thread from app user below. think there is still some confusion/usability issues over the Forest/Beach tab in general and/or should reconsider how to handle the unique case of Owen Pt inland route for 2025.
APP_USER:
Wondering if I could provide some feedback?
We ended up doing the forest route between Camper and Thrasher and got a bit confused on the app around distances. Understandably it felt like the app commentary on that section was more directed to Owen’s Point than the Forest and truthfully we probably were very tired but the summary page shows Thrasher at km 69 where as the map and description shows it at km 70 and so
we got confused and a bit concerned over being lost after km 69 when we didn’t see the turn off - I am sure this is partly due to being tired and we were able to get it all straightened via the Parks Canada map etc but I thought I would mention incase there was a way to deselect Owen’s Point and show the true kms being at the 70km mark + the 1 lk down the mountain into Thrasher? i.e we thought we would be hiking 7k and in fact I think it was really 9k.. Hopefully that makes sense and like I said - app was amazingly helpful - just a suggestion for future reference!
thank you again!
MY REPLY:
Thanks for the awesome feedback. Makes complete sense, and that is definitely a weak-spot in the App right now. The App doesn’t have a way for you to tell it if you’re taking Forest vs Beach and the Camper->Thrasher pages are indeed focused most around the more popular Owen Point route.
I hadn’t even considered how the distances/summary section looked as a SOBO trip. I think a lot of folks that do the forest are NOBO and going from Gordon->Camper in one day, so don’t go down to Thrasher. Obviously when you go SOBO Camper->Thrasher - you do indeed backtrack that extra 1km which adds to your distance, so the summary distances are incorrect.
I’m curious if you found the ‘forest’ trail descriptions useful. They are the bandaid that we came up with to try and fix this weak-spot, even though the title of the sections are Camper->Owen and Owen->Thrasher, when you’re on those sections the Forest description is really describing Camper->Beach-AccessB and Beach-AccessB->Thrasher via the inland path. (See photo) I have heard from a few people that didn’t even realize the Beach/Forest things were tabs that changed the description - so curious if that was clear at least or you didn’t notice that also.
I had a few early versions of the App that Lance and I played with where the map and names of the sections would change dynamically based on the Forest/Beach tab but it was really jarring/confusing. Something I hope to pick up again this winter and try and fix before next season.
APP_USER:
We didn’t realize there was a tabs in the description until someone showed us it at Thrasher.
but then again That could be that we were tired from hiking to Camper - while we read things before we left for wct- we only really studied the trail descriptions the night before we hiked them… and didn’t realize that the forest has a description.
since the Beach is the default maybe it would help to say ‘select Forest’ to read its description? and note the additional KMs?
We actually didn’t read the section from Owen Point to Thrasher during our hike as we didn’t realize there was a forest tab and felt it didn’t relate to us…
But once we saw there were tabs at camp we note that the description was pretty accurate especially The 1k junction from the turnoff to the campsite.
hope that helps!
thread from app user below. think there is still some confusion/usability issues over the Forest/Beach tab in general and/or should reconsider how to handle the unique case of Owen Pt inland route for 2025.
APP_USER: Wondering if I could provide some feedback? We ended up doing the forest route between Camper and Thrasher and got a bit confused on the app around distances. Understandably it felt like the app commentary on that section was more directed to Owen’s Point than the Forest and truthfully we probably were very tired but the summary page shows Thrasher at km 69 where as the map and description shows it at km 70 and so we got confused and a bit concerned over being lost after km 69 when we didn’t see the turn off - I am sure this is partly due to being tired and we were able to get it all straightened via the Parks Canada map etc but I thought I would mention incase there was a way to deselect Owen’s Point and show the true kms being at the 70km mark + the 1 lk down the mountain into Thrasher? i.e we thought we would be hiking 7k and in fact I think it was really 9k.. Hopefully that makes sense and like I said - app was amazingly helpful - just a suggestion for future reference!
thank you again!
MY REPLY: Thanks for the awesome feedback. Makes complete sense, and that is definitely a weak-spot in the App right now. The App doesn’t have a way for you to tell it if you’re taking Forest vs Beach and the Camper->Thrasher pages are indeed focused most around the more popular Owen Point route.
I hadn’t even considered how the distances/summary section looked as a SOBO trip. I think a lot of folks that do the forest are NOBO and going from Gordon->Camper in one day, so don’t go down to Thrasher. Obviously when you go SOBO Camper->Thrasher - you do indeed backtrack that extra 1km which adds to your distance, so the summary distances are incorrect.
I’m curious if you found the ‘forest’ trail descriptions useful. They are the bandaid that we came up with to try and fix this weak-spot, even though the title of the sections are Camper->Owen and Owen->Thrasher, when you’re on those sections the Forest description is really describing Camper->Beach-AccessB and Beach-AccessB->Thrasher via the inland path. (See photo) I have heard from a few people that didn’t even realize the Beach/Forest things were tabs that changed the description - so curious if that was clear at least or you didn’t notice that also.
I had a few early versions of the App that Lance and I played with where the map and names of the sections would change dynamically based on the Forest/Beach tab but it was really jarring/confusing. Something I hope to pick up again this winter and try and fix before next season.
APP_USER: We didn’t realize there was a tabs in the description until someone showed us it at Thrasher.
but then again That could be that we were tired from hiking to Camper - while we read things before we left for wct- we only really studied the trail descriptions the night before we hiked them… and didn’t realize that the forest has a description. since the Beach is the default maybe it would help to say ‘select Forest’ to read its description? and note the additional KMs?
We actually didn’t read the section from Owen Point to Thrasher during our hike as we didn’t realize there was a forest tab and felt it didn’t relate to us…
But once we saw there were tabs at camp we note that the description was pretty accurate especially The 1k junction from the turnoff to the campsite. hope that helps!