Hiking Project Reviews

by Deborah-B

I really want this project to succeed. But every time I record a GPS track and try to add it as a trail, I run into a klunky, hard to use interface that makes me wonder why I bother.
I record my track. Now to add it as a trail, I have to go to my profile (Why?), select “Add a Trail”, then scroll all the way down to another page to use my recorded track. Then I get sent to the web interface, where map editing is impossible on a small screen. And why force me to edit the map? There are so many selections and descriptions to fill out after that. And tonight I did a big edit, and it was all lost. Clue: if “how do I recover my lost edit text” is on your FAQ, and the lame answer is “try your back button”, then your site is failing basic usability criteria. You’re not respecting the time I take to fill in data that your site can’t even bother to put into a buffer? Why should I bother?

Make it easy to add a trail from HikingProject (not the website) and make it reliable. Otherwise I might as well go donate my time to recording tracks for AllTrails instead.

by Qrib

Why did you break something I was able to rely to on the trail? This new version is not reliable and can't be used on the trail anymore, will probably have to switch to Alltrails.

- this is not production ready, when you have a great app, don't rush yourself on releasing a new version with SO many bugs and crashes! Like I said not reliable anymore on the trail!
- Map is now simply not usable, terrible UX, on top that it is impossible to use because it's slow and buggy.
- Why removing the Pin trail feature!? This was so convenient to pin a trail planning my hike and during my hike to simply stay on the trail I'm on, now it's lost in my favorites, and have to sometime spend time looking for itwhile on the trail, what a waste of time...
- finally, TODOs and Favorites are two different things! Why rename TODOs into favorite, it's just all confusing for the user, I feel like I lost all my stuffs.

The better is the enemy of the good, in other words, don't fix it if it's ain't broke.

The hiking project was my best reliable companion on the trail, I was happy to log new trails to be part of the community and help building the trails database, I will now have to use Alltrails. This is sadly not reliable anymore out there, fearing that the map get unusable and might crash trying to use it is not an option.

by Hvanett

I guess I’m not REI’s average hiker. Maybe the area where I live isn’t populated enough, or maybe trails for locals isn’t REI’s priority. HikingProject is great if all your hikes include forest. All of the trails in HikingProject near me are a) alpine or b) very popular and busy. The trails are just a fraction of what other websites and apps show close to me. While there are popular trails within a very short drive, they are not listed. In fact, the only trails I can find are in national forest land - no BLM, state, county, or city trails, not even when they connect to USFS trails. So if you live in a small town (even one with a reputation for the outdoors) and just want a few good places to spend a an hour or three, there are better apps out there.

by Mammothx

I see no downloadable offline maps option, which is the core of what HikingProject reports to be. Get on the bandwagon! It must be because it uses Google Maps API rather that the publicly available USGS topo. The best you can do is pre-view the entire route at a decent zoom level before you go in order to cache the Gmap as much as possible, but the result is varying quality and is very limited. It’s pretty crappy actually. The trail sharing community component on HikingProject is probably great (especially because it’s free) but without an permanent offline topo basemap HikingProject is pretty useless for its purpose.

Sure I can make a breadcrumb trail with HikingProject but I also want to use the same app to view my route options ahead, this especially when I’m taking an uncharted course. I’ll wait until to use HikingProject until it uses a real offline maps (not just spotty cached map data and offline trail lines). It seems that they don’t intend to make this happen though as users have been asking for it for 3 years.

by DookyHouser

I had been waiting to see if REI would make a global trails app similar to AllTrails. I like both interfaces of the REI app and AllTrails, and I love the gem feature which the REI app provides.
Unfortunately, there a few items I feel could be improved to set it above AllTrails.
Firstly, when you’re zoomed out it’s clusters all the trails to identify there are “X” amount within that area, but when you zoom in they all disappear. In AllTrails, you can zoom all the way up to the trail head pin and even tap on it to display the more detailed trail information if desired.
Secondly, I noticed when zoomed out to view larger trail clusters you have the ability to tap to view a list of the trails on screen. However, when viewing smaller clusters the option to tap to view the list of trails on screen disappears.
Perhaps both of these are coding glitches and were not intended. But if they could be fixed, then this would help streamline HikingProject interface tremendously.
The other items I noticed which were lacking in HikingProject, but available in AllTrails, is an in app local weather forecast and the featured ability to record your hike. I did notice you can “check-in”, but being able to record your times is a very nice feature; especially for those of us with a more competitive side.

by Smiggy91

Most everything about HikingProject is amazing, and I still recommend it to my friends despite my one problem. Every time, and I mean EVERY time I try to search for a trail it tells me a message saying there’s a search error. I have to go into google maps and then try to sync it with the project app, and it’s a whole thing. Once you find the trail on another app then it works but it should be all inclusive. HikingProject has literally saved my roommate and mine’s live’s one time and I still trust the gps pointer because of it. It is a pain to have to sync up the two apps though. I will continue to use it but there are some major bugs that need to be fixed.

by Jeffreynye

I have used HikingProject for years, all over the US. It's great for finding trails, seeing photos of them, reading descriptions, and so on. It's been a huge help to planning many vacations.

