Pack Hiker is a shared planner for multi-day hikes: one place for your group's itinerary, routes and maps, food, gear, expenses and safety details. Everything on this page takes about ten minutes.
Create Your Account
Register with your name and email, then click the verification link we email you. That's it — no credit card, and during the beta every account has full Pro access.
Tip: Pack Hiker detects your timezone automatically. You can change it any time in Your profile — it's used for things like timestamps in notification emails.
The Dashboard
After logging in you land on your dashboard: every hike you own or have joined, plus any pending invites waiting for a yes. Each hike card shows the dates (or duration, if dates aren't locked in yet) and your pack.
Start A Hike
Click New Hike and give it a name. You can either:
- Set dates — a start and end date, or
- Plan by duration — just say how many days. Days show as "Day 1, Day 2, …" until the group locks in real dates, and everything you plan shifts onto the calendar automatically when you do. See Building your itinerary.
Pick the hike's currency (used for expenses) and, if you like, a background image to give the hike its own look.
Invite Your Pack
From the hike's Overview tab, invite people by email. Each invite carries a permission level — most hikers want Full edit so everyone can contribute. Friends who aren't on Pack Hiker (or don't want to be) can still be part of the plan as Pack Shadows — placeholder members you manage on their behalf. More in Members, roles & Pack Shadows.
Find Your Way Around
Inside a hike, tabs along the top cover each part of the plan:
- Overview — dates, description, links, members, and a map of everything planned
- Itinerary — the day-by-day plan: camps, travel, activities and daily routes
- Section Planner — split one long track into day-sized sections
- Food — personal meal plans and shared food drops
- Expenses — who paid what, and how to settle up
- Gear — the group gear list and your packing status
- Emergency — emergency contacts, PLBs, the safety brief and post-hike check-in
- Chat — hike chat with the whole pack
A good order for a new hike: upload your route on the Overview, rough out the Itinerary, then let food, gear and expenses fill in as the trip takes shape. When everything's ready, set up the safety side — it matters most: the safety brief and post-hike check-in.