When we started the hiking in January, we called it Walking Wednesdays.

We soon realized that even though we planned the hikes looking at the maps, on the ground the maps did not reflect reality. This created a challenge when somehow a message got out that we were lost. And some people over reacted and wanted to send out a search party. This was kind of silly as we were really exploring.

So we decided to change the name to Wednesday Explorers to reflect that reality.

In order to make that clearer, we also later included the byline

And this has proven true.

It took us 3 different exploratory routes before we found our way from Paso Ancho to Tisingal. And 2 different exploratory routes before finding the Ecotreat Waterfall. We are constantly trying new paths and routes to see where we land up.

And the result has been that we have found some truly amazing hikes that we can now share with the larger group of explorers.

Initially, there was only 1 WhatsApp Group: Wednesday Explorers. I posted all hikes there and everyone shared their photos and experiences there. Some people loved it and some people were not so crazy about it. 

A couple of challenges were brought to my attention: 

1. Just after hikes, when people share their photos, there could be over 50 messages in a day. 
2. The new hike notifications were being lost after so many posts were happening. And I ended up have to repeat the notifications multiple times.
3. Some explorer's have older phones and their space was being challenged with so many messages forcing them to remove content. 

So, after some debate backwards and forth, I decided to create 2 WhatsApp Groups.

• The Original Wednesday Explorer group was renamed to the Wednesday Explorers Campfire to reflect the fact that it is the Social Hub for sharing.
• A new read only group called the Wednesday Explorers Lighthouse was created to post the notifications for the hikes. This acts as the Notification Hub.

All explorers are added to both groups. If the Campfire proves to be challenge, they can remove themselves from the group. They will still be notified of all the hikes in the Lighthouse. So far, this seems to be working out.