There is one "but."

In my experience HikingProject consistently under-reports trail distances, often significantly. This week, for example, a hike in the Grand Canyon that HikingProject lists as 2.9 miles registered as 4.1 as-hiked for me with a GPS tracker, and a hike in Sedona that HikingProject lists as 5.4 miles registered as a 7.8 as-hiked for me with a GPS tracker.

Those may not seem like big differences, and in absolute terms maybe they're not. But they're each off by more than 40%.

These two examples were not a problem for me, but if you're hiking a challenging trail on the edge of your experience level, or hiking in bad weather, or fighting darkness, the trail turning out to be 40% long than expected is bad, bad news, and a legitimate safety issue. Forty extra percent turns a ten-mile hike into a 14-mile hike, and a 20-mile hike into a 28-mile hike.

My advice: use HikingProject, but build in a significant buffer on the distance.

by Spence871

I love HikingProject and think the Hiking Project is better as whole compared to other hiking apps but it is missing some key features that are available on the website which keep it from being the best.
I wish we could upload our trails, photos, or comments about hikes through HikingProject since you are able to do these things in almost every other hiking app. Seeing other people’s comments about their hikes would also be super helpful since they could provide some relevant recent information about the trail. I don’t like having to use the website (or other hiking apps) just to have these functions.

by KittyPrawn

I’ve only recently started to hike and HikingProject has been really helpful to find places to check out. I can find hikes that are appropriate for my level and it gives me an idea of what to expect.

I really wish there was a scale on the map view though. There have been times we wanted to make changes to a planned walk, but it was difficult to get the length of just one segment. It always highlights a whole trail when maybe I just plan to go on some of it. A scale would make it a lot easier to plan if it’s an appropriate distance.

by Epheumsirc

So we’re old farts that love to hike easy to moderate trails. Very intuitive app to filter and find those, BUT many you need to be parachuted into the middle of the wilderness to get to! It’s funny to see little 1 mile easy jaunts the start and end on 17 mile intermediate hikes that themselves are a journey. I’m sure there is an “easy” stretch on Mt. Everest if someone just labeled a start and stop and gave it a name.

In spite of that little “flaw,” this is a great app to find those hidden gems that are accessible. Look forward to exploring. Meanwhile, all you young, fit folk can trek those easy hikes on your journey across the Appalachian Trail.

by Joshua Gilmore

I can not stress how useful HikingProject has been. With it, I’ve been able to find trails that I didn’t even know existed. Each trail has mileage listing, elevation chart, and a description of the trail itself. Directions are readily available on the same page.

HikingProject is even able to track your location whenever you lose cellular connection, so there’s no need to worry about getting turned around. More trails are added every day.

by Snoboardr720

My only suggestion would be notes or comments so I can update when and where seasonal water is or good camp spots so I can bookmark (pin, gps coods) adding pictures. Also real time tracking when no cell signal is available would be nice I can’t check in, track my progress and mph like in some of the other apps. But it does show me where I am accurately with the altitude which is fantastic, tons of new trails added since last year too!

by M11041234567

I planned a whole 3/4 night/day backpacking trip and was using a different app. A friend suggested a different section of the trail I wanted to hike, but I couldn’t find the section on HikingProject I had always used. He told me about Hiking Project, I downloaded HikingProject on the drive to Danial Boone National Forest, searched for the trail I wanted when I parked near the Red River Bridge and I was on trail and recording my trip with no trouble at all! HikingProject worked perfectly start to finish! Love it!

by Opinionzzzzz

I used HikingProject to pick a trail segment to hike on the Appalachian Trail. I was able to download the map in advance (very handy since there was minimal data service during the hike). During the hike, it was really handy to see our progress via GPS, see Scenic Looking Spots and view nearby segments. I would like to see information added to HikingProject about when we have to cross a street to continue on the trail and step by step instructions to get to the next segment. It would also be handy if the firepits were marked. We reached the end of the segment, didn’t realize we had to cross a street to get to the shelter further ahead. Then, we spent 30 minutes of hiking searching for a campsite with a fire ring. We were so tired we almost gave up. I’m very pleased with HikingProject overall and will use it to find more local trails and hike other AT segments in the future.

by Tubamindfreak

Whether you are a novice to hiking or you’re an expert, HikingProject is a must have. The Hiking Project is an awesome resource for planning your next hiking adventure; it also makes a great resource while on the trail.

