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Feed Your Curiosity. How to Dig Up New, Personalized Hike Ideas on WTA

Posted by Anna Roth at May 11, 2022 12:00 PM |
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Here's how an account on wta.org can help you find new hikes. When you save more hikes or file trip reports, the recommendations get better.

Today, WTA updated and re-released a feature we piloted last summer; a hike recommender that makes personalized suggestions of hikes you might be interested in adding to your to-hike list. When you save new hikes or file trip reports about places you've been, the recommendations only get better! 

Hike recommender release screenshot

We hope the updated tool continues to educate hikers about new opportunities for connecting with public lands and shifts the focus from a small number of popular and well-known trails to the many other great locations Washington has to offer.

How to find Rad New Hikes

Developed with the help of volunteers, the feature looks at the existing hikes you have saved in your My Backpack account and any trip reports you've filed and suggests other trails to try across the state. It draws on WTA's decades of local trail knowledge and the latest data science to make suggestions that help hikers and trails.

This year we have enhanced the recommender with seasonal information and incorporated new data (like our wheelchair-friendly filter) into your suggestions.

To access the new feature, you need to create a My Backpack account on wta.org. Once you've created an account on wta.org, log in and find it under My Hikes & Recommendations. It's easy!



Once you've had a chance to check it out, let us know what you think!

More tools to fine-tune your hike search

The hike recommender is just one of several tools we have available to hikers looking for somewhere to go.

Search and filter hikes: Sort options by location, trail features such as elevation gain and distance, or even filter trails by the type of pass you'll need! You can also use the Hike Finder Map to locate hikes on the map, which is great for people who love to do things visually.

The Hike Finder Map lets you see trailheads across the state.
The Hike Finder Map lets you see trailheads across the state.

Search and filter trip reports: Road and trail conditions matter a lot. Did you know you can use trip reports to search for snow-free trails or eliminate all trails that don't have great road conditions right now? Looking for fresh ideas? You can also run a search for where people have hiked in May going back years.

Advanced trip report filter roads and trail conditions

Save and make notes: Once you've found a few hikes you want to do, add them to your  list by clicking the big ol' orange button on the hike entry that says "Save Hike to My Backpack". It's that easy. You can view your list of saved hikes by visiting your My Backpack and clicking "My Hikes & Recommendations".

From there, you can even add notes to each one, like "great for summer backpacking," or "make sure to remember the tent this time." If you, like me, end up with a long "Want to hike" list, you can narrow things down by searching notes, looking at a map view, or filtering the options.

search and filter saved hikes

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