Custom backpacking trip planning

Twenty browser tabs at eleven at night

Most trip planning happens in twenty browser tabs at eleven at night. A forum post from 2017, a permit page that will not load, a trip report that skips the part you actually needed, and a nagging sense that you have picked the wrong basin, the wrong week, or the wrong number of miles for day one.

We do that part for you.

Two planners, decades in the backcountry

  • Harmen Hoek

    An adventurous filmmaker who has hiked in the sandstone canyons of Wadi Rum, under the snow-capped granite of Patagonia, across Mongolia, Japan and the Alps, and on dozens of routes through the American West. He has walked what he writes about, and he knows what mile fourteen feels like.

  • Alex Schumann

    Decades of backpacking in the United States, and a genuine obsession with the planning itself. Permits, mileage, water carries, and the campsite two hundred feet above the lake that catches the last light. Over the past year he has planned several of Harmen's own trips, including the Olympic traverse that turned out to be the best week of his year.
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The process

How it works

Four steps, one call, and a package that is yours. Reserve a slot today for a trip next summer, and think about nothing until we ring.

1

Pick your trip and reserve a slot

Choose where you want to go, then reserve one of our open planning slots: a five day window during which we will schedule your call. Reserve months ahead if you like. You do not have to be ready to plan the trip today, and you do not have to have it figured out at all. That is our job.

Takes five minutes

2

We talk it through, when you are ready

During your slot, one of us gets on the phone with you for about an hour, at a time that suits you. What you have done before, what you want out of this trip, how far you actually want to walk, whether you want solitude or a view you have seen in photographs, what you are nervous about. We will be honest if what you are asking for is not realistic, and we will tell you what is.

About an hour, inside your slot

3

We get to work

We design a route that fits you and the terrain, work out the permits and how to get them, choose the campsites, build the maps and elevation profiles, and write it all up.

The two weeks after your call

4

Your package arrives, guaranteed within two weeks

Two weeks after your call at the latest, everything lands in your inbox: your custom trip guidebook, a destination handbook for the region, a shared Google Map, and GPX files for your watch or phone. Then we stay on email with you until you are at the trailhead.

Guaranteed within two weeks of the call

What you get

  • Your custom trip guidebook

    Written for you, for your route, for your dates. Why we designed it this way, a full route description, then a day by day itinerary: mileage, elevation gain, maps, elevation profiles, what to expect underfoot, where the water is, where to camp and why, side trips worth the extra hour, and exactly which permits to get and when they open.

  • Your destination handbook

    Everything around the hike. Weather and season, how to get there, whether you need a car and where to rent one, where to sleep the night before and the night after, the nearest resupply and the nearest decent meal, what else is worth seeing while you are in the area, and the local rules and hazards nobody tells you about.

  • A shared Google Map

    Every campsite, trailhead, water source, parking area, permit office and side trip, pinned and labelled. Open it on your phone before you lose signal.

  • GPX files

    The full route plus each day's segment, ready for Gaia, CalTopo, onX or your watch. Plus email support from us right up until you are at the trailhead.
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Look inside a real one

Here is the full package we would build for an eight-day traverse of Olympic National Park: the custom guidebook alongside the Olympic destination handbook. Yours would look like this, with your name on it and your route inside.

Download the sample

Reserve a planning slot

Pick your trip, reserve your slot

We open a limited number of planning slots at a time. Reserve one now, have the call when you are actually ready to think about the trip, and your finished plan is guaranteed within two weeks of that call.

1. Choose your trip
2. Choose your planning slot

A slot is a five day window. We schedule your call inside it, at an hour that suits you, and your finished plan is guaranteed within two weeks of that call.

About you
The details
Your experience
6. Add-ons

Optional. You can also add any of these later, right up until we start work.

Pick a planning slot to continue

Paid in full when you reserve. Full refund if you cancel before your call. After the call we have started work, so the fee is non-refundable, but you can move your slot once at no charge.

Before you book

Questions

Can you guarantee we get the permit?

No, and be suspicious of anyone who says they can. What we can do is know exactly when each permit opens, which entry points have the best odds, and what the plan B route is if the lottery does not go your way. Your guidebook includes that plan B.

How far ahead should I reserve a slot?

As far ahead as you like. That is the point of reserving a slot rather than booking a trip: you can lock one in this week for a trip next August, and have the call in March when you are actually in the mood to plan it. For the planning itself, aim for a call at least four months before your trip dates, and six months for lottery parks like the Enchantments, Glacier, Grand Canyon and Mount Whitney, so we can plan around the lottery dates rather than after them.

How long until I get my plan?

Guaranteed within two weeks of your call. Every time. That is the whole reason we limit how many slots we open.

Why are there so few slots?

Because there are two of us, and a plan done properly takes a fortnight of real work. We would rather open a handful of slots we can honour than take twenty bookings and deliver you something generic. When a batch sells out, the next one opens as soon as we know we have the time.

What if I need to move my slot?

Tell us before your call and we will move you to the next open slot once, at no charge. Life happens, and a call you are not ready for is a waste of both our time.

What if I have never done a multi-day hike?

Then say so on the call. We plan trips for the person, not for the internet. A first trip with a six mile day and a lake to swim in is a better trip than a fourteen mile day you resent.

Do you guide the trip too?

No. We plan it. You walk it. That is the point.

Can you plan for a group?

Yes. Tell us the size and the range of fitness in the group on the form, because it changes the route.

Do you plan outside the US?

Sometimes. Harmen has hiked across Europe, Patagonia, the Middle East and Asia. Ask, and we will tell you honestly whether we know the place well enough to charge you for it.

How is this different from buying one of Harmen's guides?

The guides in the shop are routes we love, written for anybody. This is a route designed for you, on your dates, at your pace, with your permits.

Reserve the slot. Think about it later.

Pick your trip, reserve a planning slot, and have the call when you are ready. Your finished plan follows two weeks later.

See available slots