The Toolbox · Free Tool
Trail Adventure Planning Checklist
Plan the day, pack the kit, and leave a trip plan with someone who knows when to worry. Built for single and multi-day efforts, tuned by the conditions you will actually get.
This started as my packing system for mountain days in the southern Alberta Rockies: wind that is its own weather, ridgelines that run dry, bears in every season, and help that can be hours away. It has grown into the full planning pass I do before any objective. Enter the route and the date, and it gives you an honest time estimate, your daylight budget, the water you need for the longest dry stretch, food weight for multi-days, a trip plan you can print and leave behind, and a packing list that adapts to the trip. It covers the Ten Essentials and the mandatory-kit standards of the big mountain ultras, then adds what experience demands.
Important note: the estimates are planning targets built from published methods and my own field craft, not guarantees and not medical advice. Conditions, terrain, and decisions out there are always yours. When the plan and the mountain disagree, the mountain is right.
Trail Planner
Plan the day · pack the kit · leave the plan
Checks Open-Meteo (national weather-service models) when you press the button.
Trip profile
Route
Time = (distance + ascent/100) / rate, the Munter method. Rate presets: hike 4, run 6, fastpack 5. Terrain drags it down.
Timing & conditions
Water & food
Heat adjusts the water carry automatically. Numbers are planning targets, not medical advice.
Moving time
7h 15m
Munter rate 6, rough
Total time
8h 21m
with 15% stops
Finish
15:21
07:00 start
Daylight
--
fetch conditions for sun times
Turnaround
--
needs sunset time
Water carry
1.5 L
longest dry 8 km
Food
2,100 cal
day trip, hourly fueling
Packed
48
Over 3 hours
This plan looks like: Over 6 hours. The packing list is currently set to Over 3 hours.
Trip plan: leave this with someone
The overdue time is what turns a slow day into a rescue that starts on time.
- Activity
- Trail running · day trip · party of 1
- Route
- ____________________
- Route stats
- 25 km · 1200 m ascent
- Alternate route
- ____________________
- Date
- ____________________
- Start / expected finish
- 07:00 start · about 15:21 finish (est. 8h 21m)
- Group names
- ____________________
- Vehicle at trailhead
- ____________________ (optional: make, colour, plate; SAR asks for this)
- Plan held by
- ____________________
- If overdue
- No word by 18:21: try my phone and my satellite messenger. Nothing by 19:21: call local emergency services / police and tell them you hold my trip plan.
Names, vehicle, and contact stay on this device and on paper. The share link never carries them.
Access & rules homework
Every jurisdiction is different. These are the questions; your land manager has the answers.
Route notes
Trip Plan
goshep.run/resources/trail-checklist · leave this sheet with the person named below
| Activity | Trail running · day trip · party of 1 |
| Route | ____________________ |
| Route stats | 25 km · 1200 m ascent |
| Alternate route | ____________________ |
| Date | ____________________ |
| Start / expected finish | 07:00 start · about 15:21 finish (est. 8h 21m) |
| Group names | ____________________ |
| Vehicle at trailhead | ____________________ (optional: make, colour, plate; SAR asks for this) |
| Plan held by | ____________________ |
| If overdue | No word by 18:21: try my phone and my satellite messenger. Nothing by 19:21: call local emergency services / police and tell them you hold my trip plan. |
| Conditions planned for | High 20°C / Low 8°C · Water carry 1.5 L |
Packing List
Trip profile: Over 3 hours
Access & Rules
- Land manager identified, rules read Parks, forest service, provincial, state, or private. Their site is where the closures and rules live.
- Permits and passes sorted Entry, parking, and backcountry permits, bought before you drive. Some areas sell out or run lotteries.
- Fire ban and stove rules checked Bans change weekly in dry months and often cover gas stoves too.
- Group size within area limits Wilderness areas commonly cap group size. If you are over, split up or re-plan.
Pre-Departure Planning
- Route loaded on GPS watch and phone (offline) Download before leaving cell service, not at the trailhead.
- Water sources mapped along route CalTopo or Gaia; ridgelines down here run dry for hours.
- Decision points identified and noted Where you will choose to continue, reroute, or turn around.
- Bailout options reviewed Every long route needs at least one early exit you have actually looked at.
- Trip plan completed and left with emergency contact AdventureSmart standard: destination, route, return time, and the names of everyone in the group.
- Emergency contact knows: trailhead, route, return ETA, action plan Agree on when they call for help, not just that they might.
- All gear tested on a prior training effort Race day and big days are not the place for new kit.
- Pack weight assessed, unnecessary items removed Comprehensive is not the same as heavy. Cut what the day does not need.
- Weather forecast checked (48-hour window) In the southern Rockies, check the wind as carefully as the precipitation.
- Advisories and closures checked Alberta Parks advisories, PLUZ notices, wildlife closures, and trail damage reports.
- Daylight window noted, turnaround time set Sunset minus your slowest pace decides the headlamp math.
- Stream crossings assessed for runoff Spring melt turns easy creeks into real hazards; check flows and plan crossings early in the day.