It’s trail library curated with excellent standards for photographs and GPS accuracy when submitting new trails to the system. The elevation graphs of the trails are extremely informative and so is the fact that the graphs are interactive. And most of all, HikingProject allows you to accurately determine your own location on the trail in situations where you are conserving your phone’s battery by disconnecting from your cellular network or if you simply lose service.

I still use good, old-fashioned maps of course but a multimodal approach to adventuring has always worked best for me. HikingProject has helped increase my confidence and overall experience out on the trail. Whether backcountry camping or embarking on a day hike, I never play outside without it.

by Hunter Sage Jasmen

I love HikingProject . Works great with lots of trail beta.
The downside. I’m finding more and more on trails here that people are not practicing “Leave no Trace” ethics. This past weekend on a trail I found people literally camped on the trail with fire ash within feet of water sources.
For the developer. Maybe when people sign up they could check an agreement box after they’ve read the “leave no trace ethics.” As more and more people head out into the backcountry it’s creating a negative impact that I’ve not seen in nearly 30 years of being on the trails.

by Rickstov

I went on a backpacking trip to Santa Rosa Island in the Channel Islands National Park. The plan was to camp at Johnson point, bit off way more than we can chew. So as we realized that completing the trek was isn’t in the cards I tried AllTrails but nothing I remembered about HikingProject cause REI was out of physical maps. I opened it up as boom a couple of tiny barely visible trails, so after navigating about 5 trail junctions I got a glimmer of hope and saw the ocean(small dot of blue). After that enjoyed 3 days of seeing absolutely nobody on my beach and it wouldn’t happen without HikingProject

by Gbass82

This is is great app that I have used countless times. Being able to access trail maps off line is fantastic because as we all know, the chances of having a phone signal on trail is slim. Knowing the terrain and elevations is a plus with HikingProject and on my last hike, I tracked my location and kept up with what elevation changes I was about to encounter. My only complaint is that I wish HikingProject could save my hike information (miles, elevation gains, etc.). Until this happens, I have to keep track of my data on another app. However, I am sure that as time goes on HikingProject will eventually be able to do so and more. HikingProject is a valuable tool for every hiker.

by JohnnyMacG

This is a terrific app. It does not have all the features of AllTrails (like photo embedding on your tracked route), but it has all the features I want. I love the interface vs AllTrails and Gaia. Very easy to find hikes. In the map view, trails are color coded the same as ski trails: green=easy, etc. Can import, export GPX and recommend trails to be added. Download offline maps, track your route with all elevation stats.

I’m currently stuck in Reno as the ski season ended abruptly with the coronavirus. But only 45 minutes from Lake Tahoe, and via Mount Rose Highway, still in the same Nevada County, so not breaking any orders. At least we can leave our own neighborhood for exercise! With 80 hikes in the Tahoe area I’m not going to get bored.

by Fjavsjdjdbdbdbdbdhdjdjdbhd

I’m very new to hiking, and just moved to an area close to the mountains. I love that HikingProject gives routes to climbing many of the famous mountains and even combines them. Very easy to use, compared to my original method of merely researching the area on google maps. Also with COVID 19, many of the hiking centers at the parks have limited hours and don’t offer paper copies of the maps. HikingProject provides those and even at some points gave me my location on the trail. Highly recommend HikingProject.

by WyomingHiker

The desktop version is more user friendly to find trails than HikingProject, BUT all of the trails you add on the desktop version transfer over to HikingProject, which is awesome! It’s easier to search for a bunch of trails on a computer anyways, personally since it’s a bigger screen.

HikingProject gives hikers more of a “community feel” than other hiking apps. It allows you to see other hikers’ trails and where they have been.

by Kellynchaka

I’m a wake up in the morning need to find a trail don’t care where it is kind of guy. I don’t want any technology or noise or people when I decide to go away, but HikingProject literally is awesome. Being able to use it without cell service has saved me from marking wrong turns and bad trails. I admit I feel like cheating when I pull it out to see where I’m at but it also makes me want to explore more without the fear of getting lost. Love it.

by AAugust

HikingProject has exactly what I was looking for. I use it every weekend to plan hikes with my family and have used it several times to find hikes in other parts of the country while on work trips.

It does not include every hike that I know exists, but it will only get better as more content is added.

I love that I can track our position using GPS when we are out of cellular range to check trail junctions and progress.