Yes, Google maps is bad for hiking. People that don't hike don't know what apps to use or how to recognize difficult trails. We all like to brag about our achievements (I hiked GR-11 in 29 days) but there's very little value in saying "I'm a hiker and I know not to do that". This story is supposed to warn non-hikers.
this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2026
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All you have to do is use your brain to figure out 18km of mountainous terrain is going to take longer than 5 hours.
The linked video at the end of the article shows the trail, and it's for sure an expert level trail, full of dangerous sections. The video says the full trail is only 30km long, but they reccommend 2-3 days, it's full of steep sections, cliffs at the side, false trails leading nowhere, unstable terrain, bears... They were lucky they actually didn't get seriously injured.
There's always a few stories every year about people nearly dying trying to climb mount Snowdon in Wales, and while it's definitely no hill it's also not exactly K2. The problem is that they try and climb a mountain called Snowdon in flip flops and short shorts, because it's warm at the base.
The mountain is called Yr Wyddfa. Its previous name was Snowdon, though the railway kept the old name.
I was ready to poke fun at the UK because 1km is an unimpressive peak but I see that most the trails start pretty much at sea level so that is one hell of a walk. (And half a million people do it every year!)
If you know the alpine mountains, there is something you need to be aware of if you go e.g. hiking in Scotland: Weather is a lot harsher there even at lower altitudes. A peak of 1200 meters can be as challenging as over 2000 meters in Switzerland or Austria. Even at a height that would be an afternoon walk more southern, the wind chill can be really dangerous.
It is said that the atmosphere is thinner there in more northern latitudes, and while this is physically is nonsense, this describes something real.
I'm used to the Pacific Northwest and don't do real mountaineering so the 2-3km+ summits are beyond me. Even the 10 mile (whoops, switching units) glacier hike I did in Alaska only went up about 2000 feet. I prefer long walks over steep ones.
This is a very rare occasion. In the real hiking community, nobody uses Google maps
people who just got into hiking and don't have a good mentor don't know that
I suspect that actually Google maps use in the hiking community is pretty high. Just not amongst experts.
Usually it's only experts who try to tackle these difficult routes.
Here in BC too many tourists do use Google maps and get into trouble. At least these idiots didn't lose their lives, that happens annually.
You don't need to be part of a real community to know this. Google Maps is good to check opening hours and how many reviews an establishment deleted, not for actually getting anywhere.
Where I live it still works fine. It might not be perfect and it does not work great for longer bike tours (If you actually want nice tours and not just the shortest), but if you're going by car or train it's good.
if you’re going by car or train it’s good.
Goole's far superior car navigation app is Waze.
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I don't hike, but my experience with regular walking directions is that Google is regularly wrong…because it overestimates how long a trip will take.
Its directions for driving and public transport (at least where it has cooperation of the local public transport agency, as it does where I live) are excellent.
Cycling directions are the only one where I'd say a normal person's experience is likely to be a bad one, with it regularly taking you on dangerous busy roads rather than nearby quieter streets or bike paths.
So I don't find it particularly surprising at all that someone who isn't a regular hiker would make the mistake of relying on it.
Walking speed is very subjective though. Realistically, hikers never agree on time it takes, and a lot of it comes down more to experience with your speed. In my case, I'm actually probably stronger than many people going uphill.. But, downhill, my feet start to hurt and I get slow quickly.
Gravity walking is the missing link, lift your foot and let gravity pull it down. You'll be going down almost running and it takes barely any energy.
It's best in places without other humans, as you're basically a locomotive and it takes time to slow down
These were pretty steep stairs. And I have plantar fascitis. With a 20kg pack, not much you can do really
I suspect that Google doesn't account for anything. If I had to guess, I'd say it assumes a certain pace as the normal walking pace, and leaves it at that. Elevation, traffic lights, fatigue, and any other factors that might affect it be damned. So its time estimations for a hiking route are going to be a lot worse than its regular walking estimations. And all that's before you account for, as you say, individual differences.
And best of all, it's based on an American average
It keeps sending people up my driveway to a place that doesn't exist. Labels my neighbour's driveway as a road too.
Yeah their maps are pretty shit, often missing paths. I use comaps which is offline open street maps, generally better but can still be lacking. Ordnance survey maps are the best and it isn't even close.
I love OSM because there was an island in the middle of the river in my town and depending on the water height this island gets smaller and bigger, whenever there is a large amount of rain and the river is extremely high the island vanishes. Usually the island disappears from OSM within about 10 minutes and then is re-added when the river drops down to its normal level. Truly Wikipedia levels of pedantic pettiness, and I'm here for it.
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I use comaps which is offline open street maps, generally better but can still be lacking.
Nothing is ever perfect and the quality also depends how active the OSM community is. In general Komoot is the common person's way to access OSM data.
Using ordnance survey maps is often like navigating a minefield. The ordinance survey maps are pretty helpful though.
Most people so rarely need to navigate legislation that Ordinance Survey maps aren't common. Ordnance Survey maps on the other hand are great for navigating the British countryside.
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Why would what I assume is a total novice think to themselves hmm I'm going to find a 5 hour hike for my first time out. So many bad decisions went into what happened.
Once I met a group on a 50km trail where a significant other inserted themselves in a "friends trip" but had never hiked more than a few km and had definitely never done multi day backpacking
... It went about as well as you'd think.
We got part of the story from the couple as we checked on them, and the full story when we caught up with the rest of the group a few hours later.
The group said they'd tried to talk the noob out of it multiple times and invited them on multiple short shakedowns but no...
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Who in their sane mind uses Google Maps for hiking?! That shit can't build a proper pedestrian route inside the city...
Google maps generally does well in Japanese cities, but they're mostly meant to be walkable anyway. It even knows about elevated routes over roads in many cities.
Typical Vancouver cidiot behaviour, nothing surprises me anymore
“Okay Google Maps, literally just stay in ur lane”
May I recommens CoMaps. Offline pro privacy and has trails.
OsmAnd. It can show public hike and bike paths, but UI takes time to get used to.
CoMaps is based off OsmAnd.
I tried it but it has a very steep learning curve
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