If you love going on adventures and exploring outdoors, then Trail See is an absolute must have.

 I had the pleasure of speaking with founder Dave Sick, and he provided some great insight into why he created it, and his plans for the future. Check out the interview below:

Founder Dave Sick

What was the inspiration behind Trail See?

I moved around a lot when I was a kid,  and always loved being outdoors and hiking and trying to find Trails. But it was always sort of an insider scoop to try and find the fun trails to hike or bike.

Almost 20 years ago I moved out to California to the bay area, but it was still an insiders network. You might be able to find the start of a trail, but would maybe get lost and end up in someone’s backyard or down some steep area that you’re gonna have to hike out of. I knew there was always a better way, and with the advent of the iPhone and online mapping, I was kind of waiting for Google or Strava to kind of tackle this problem.

But nobody really came up with something to give you good directions. I moved to Tahoe 8 years ago, and this place is just a mecca of trails, but with the same system. You have to go on a hike with someone, or go on a mountain bike ride with someone, and again you wouldn’t be able to find your trails.

The tipping point was about 2.5 years ago, I was biking a new trail myself, and was just about to the point where I was going to turn around and go back because I couldn’t make out the last part of the trail. There was a lady with a printed map, an app, and written directions from an email. And she said “I have all this stuff, and I have no idea where I am”. And I’m like “And neither do I”.

I figured that the problem was trail maps mostly have sort of the main path that people go, but as trails evolve over time, there are all these different intersections. And it was really at the intersection where you would get lost. Because you would see one on the map, but it may be the third or fourth one, and there are really three or four more that really aren’t documented.

So creating an app that would actually, you know, every time you hit an intersection, whether it was a legal or illegal trail you’d know I have to go straight, right, or whatever. And actually creating an app that would allow you to create those directions, as well as allow you to play them back more like navigation, gps style for cars, and I worked with Flatstack to build that test version.

I had some people do some of the trails that took me years to figure out, and they were able to do them the first time no problem, and didn’t get lost. It kind of demystifies trails. People that aren’t good with directions, it works well for them. It kind of goes back to the tagline, “explore with confidence”. The other side objective was to allow you to not just do the same old trail that’s close by, or the one you’ve memorized. You can actually go and see all that the world has to offer with all of these great new trails. So that’s the background, and sort of the emphasis of why I tried to put this app out there.

What other areas are coming next, and how do you plan on expanding?

So we kind of finished the app at the beginning of winter, and that’s when the trail season sort of quiets down. My plan is to really work with some different contractors to help me get better coverage, kind of in the greater Lake Tahoe area. Which will have Reno, south Lake Tahoe, and maybe some of the foothills, and really try to sort of get that model of how much is it going to cost me to get good coverage.

And then I’m going to do some marketing and user generated trails. And I added advertising and subscriptions to test all of that out. So I’m going to do a very targeted pilot in the greater lake Tahoe/Reno area. And I’m probably going to add one more town outside of that area, but I haven’t quite figured out where that’s going to be.

But it will probably be somewhere out west, maybe southern California, or Arizona, something like that. Just to kind of test the model outside of my home base. I’m really just seeing if i can profitably expand coverage, that also sustains the cost to get that out there.

Do you think user generated trails are going to be what generates the fastest expansion, or will it be the other way - working with contractors to get some better coverage that way?

Hopefully they have Trail See

I’m not totally sure, I’ve got to test that out. In a perfect world I’d like it to be all user generated content, but one of the failures of some of the current solutions, is that it’s really hard to get good quality control. I mean you’ve even seen it with Amazon and Yelp with their reviews. There’s a lot of reviews out there, but there’s only a few that are really worth it.

So I want to strike that balance between lots of trails, and really good trails. And I want to be known for having the top 10, 20 trails in an area that are accurate and worth doing. I’m gonna use marketing to try and build my user base. I’m currently approving all the trails that go to be publicly shared. But I think I just have to test that out to see  what will work.

What happens if you’re in a remote area that doesn’t have cell service? Will Trail See still work?

From the beginning, actually when I ran into that lady, we were in an area with no cell coverage. And the beauty of iOS is you have GPS, which will work without cell service. So you can actually record a trail that doesn’t have cell service, because GPS is all based on satellites, which can pretty much be accessed anywhere.

And then once you unlock a trail, that stores the map locally on your phone, so when you’re actually playing back directions that will also work without cell service. And I’ve definitely tested that extensively in the Tahoe area.

What’s your favorite trail you’ve ever been on. Where was it, and why was it your favorite?

Well that’s a good question. What’s actually been one of the side effects of testing out Trail See and building out that initial database is trying new trails. And going to areas that I haven’t been before, so that I can provide some of those maps for my users.

It’s kind of almost shameful that I live in Tahoe, and one of the most famous trails out there is a trail called the Tahoe Rim Trail. That one goes all the way around the lake. But there’s one particular section called the Flume Trail, which is just a drop dead gorgeous trail, about 2000 feet above Lake Tahoe with sweeping views. It was also right above where they filmed Bonanza back in the day. It’s just an amazing trail with beautiful views.

What have you enjoyed most about working with FlatStack?

I’d have to say your speed. What sort of won picking you over everyone else was you guys are just really quick at sort of taking a concept and making it a reality. It’s been true from the little 20 hour demo app that allowed me to sort of test the concept, to really addressing some of the UI challenges, as well as knocking out bugs. I think your quickness to make ideas a reality is probably the most gratifying. And you’re definitely all friendly, professional people as well. So those two things have been the best.

Written by @mccauley_jay