Latest news with #AllTrails
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Travel + Leisure
3 days ago
- Travel + Leisure
This Is the Best Hiking City in the U.S.—and It's Not Denver or Portland
Cities aren't typically considered top destinations for hiking, but the best hikes aren't necessarily always in the backcountry. In fact, sometimes you can catch the most thrilling views from the densest of urban landscapes, and take in stunning landscapes and cityscapes at the same time. And a new report from the footwear commerce site SportsShoes set out to find out which cities were the best for hikers. For its report, SportsShoes analyzed hiking trail data from 180 of the most popular tourist cities in the world. It took into account the number of trails in each place, how popular they are, and the average reviews of each trail, using data from AllTrails. After evaluating all the numbers, one U.S. city beat out the domestic competition. With 119 hikes that are both highly popular and easily accessible, San Francisco, was named the top hiking city in the U.S. and the third best in the world—and it's no wonder. The Golden City has many can't-miss hikes, including the Dipsea Trail, Lands End Trail, and the Mount Sutro Loop. There are so many options in the city that, regardless of your skill and experience level, you'll be able to find a hike in San Francisco that suits your abilities. Plus, odds are, there will be a scenic view at the end. "From exploring Alcatraz Island to catching the sunrise over the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco is packed with iconic sights," SportsShoes wrote in its report. "... The wilderness behind San Francisco's University Campus is touted as a stunning section of the city to explore, and the Golden Gate Park—the third most visited park in the U.S.—features tons of trails, as well as Botanical and Japanese Tea Gardens. According to All Trails, the top five hiking trails in San Francisco are the Lands End Trail, the San Francisco Crosstown Trail, Seal Rocks Beach, the California Coastal Trail, and the Batteries to Bluff Trail. The longest trail in the city is the Ferry Building to Mount Tamalpais Cycle Route, which is 59.5 miles long. Since San Francisco is so condensed, it's the perfect place to pair an outdoor adventure with the benefits of city living. You could follow up a hike with fine dining, a museum visit, or even take time to explore the Bay Area's unique neighborhoods, like the Mission District. But there are plenty of other great cities for outdoor adventure in the U.S. According to SportsShoes, other great destinations for hiking in the country include: Los Angeles, California Portland, Oregon Las Vegas, Nevada Nashville, Tennessee Seattle, Washington Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Washington D.C. Boston, Massachusetts
Otago Daily Times
3 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Hikers flock to Hump Ridge Track
One thousand additional walkers have trekked the Hump Ridge Track since it entered the international stage of the world's great walks a year ago. Hump Ridge Track operations lead Emily Serafini said walker numbers had jumped 33% since it gained Great Walk status in October 2024. "Last year we had about 3090 walkers, this year it's 4090." There had been a notable surge in track bookings after media coverage of the experience. It also gained more international attention after the AllTrails hiking app listed the Hump Ridge at number five in the top 25 world's best walks. "That weekend we were hit with so many bookings." The track, near Tuatapere, traditionally hosted about an 80% domestic market, but there were now more walkers arriving from Europe. But unlike the nation's other great walks run by the Department of Conservation, bookings are made through the trust's website, which is open all year. "We're a privately operated and self-funded, offering lodge comforts like hot showers and cold beer," Mrs Serafini said. She believed it was presently operating near 85% and already had bookings for the 25/26 and 26/27 seasons. Mrs Serafini said the growth in walking numbers was "pretty awesome". "The town [Tuatapere] flourishes during the season ... It's great to see the track come so far." The season ran from October 25, 2024, until April, 21, 2025. The three-day 60km loop walk along the south coast in Southern Fiordland weaves through native forest, sub-alpine ridges and beaches, with accommodation at Okaka Lodge and the Port Craig Lodge, and starts and ends about 30km from Tuatapere. The 125m Percy Burn viaduct — the world's largest surviving wooden viaduct — built in 1923, was one of the track's popular features. Tuatapere Te Waewae community board chairwoman Anne Horrell said the huge increase in walkers was "exciting". "We're sort of hoping that in time that this will have a good spin-off in a positive way for the community itself, in terms of people sleeping and staying in Tuatapere and being involved." Some walkers opted to to stay in Queenstown or Invercargill, she said. "We're really hoping that more and more people decide to stay in Tuatapere itself and enjoy the local attractions of not just Tuatapere but all of Western Southland. "We've got so much that's beautiful and lovely." Great South tourism and events general manager Mark Frood said the flourishing numbers was great news for the whole region. "It's really good to see. There's a lot of years of vision and work that's gone into getting it to that stage and getting it as a Great Walk and seeing that start to have some success, which is awesome." "It has been a bit of a journey to get there, but a whole lot of dedicated people have stuck at it for quite a long time." He frequently received feedback from Invercargill and regional residents who had met walkers. He believed when quality Southland walking tracks like the Hump Ridge attracted visitors, "everyone benefits". Southland has five of New Zealand's 11 Great Walks — the Milford, Routeburn, Kepler, Hump Ridge and Rakiura tracks. Southland was also rich with other hiking opportunities as well as the Great Walks, Mr Frood said. "We've got an enormous number of short walks, guided walks ... [they] add more strength to our region — that's what a lot of people come here for." When those experiences were added alongside the region's cycling trail network and the smaller walking tracks, it developed more interest in the region. "It gets people looking down in the region and then they start to understand what's around." He expected regional cottage industries, small business and employment to continue to blossom. "You see places like Mossburn, there's extra cafes that support the locals, they survive off the back of the visitors as well. "Where you see the tourists flow, you see opportunities. "So every little bit from the community aspect, builds — it's good to see tourism supporting the communities rather than overrunning the communities."
Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Miami Herald
Here's where Rocky Mountain, other national parks rank for best hiking
DENVER - Rocky Mountain National Park is ranked high on a new list of the top 10 best national parks for quality hiking, just behind Great Smoky Mountains and Yellowstone. The parks were judged based on three criteria: number of hiking trails, number of visitors (as an indication of popularity) and user trail reviews found on the AllTrails app. The research was conducted by Kuru, which makes sneakers, sandals and hiking boots. Rocky Mountain National Park took third place with 220 hiking trails, 4.1 million visitors in 2024 and an average trail rating of 4.5 stars on the AllTrails 1-5 scale. "That 4.5 star rating? It's well-earned," according to Kuru's summary of the survey, "just like every breathtaking view above tree line." Great Smoky Mountains National Park, far and away the busiest U.S. national park with 12.1 million visitors, placed first with 348 trails and an average trail rating of 4.4 stars. It is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of the Appalachian range. At No. 2, Yellowstone in northwestern Wyoming came in with 252 trails, 4.7 million visitors and an average trail rating of 4.4. "Beyond geysers and bison, Yellowstone offers miles of trail magic," the report said. Zion, located in southwestern Utah, came in at No. 9 with 93 trails, 4.9 million visitors and a trail rating of 4.4. "Zion's towering sandstone walls and narrow slot canyons make it a mecca for thrill-seekers and photographers," the report said. "It's red rock bliss with rave reviews." Grand Teton in northwestern Wyoming placed 10th with 3.6 million visitors and a trail rating of 4.6. "Grand Teton may be last on this list, but it's high on impact," the report said. "The jagged skyline alone is worth the trip, but pair it with over 100 well-rated trails, and you've got a hiker's paradise." Other parks on the list aree Yosemite in California (fourth), Acadia in Maine (fifth), Olympic in Washington state (sixth), Grand Canyon in Arizona (seventh) and Glacier in northern Montana (eighth). _______ Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
National Observer
3 days ago
- National Observer
AllTrails launches AI route-making tool, worrying search-and-rescue members
If a robot told you that walking off a cliff was your fastest route home, how close would you get to the edge before turning it off? One of the world's most popular hiking apps, AllTrails, has a new generative AI feature that can be asked to "shorten my route" or "make this more scenic." But the people in charge of searching for lost hikers say the feature is going to exacerbate an issue they've been warning about for years: hiking apps providing false information. 'AI definitely encourages overconfidence,' said Sandra Riches, executive director of BC AdventureSmart, which provides free safety information and training about outdoor activities. 'When hikers blindly trust AI-generated routes without checking maps, reliable resources, land manager websites, that sort of thing, they have that risk of getting lost or putting themselves in unsafe situations.' AllTrails gives users access to a searchable database of nearly half a million trail maps from all over the world. The company largely creates and maintains these maps using crowdsourced information from users, including GPS tracking, photos and reviews. As a result, the accuracy of its maps varies from place to place, and the app has developed a reputation amongst hikers and Search and Rescue (SAR) workers over the years for unreliability. 'We call it All Fails,' said Dee Roscher, a hiking tour guide and SAR member in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. 'When you look up a trail, you might see a variety of different options based on what people have uploaded. But if someone got lost and didn't delete their tracking data, it would appear as a possible route.' This results in a lot of 'braided trails' that lead nowhere, reinforced by people getting lost over and over again following one another's false trails. Unless someone reports the issue to AllTrails or leaves a comment on the trail for others to see, these incorrect routes look valid on the app. The problem is especially dangerous in remote areas that are less frequently visited. 'The trails might not have proper signage, or they're not well maintained,' Roscher said. 