We just added blogging to Hiking Ideas.  Any member of the Hiking Ideas site can create a blog and write about whatever moves them.  As of today, the blogging capabilities are relatively simple but many new capabilites are planned in the near future.

What we have so far:

• You can name your blog whatever you like and the name is used as the URL (browser address).
• You can enter a tagline for your blog that is a short description for the content of your blog.  You can enter anything like "Wild stories from the wilderness"  This tagline shows up in a number of places including the newsreader (RSS) feed for your blog, the catalog of blogs on Hiking Ideas and on your blog home page.
• You can also upload a photo of you or of something that represents your blog.  The photo will automatically be resized to fit within the right-hand column of your blog (128x128 pixels).
• You can maintain a blog roll.  A blog roll is a list of links to other blogs you like to read. 
• Each blog entry has a date and time when the entry will show up in the blog. If you include a future date for your blog entry then the entry will only show up for visitors when that date arrives.
• Each blog entry has a short entry (snippet) and a full entry.  The short entry is used for news readers that subscribe to your blog.
• The Hiking Ideas home page will automatically show the most recent blog entries from all the blogs.

Here are some features that will be coming soon:

• Edit blog entries.
• Photos in blog entries
• Blog entry archives (a catalog of old blog entries)
• Customization of the blog banner area (like adding images)
• Reader comments.
• Tags on blog entries
• And much more.

Enjoy!