About HikerAlert

In operation since 2012, HikerAlert is a Web-based service that will automatically notify your emergency contacts (your friends and family) if you don't check in from an outdoor trip or other event by your scheduled return time.

HikerAlert was designed to increase the probability of a positive outcome for a lost or injured person in a wilderness environment, by reducing the notification and response time of search-and-rescue authorities. HikerAlert can't prevent accidents from happening, but it can be a true lifesaver when they do.

Because HikerAlert is Web-based, rather than installed on your mobile phone, you'll never need to download or install updates, and you can use it on any device, including iPhones, Android phones, Windows phones and tablets. You can also manage your trips on your desktop or laptop computer before you head out the door and leave your phone at home. HikerAlert will still do its job.

Key Features

  • Robust and User-Friendly Interface allows you to easily record the critical information search & rescue professionals would need to find you as quickly as possible, including details about yourself, your planned trails, the vehicle you're driving and where it's parked, your kids and pets along with you, the survival equipment you're carrying and more. When the time comes to hit the trail, you can quickly create a trip report by simply clicking a few checkboxes and selecting your departure and return times. For overnight trips, you can also record a list of your planned campsites.
  • 2-way International Text Messaging System is used to automatically send to you alert messages and to receive your status reports. Use HikerAlert near home or while abroad in over 150 countries.
  • Social Network allows you to connect with your regular hiking partners, whose own vehicles, kids, dogs and emergency contacts are automatically merged into your trip reports.
  • In the case of an actual alert, HikerAlert will generate and provide a comprehensive, secure and easy-to-read report of your trip to your friends and family.

Privacy Concerns?

For those of you concerned about providing too much of your personal information, we understand. There's a fine balance between providing enough information to help in a wilderness emergency situation and keeping yourself safe and secure online. To help you decide about using HikerAlert before you pay the registration fee, below is a complete list of required/mandatory data fields, by account section, for creating a trip report.

HikerAlert will never share any of this information with a 3rd-party other than your designated emergency contacts in the case of an emergency.

About Me:

  • First Name, Last Name, Email Address, Mobile Phone Number. (Your mobile number is necessary for HikerAlert to send you safety check messages.)
  • Your Medical History is not required and should only be entered if it would be pertinent to a wilderness rescue.

My Vehicles:

The entry of your vehicle information is entirely optional. However, if you enter any information at all, then we do require this minimum-usable amount of information.

  • Year, Manufacturer, Model, Color
  • Your License Plate Number is not required.

My Dogs:

The entry of your dog information is entirely optional. However, if you enter any information at all, then we do require this minimum-usable amount of information.

  • Name, Breed, Color/Markings

My Emergency Contacts:

  • First Name, Last Name, Email Address, Mobile Phone Number

My Trails:

  • Trail Name/Number, Route Type, Starting Trailhead Name, Destination(s)/Objective(s), Nearest Town, State and Country

My Trips:

  • Trail Name/Number (as entered under your My Trails section), Start Date/Time, End Date/Time, Alert Delay Time Period, Emergency Contact(s) (as entered under your My Emergency Contacts section)