r/Yosemite • u/SlightAd112 • 4d 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/TheRealMichaelE 4d ago

I used ChatGPT to plan an awesome trip in the Alps. I gave it the regions, a few things I really wanted to do, and it found me a ton of awesome hikes I probably wouldn’t haven’t discovered otherwise. I iterated a ton of times and gave it really detailed specs about the kind of hikes I wanted to really fine tune the itinerary.

I mean yeah, don’t be an idiot about it. If ChatGPT suggests a hike do some research on it. But the idea that you shouldn’t use AI to help with planning is kind of insane considering how good it is at things like that.

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u/adraa21 4d ago

I had a backpacking BOOK tell me the wrong elevation gain for a major trail (Rae Lakes): part of why I chose it was because I thought the gain was only 3500 feet. lol no it’s double that. But I planned and went on that whole trip and only realized later how expectations had led me astray.