Trip planning – a cool tool?
One of the challenges of organising a multi day hiking or bushwalking trip is sharing information between members of the party. Sometimes we walk with people from other States or even Countries, so clear and easy communication is important.
For example,
- Who is taking the stove?
- Who has a good set of pots?
- Who is organising the fuel or gas canisters?
- What meals will we eat?
- Who has the first aid kit?
One way we have solved this problem is to use Google Docs to create a shared spreadsheet. This means that anyone who has access to email can collaborate and update the information and it is immediately available for the rest of the group.
The best part is there is only one version of the list, keeping it stored in one place. (This is commonly called “The Cloud”)
Below is an example of a plan using Google Docs. This is Googles version of a spreadsheet and is quite simple to use. Alternatively, you can create a plain “Word” type document.
Sample plan - note new name and "private"
We won’t go into detail here on how to set it up but at LEAST one person needs to have a Gmail / Google account. The screenshot below show how to share the Google Doc with others. If they don’t have a Gmail account, it is a bit trickier but worth an experiment……
We are currently using this system to coordinate a bushwalking trip , once you get the knack of it, it works really well and you only have one version of your list.
How do you coordinate “who takes what” when you are hiking with a group?
Have you even had problems when someone was responsible for a shared piece of gear and they forgot it?
Leave us a comment below, it’s easy!
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Frank Wall, EQUIPnTRIP. EQUIPnTRIP said: RT @frank_in_oz: Trip planning – a cool tool? http://goo.gl/fb/vuhxK [...]
Awesome idea guys! Might give it a try for the next hiking or camping trip I plan
What an awesome idea. I’m usually the one who gets stuck coordinating but this would be a very useful tool so others took more responsible for
the planning. I will bookmark this page & try it on the next trip.
Great idea! I use google docs for all kinds of things, but this hadn’t occured to me. Thanks for the tip.
[...] In this article Frank shares most of an email he sent to a small group of friends he is walking the Overland Track with this week. It has been long distance planning as we live around Australia. We are meeting in Launceston so have had to communicate by email and Google Docs online. [...]
[...] In this article Frank shares most of an email he sent to a small group of friends he is walking the Overland Track with this week. It has been long distance planning as we live around Australia. We are meeting in Launceston so have had to communicate by email and Google Docs online. [...]