Account Setup

account setup

Register: Before using TrailCheck, you must create an account. Click the Settings tab, then enter your email address and the username and password you want to use. Then click Register. That's it!

Log in: TrailCheck will keep you logged in indefinitely, but if you need to log out, you can click Log Out on the Settings page. To log in again later, just enter your username and password; you don't need to enter your email address again. Then click Log In.

Edit account info: If you want to change your email address, username or password, click Edit on the Settings page, then edit the fields as needed. Then click Save, and you will be prompted for your old username and password to verify that it's you.

Select a Trailhead

Before you can view or submit data, you'll need to select a trailhead. From the Parking, Weather or Trail pages, click one of the options in the top toolbar:

select a trailhead

Select a Specific Location

By default, users will submit updates that indicate conditions for the trailhead or the trail as a whole. But users can also submit updates for specific trail locations, which is useful to show weather changes at different elevations, or the locations of hazards. In the top toolbar, click Other to show a map with the locations of these updates. Click a location to view updates within 1/10 mile of that location. You can click Trailhead to return to the default view.

select a location 1
select a location 2

 

Select a Time Period

You can filter the available data by clicking the time options near the top of the screen:

select a time

Reading the Data

display parking
display weather
display trail

Submit an Update

Your participation in submitting updates is what makes TrailCheck useful! For parking and weather, it's best to submit one update when you arrive at a trailhead and another before you leave. This provides twice as much data for other users to work with. You can also submit updates for common landmarks along a trail, such as a summit or ridge, a creek crossing or a picnic meadow. This helps other users prepare for weather differences or hazards. It's best to submit updates in real time so you can remember the conditions accurately, but you can also submit them after your activity ends.

You can submit updates without an Internet connection for trailheads that you have recently viewed. Trailcheck will hold your updates, then check for an Internet connection every two hours and submit them when a connection is availlable. You cannot search for or add trailheads without an Internet connection.

To submit an update, click the Submit button at the bottom of the Parking, Weather or Trail page. You'll see these elements on the submission form:

submit weather