Advertorial – TrailCalendar.com: A Free Community Resource for Planning and Discussing the Outdoors

Sure, it can sometimes be fun to hike alone. But it’s often much more fun when you join up with others on the trail. At least, that’s the thinking behind a new website, Trail Calendar (http://www.trailcalendar.com).

Trail Calendar is a free community resource for planning and discussing outdoor activities with enthusiasts in your area. One unique thing about the site is its simplicity. Unlike some larger sites, there’s no need to navigate to the section for outdoor activities because the entire site is dedicate only to outdoor activities.

When you visit the site, you immediately see all the activities planned in your area for the current month in a calendar format. (The only exception is on your very first visit when you are redirected to a page where you select your location.) You don’t need to log in to see these activities. In fact, you don’t even need an account. However, if you want to post your own activities or comments, a free account is required in order to prevent abuse of the system.

All activities are organized into the following categories: hiking, running, cycling, skiing, snowshoeing, rock climbing, water sports, gliding, camping, trail care, and social/miscellaneous activities. You can easily filter the calendar to show only those categories that interest you.

Users can RSVP to indicate they plan to join an activity. They can also comment on an activity. Features planned in the near future include discussion forums and groups, which would allow for private activities and discussions.

Note that this is still a new site. Although all the supported locations were added in response to user requests, many of those locations are not yet active. To become a really great resource, the site depends on the outdoor enthusiasts that use it. If people in your area would benefit from a resource like this, the best thing you can do is post your activities and tell your friends to do the same.

If you have your own site that lists your own outdoor activities, Trail Calendar even has the ability to import a custom feed so that your activities are automatically displayed on the Trail Calendar site.

Trail Calendar is very interested in working with clubs and people organizing outdoor activities. They are very open to suggestions about how to design the site to make it as useful as possible. And since the site is still new, there’s still time to be able to influence some of their design decisions. Just use the contact form on the site to reach them.

Trail Calendar has also prepared a short introductory video that further explains what the site is all about. That video can be viewed athttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wR3fsdB68M.

If you are looking to meet other people in your area that share your passion for outdoor activities, it might just be worth stopping by Trail Calendar and posting your next outdoor activity.

***The following advertorial was paid for by TrailCalendar.com***