Trail Scout

How are Trail Scout routes reviewed?

Short answer

Every submitted trail must be walked independently by a different scout before it can go anywhere. Their walk is checked against the original — did they reach the checkpoints, does the timing make sense — and then a person decides whether it publishes. There is no automatic publication.

Updated · 3 min read

The second walk

A different scout walks the route and records their own evidence. The service compares the two: whether the checkpoints were actually reached, whether the walk is plausible as a walk, whether the evidence supports the claim.

A scout cannot verify their own trail. That is enforced rather than requested.

Trail Scout's Explore tab, listing trails and missions that need a scout: one route recorded once and marked “This route needs a second verification walk before it can publish”.
Trail Scout's Explore tab, listing trails and missions that need a scout: one route recorded once and marked “This route needs a second verification walk before it can publish”.

The human decision

Passing verification does not publish anything. It puts the trail in front of a person, who approves, asks for changes, or rejects it. That final gate is deliberate and permanent — an automated pipeline that published trails would eventually publish a bad one into somebody's evening walk.

One submission in Trail Scout's review queue, held at ADMIN_REVIEW with its evidence bar not met — access too-few-confirmations, passability not-checked, a hazard reported — and Approve, Changes and Reject left to a person.
One submission in Trail Scout's review queue, held at ADMIN_REVIEW with its evidence bar not met — access too-few-confirmations, passability not-checked, a hazard reported — and Approve, Changes and Reject left to a person.

After publication

Published trails are re-walked periodically to check they still match reality, and anyone can report a problem with one. A trail that turns out to be wrong can be withdrawn quickly.

A trail carrying its verification facts: walked and verified 3 times, last field check 24 August 2026, one unresolved field report, and the points walkers disagree about marked in red rather than averaged away.
A trail carrying its verification facts: walked and verified 3 times, last field check 24 August 2026, one unresolved field report, and the points walkers disagree about marked in red rather than averaged away.

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