- Wildfire and air quality checked Summer smoke changes plans; check the air quality index before long efforts.
- Cell coverage checked along the route Know your dead zones before you need help. Coverage map layers or local knowledge.
Movement + Carry
- Running vest or waist pack Sized to carry your full load comfortably.
- Trail running shoes Choose a tread that is compatible with your running surface.
- Trekking poles Poles can reduce leg load roughly 25% on sustained climbs.
- Pole tips / rubber caps Rubber caps for hard surfaces; carbide for trail.
Fuel + Water
- Water bottles or bladder Target 0.5 to 1L carry capacity per hour between sources.
- Water filter Map water sources in advance on CalTopo or Gaia.
- Electrolyte mix or tablets Sodium is critical on efforts over 4 hours.
- Fast-burning fuel (gels/chews) Target 200-300 cal/hr; test brands in training.
- 20% caloric reserve Always carry more than your calculated minimum.
Comfort + Protection
- Waterproof / wind shell Hooded with taped seams. Non-negotiable over 3 hours or in the alpine; southern Rockies wind is its own weather.
- Warm insulating layer Puffy or fleece: stored and accessible, not buried.
- Moisture-wicking base layer Avoid cotton; choose merino or synthetic.
- Hat (sun or warm) Sun hat in summer, toque in the shoulder seasons.
- Sunglasses UV protection, and glare reduction on snow.
- Sunscreen (face + hands) Apply before the start; pack a travel size to reapply.
- Lip balm with SPF Often overlooked, but the damage is real on long days.
- Anti-chafe cream / lube Inner thighs, underarms, nipples, and known hotspots.
- Moisture-wicking socks Avoid cotton; consider Injinji or double-layer thin socks.
- Insect repellent + tick plan Ticks are active on grassy south slopes spring into summer; full-body check after brushy sections.
- High-visibility layer Blaze orange during fall hunting seasons on public land.
- Emergency bivy / space blanket Weighs about 100g and could save your life in an emergency.
Problem-Solving
- Headlamp (primary) Absolute minimum 200 lumens; fresh batteries or charged.
- Spare batteries or power bank Cold kills battery life quickly. Include the charge cables.
- GPS watch (route loaded) Download the route offline before leaving service.
- Offline map (phone: Gaia/CalTopo) Screenshot key waypoints as a failsafe.
- First aid kit Wound care, pain management, trauma bandage, elastic wrap.
- Phone (charged, service checked) Download offline maps; know the last cell service zone.
- Emergency info card ID, health care number, allergies, medications, emergency contact.
- Emergency whistle Usually attached to the vest strap; audible at long range.
- Bear spray Carried accessible, never buried. Know the deployment technique, and carry it in every season.
Printed from goshep.run · Trail Adventure Planning Checklist · Check conditions and advisories before every effort. Estimates are planning targets, not promises.
Prefer the original one-page version? Download the static PDF. A checklist will get the right kit into your pack, but it cannot make the call to turn around, and that is usually the decision that matters most.
Field Guide
The planning pass, explained
The judgments behind the math, from years of planning mountain days for myself and the athletes I coach.
The trip plan is the safety system
Gear keeps you comfortable while you wait. The trip plan is what shortens the wait. Search and rescue starts from what your person can tell them: where you went, which way, who with, what you carried, and when you were due back. The overdue time matters most, so set it honestly: expected finish plus a buffer you can actually live with. Then respect the deal you made. If you finish early, check in early, because the plan only works if your person can trust it.
Estimate time like you mean it
The Munter method has guided alpine timing for decades: every kilometre is a unit, every 100 metres of climbing is another, and your rate says how many units you clear in an hour. Four is a fit hiker, six is a trail runner moving with purpose, five is a loaded fastpacker. Technical ground drags everyone down, which is why the terrain setting cuts the rate rather than pretending fitness solves scrambling. Calibrate on a route you know and the number becomes yours. And build the turnaround habit: on an out-and-back, the time to turn around is set before you start, not negotiated with a summit in sight.
Water is a route problem
You do not carry water for the whole day; you carry it for the longest stretch without a refill. Map your sources, then ask the harder question: will that little stream still run in September? Down here the ridgelines go dry for hours, and the difference between a good day and a grim one is usually one extra flask at the right cache point. Heat moves the math more than people expect, so the planner scales your carry with the day’s high. Treat everything you drink out there; the filter weighs less than the week you would lose to giardia.
Food math for multi-days
The multi-day trap is packing your fears. Guides who feed hundreds of clients land on 2,250 to 2,750 calories a day for most bodies, carried as dense food around 125 calories an ounce: nuts, nut butters, olive oil in the dinners, real cheese, chocolate. At that density three days of food is under two kilograms. Structure beats willpower out there: a proper breakfast, a snack every hour or two, a dinner worth looking forward to. If the bag weighs more than the math says, you packed doubt, and doubt is heavy.
Common Questions
Trip planning basics
Planning something bigger than a checklist can hold? A first traverse, a fastpack through country you have never seen, an FKT build? That is what Big Project Advisory is for, and a single Summit Session pressure-tests any plan this page produces.
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