The site upgrade has really gotten under way recently, and  I thought it was about time we brought you up to speed, on where we are, and where we are hoping to go.

Some time around the end of last year keith and I had a chat of sorts about a possible re-do of the site.   It had been pretty neglected for more than a year, and frankly I think we were both starting to lose a little interest in the whole thing.  We had decided that if we didn't do something soon, there wouldn't really be much point in continuing to keep the site up at all.  

So we sorta talked out some goals for where we wanted to be.  I think we both came to the conclusion that the heart of the site was, and is always going to be, the forums.  With that in mind, we began looking for ways to develop a site around them.  There were some crucial things we knew we still wanted to keep; things like galleries, links, and all the quick reference stuff that had been available in the past.  We also knew a weakness for us all along were the site updates.  It took time to format a gallery pic, make the thumbnails, write the html code with the descriptions, update the main links page, and then get it all uploaded and ready; time that neither of us really had enough of.

With all that, our goal became, layout a forum based site that allows the users to submit their own gallery pics, links, and trip reports. After a few bumpy runs at it, we finally managed to get the old forum converted over to the new software, and have been adding to it ever since.  I feel at this time that we are about 75% towards our goal, and the other 25% is all ready in the testing phase.  I am very pleased with what we have done so far and I hope all of you are too.

I would also like to take a second to say thank you to all the loyal users that have stuck it out with us through the years.  In May we will be celebrating our 9th birthday I believe, and I know several of you have been with us all along the way.  For those of you that are just joining us welcome! and we look forward to getting to know you!

With all that out of the way I want to introduce you to some of the new toys and a little run down about how they work.

	The Gallery - The gallery is broken down into categories to help you determine what typ of pics you want to see.   Every member of the site has the ability to upload pictures to it, though they must first be approved by an administrator. It also has the option for our users to add comments for each picture.
	Links - The links section much like the gallery is broken down into areas to help keep things neat and tidy. It also includes the option for members to post and share links, as well as a system for rating links.  Users can report links that no longer work, and it keeps track of which sites are being visited the most.
	Calendar - The calendar option allows members to share any upcoming events they may be aware of.  The events must be added from the calendar.  They will show up on the calendar, as well as having a detailed description available in the "Events" section of the forums. Users may add replies to any of the events posted. Birthdays and upcoming events are also displayed on the mini calendar viewable on some sections of the site.
	Avatars - What can I say, i was aggravated by the fact that software never seemed to offer anything for avatars other than famous peoples faces.  Somehow brad pitt's mug just wasnt doing it for me.  I went on a little search for some outdoorsy avatars, and had no luck at all, then it occured to me to look into clipart.  I manged to assemble a collection of over 100 outdoor themed pics and converted them all to the avatar format and size.  these are available under your profile settings in a special section marked "kywilderness".

As always if you have any problems, questions or just want to comment on something, feel free to post about it, PM me, or send an E-mail directly arthur@kywilderness.com

oh yeah, almost forgot to mention I wrote and posted this entire article using the system we intend to implement for you to submit your own trip reports.