If you hike, you should share your photos and trip report with the world.
Popular blogger Tom Mangan gives the pitch:
… Heck, if John Muir were alive to day, he would have a blog. How do I know? Because the only thing as voluminous as Muir’s backcountry travels was the volume of his writings documenting them. Muir was eloquent, passionate and observant, and obsessive about writing it all down. If you are any or all of these things, why not put ‘em to good use and share with the world? …
Tom followed up with a second post: How to start a hiking blog
Read that. Or jump directly to WordPress.com.
It’s free. It’s easy. You will have your own hiking blog within 10min.
I’d recommend that blogging platform to John Muir too. It’s the same open source software running this site. And the same used by Tom.
Here’s a (somewhat dated) 4min introduction to how to start your own WordPress blog. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
besthike.com 
I’ve only been blogging for four months now, so I’m no expert.
But I do know that there are major differences between WordPress.com (what you recommended) and WordPress.org. WordPress.org is the more flexible and versatile blogging platform that is preferred by many of the more serious bloggers. It is much more work to set up, though.
Perhaps some other, more savvy bloggers can weigh in on this?
I use WordPress.org too, John.
But most people starting up should begin with the free and easy WordPress.com service. I think.
Hey, I’ll go check your site now.
Hello Rick,
You’re probably right for people just starting out, and I think it’s fairly easy to migrate a WordPress.com blog to Wordpess.org.
Word Press either way is great. WordPress.com is better if you just want a blog with no real behind-the-scenes work. WordPress.org is for those with some technical skills and server space for hosting.
I host my outdoor one on our server space using.org (http://blog.trailcooking.com/), but for my cooking at home one (http://gazingin.wordpress.com/) I host it on .com. Just easier – I have to rely on my husband for his skills to do the hard stuff for Trailcooking (such as updates, HTML, etc)
You can always migrate to .org and you won’t lose anything! So starting simple isn’t a bad thing.
Just if you buy a domain name? Do it yourself – don’t use wordpress.com’s buying service – they admit up front that it has severe limitations.
Anyhoo, long story short, both are good for using!