitty photo” feature?

  3. Jeff Jarvis Avatar
    Jeff Jarvis

    Well, your wish is their command. They have a damned good cat site.
    And next time you’re in B&N, take a look at all the books on walking.

  4. Old Grouch Avatar
    Old Grouch

    London bloggers seem to do a lot of this:
    Regent’s Canal
    Marking the Meridian: 0 Longitude from Greenwich to the M25
    Random borough (6): Southwark – Parts 1 2
    Green Chain Walk to Crystal Palace (more here.)
    London Loop
    etc, etc…
    [Note: Last three links won’t work because of Jeff’s content filter. Copy-and-paste the link, replacing the * with the first letter of the alphabet to make the name of the weblog.]

  5. Ross Avatar
    Ross

    hahahah, that’s hilarious
    How does About make their money right now anyway. Is the bulk of it Adsense?

  6. Easycure Avatar
    Easycure

    For you walkers out there can I recommend the Relay for Life to benefit the American Cancer Society? I’ve been doing it for a couple years and I know every single person reading this knows somebody who has had cancer.
    http://www.cancer.org/docroot/GI/gi_1.asp
    Thanks, Jeff, for giving me a good reason to share my favorite version of walking – walking for a cause, walking with purpose.

  7. Hiking and budget USA travel Avatar
    Hiking and budget USA travel

    You have to walk really fast (5MPH or so) to burn anywhere near the calories you burn from hiking, jogging, or cross-country skiing. For people who aren’t in good shape it’s probably not so bad, but then again for something lower-impact bike riding is fun and can burn calories.
    Oddly, all About’s hiking info seems to be in their adventuretravel section, unless I’m missing a specific hiking category.
    On a constructive criticism note, would it be possible for About to restructure their pages so things were a bit better organized? I never know where I am or what’s available. I can live with the ads, but there’s got to be a better way to weave them into the page so they encourage clicks but also people who are looking for something can find it. All the colors and backgrounds are distracting and don’t look too clean.

  8. Curt Avatar
    Curt

    I wonder where the Gypsy bloggers are: http://morphemetales.blogspot.com/2005/07/gypsy-bloggers.html. But I’ll email Wendy with one of the best walks in the world: Mt. Pisgah in Eugene, Oregon.

  9. The Lonewacko Blog Avatar
    The Lonewacko Blog

    And, while I’m at it, could you remove all the redirected links from any of your sections? For instance, the Java section uses redirects instead of plain HTML links.

  10. Janis Gore Avatar
    Janis Gore

    But, Mr. Hiking, etc.,
    I don’t need to burn calories, I have nothing to run from (and I don’t trust my knees), and I don’t want the expense of maintaining a bike and equipment.
    Isn’t walking economical and effective then?

  11. The Lonewacko Blog Avatar
    The Lonewacko Blog

    Janis Gore: Simply walking certainly has benefits, and one of those is not having to buy stuff. But, if you want to lose weight you’re probably going to have to do more. And, biking downhill fast is definitely a lot more fun for me than strolling. Yeah, I’ve wiped out a few times but that’s the price you pay.
    Jeff Jarvis: Could you also do something about this? That section a) reads almost (but not completely) like it was written by the AILA, b) doesn’t concentrate on legal vs. illegal enough, c) is out of date considering the election was several months ago, and d) AFAICT doesn’t link out to any sites that don’t share their rosy outlook.

  12. Neil Avatar
    Neil

    As they like to say, no one walks in L.A. — except for my wife. Recently, I was surprised to find that one of my blog posts about a walk I took with my wife was included in About.com’s “Carnival of the Walkers.” When I showed her the bump in my stats, she was pissed at me for two days for “making her look like a ‘walking’ fanatic.” So, in case any of your readers happen to read about Sophia, rest assured that she doesn’t walk five hours every day.
    http://www.citizenofthemonth.com/2005/07/05/the-master-plan/

  13. BoreAmerica.com Avatar
    BoreAmerica.com

    In the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles, there’s a doctor who’s famous for walking around the area. Someone even made a short film about it.
    P.S. Please fix the problems my other alter egos mentioned above.