How we rank trails
Every trail on Hike Alberta has a trail score from 1 to 100. It decides the order of our best hikes lists and of Recommended in the app. It is our own ranking, worked out from open data, not a rating from hikers.
What goes into it
- Popularity (45%)
- How often the area around the trail is photographed and visited, from two open sources: geotagged photos on Wikimedia Commons and nature observations shared through GBIF, which includes iNaturalist. We count records near the trailhead and the middle of the trail and compare each trail with every other trail in Alberta. Inside cities, where photos say more about the city than the trail, this counts for half.
- Scenery (30%)
- What the trail passes: waterfalls, lakes, summits, glaciers, viewpoints, canyons, hot springs and alpine terrain, from the map data along the route.
- Trail quality (25%)
- Whether the trail is an official park trail, a named and signed route, inside a park, and starts at a trailhead or parking area. Very short trails and connectors score lower, and so do paved commuter paths, long corridors, bike parks and indoor walkways, because these are lists for hikers.
What it is not
The score says nothing about difficulty, and a high score is not a promise of good conditions on the day. Busy trails score well; quiet gems can score lower and are worth finding with the filters. Always check official closures before you go.
Hikers' ratings
When enough hikers have rated a trail on Hike Alberta, their average will be shown next to the trail score, clearly marked as hikers' ratings.