'So people come up really unprepared and get completely turned around.' These problems already existed before the AI was added, but the company says the feature uses those same routes. Giving less experienced hikers access to a tool known to be overly encouraging, and giving it the ability to customize a hiking route upon request, sounds like a prelude to disaster, Riches warns. In an email to Canada's National Observer, an AllTrails spokesperson said, 'Our custom routes feature relies on and provides trail options based on existing, verified trail networks of the AllTrails platform. We work directly with more than 600 public land managers and agencies to ensure our members have accurate and reliable info when they plan to hit the trail.' AllTrails did not respond to a question of whether it has guardrails in place to prevent AI hallucinations. AI-related hiking incidents on the rise Some of the most damning evidence about the pitfalls of using hiking apps, including AllTrails, has come out of the UK, where the number of search and rescue calls from young people has doubled in the past five years. Mountain Rescue England and Wales blames navigation apps as well as the proliferation of 'honeypot' locations – photogenic spots popular on social media – for driving less experienced hikers onto difficult or nonexistent trails. The potential for generative AI – which is prone to providing false information – to supercharge this trend is difficult to ignore. According to SAR data, the third most common reason for emergency responses is 'exceeding abilities,' meaning someone misjudges the risks and challenges associated with a particular activity. 'AI has really crept into outdoor recreation and trip planning,' Riches said. When Riches and her team reviewed the reasons behind all 1,960 SAR activities in BC in 2024, they noted a concerning increase in AI-related incidents. In one particularly illustrative mishap, BC SAR was deployed to rescue two people who had used ChatGPT and Google Maps to plan a hike up Unnecessary Mountain, unaware that there would be snow along the route the AI provided. They didn't have the right shoes, and they got stuck. Amplifying these risks are the apps' limited offline functionality and tendency to drain battery life, which can be especially dangerous in regions where there's little or no cell service. Riches, who used to work as a BC Park Ranger in the 1990s, has seen a big increase in the number of people seeking out increasingly remote areas to hike over the last 30 to 40 years, as formerly quiet spots have turned into hiking 'highways.' 'It eventually pushes some of us to go back further, to look for that solitude again, and to find different areas that aren't as saturated,' she says. 'But I think people need to have a reality check a little bit, and know that reaching those destinations requires a bit of homework.' Homework in this context means looking up real, verified information about the route you're about to embark on: Is there snow on the mountain right now? How long is the hike? The difference between eight and 15 kilometers could vastly alter your planning – when you leave, the amount of water and food you carry, or if you even go at all. Maps 'a massive weakness' One of the most insidious flaws in the design of generative AI tools is their tendency to tell users what they want to hear, even if that means making something up. Particularly egregious AI hallucinations have been in the news for years – lawyers getting in trouble for citing fake, AI-generated court cases; Google's AI telling people to put glue on pizza; ChatGPT telling a mentally ill young man he could 'fly' off the top of a 19-storey building if he believed hard enough – yet the problem persists, and grows, as more and more businesses buy (literally) into the hype. Giving less experienced hikers access to a tool known to be overly encouraging, and giving it the ability to customize a hiking route upon request, sounds like a prelude to disaster, Riches warns. Especially if the app – either by design or due to the phone's location – can't use live trail conditions to give safe advice. 'Navigation is an area where it's very weak,' said Steve Jones, who is uniquely qualified on the subject as both the author of a book on AI systems called "A Mind Made of Math" and chair of BC AdventureSmart's Advisory Committee. 'The main models that we're using today have not yet been trained on maps. And so, when you ask them questions about the world that require a world model and that involve navigation, that often exposes a massive weakness.' Jones asked ChatGPT to help him plan hiking trips as a test. In several cases, the model provided false information about routes, conditions, and local laws. 'I asked this one about going to a hike to the top of Mount Currie,' said Jones. In early June, when Jones conducted the test, Mount Currie was still covered in snow and scaling it would require mountaineering equipment. 'It basically told me, 'Yep, pack your hiking boots. Have a good time.' Very dangerous advice.' In another test, ChatGPT told Jones that campfires are permitted at Semaphore Lakes, a recreation site near Pemberton. Not only is this information untrue, it's easily verified using multiple government websites. This exposes another major weakness in generative AI: the answers these models provide depend entirely on the data they were trained on, which could be incomplete, outdated or completely false.
CNBC
4 days ago
- Health
- CNBC
Amazon is poised to win in health care, says AllTrails co-founder Jeremy Cotter
Jeremy Cotter, AllTrails co-founder and early Facebook employee, joins 'Closing Bell' to discuss YouRise Health, AI's impact on health care and much more.
