What TRIPS helps you do

TRIPS helps you turn a route into a practical backpacking or hiking plan.

At a high level, it helps you answer questions like:

How hard is this route likely to feel?
How many days should I plan for?
Where should I split the route into camps?
How do pace, fitness assumptions, pack weight, food, sleep, and altitude change the plan?

TRIPS is a planning tool. It is not a medical device, and it cannot guarantee field outcomes.

Weather, terrain conditions, trail quality, off-trail travel, technical obstacles, illness, injury, navigation errors, and day-of decision making can all change what is realistic on the ground.

A good way to use TRIPS

TRIPS works best as an iteration tool.

The usual pattern is:

Load a route.
Start with realistic inputs.
Split the route into days.
Review the outputs.
Adjust the plan and compare versions.

The goal is usually not to find one perfect answer. The goal is to compare plausible versions of the same trip and choose the one that looks most realistic.

What TRIPS does not replace

TRIPS does not replace:

field judgment
routefinding
weather planning
current-condition checks
emergency planning
honest assessment of your own abilities

Use it to improve planning quality, not to outsource judgment.