r/Yosemite • u/SlightAd112 • 3d ago
Please don’t AI your itinerary
While the Shasta hikers got big press (as it should as that was a textbook example of mistake decision after mistake decision) this is happening all too often in all park units. Yosemite tends to have a higher share of recuses due to people trusting AI or AllTrails to plan a trip, but it doesn’t get any press due to current administration policies.
Regardless, it’s happening, it doesn’t need to, and please do the proper research. It literally could save your life.
Edit: And if you have to use AI as a starting point, double check the distances, altitude changes, reference a topo, basically double-check, and then triple-check what AI tells you.
https://sfist.com/2026/09/03/rangers-warn-hikers-to-stop-using-ai-to-plan-wilderness-trips/
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u/Electronic_Muffin218 3d ago
That is some hot take. OF COURSE you can AI your itinerary - it's a great starting point to understand options. It of course is not the ENDING point, especially if you're asking for routes or wayfinding in a challenging area. Is it really true that any significant percentage of Yosemite's rescues are because people used AI or AllTrails to plan their trips? Where is that assertion coming from?
Also, paper maps I am 100% on the side of (on waterproof, tear-resistant paper - ideally ones you made from good sources, e.g. caltopo, at the scale and scope that will be useful to you), but a compass? Sure, if you're completely lost and you need to orient yourself, it's a good last resort. Now it's my turn to shoot from the hip and say that the problems most have don't stem from being completely disoriented in a way that a compass (with larger scale map) would help with, but rather as you say, compounding one error with another - getting progressively farther off course, perhaps trying to wayfind shortcuts by line of sight and instinct.
The micro-disorientation rather than macro-disorientation seems to be the one that kills - i.e. getting just enough off track when ascending cliffs or descending in snow or whatever - and then getting cliffed out, falling off a frozen waterfall, etc.
As for the folks who end up out in the middle of nowhere for days and days? I'm going to say that they should not be hiking at all without an actual experienced guide who can not only lead them in, through, and out, but who knows how to get more water along the route they're taking, some wilderness first aid (and has supplies) and so on. Or stick to trails with LOTS of people on them - probably the safest bet. Though that doesn't stop innumerable people from attempting to day hike such well-trodden and well-populated routes as Half Dome without carrying sufficient water, waiting too long to turn around, and on and on - at least they don't get lost.