How I keep my AI-built hiking guides accurate, season to season
Before a hiking guide of mine goes on sale, a second AI checks it against official sources. Each season the dated facts are checked again, free for buyers.
I make long hiking films for YouTube, and this fall I turned the routes into hiking guides, built with AI from my own films, GPS tracks and notes. How they're made is in an earlier article. This one is about the part that never ends: keeping them right.
My trip doesn't change. The world around it does: huts move their booking dates, buses get winter timetables, bridges close. So every guide gets checked before it goes on sale and again each season.
How the check works
- An independent audit. A separate Claude session that didn't write the guide checks every fact that can change against official sources: parks, huts, ferries, buses, emergency services. It also checks numbers against my GPS and quotes against my films. New guides get a second opinion from Gemini too.
- Every source re-opened. For every serious finding, the main Claude session opens the official source itself before changing a line.
- Fixed, or held for me. Plain facts get fixed. My opinions or story, a price, removing a section, or sources that disagree come to me instead.
- Every season, again. The time-sensitive facts are checked and audited again, then a new edition goes out.
Since September 30, no guide goes on sale without passing the audit, so I don't have to read every guide line by line. The jobs live in KraigOS, the database we built to run my work, as tasks Claude picks up on its own.
Kesugi Ridge: a park report one day old
The Kesugi Ridge guide follows my 2020 film, two days on the ridge above Denali State Park in Alaska, and went on sale on October 10.
The draft said the trail looked open. Its source was a state parks status page last updated September 17. The audit, on the morning of October 10, found a newer one: Alaska State Parks' Denali State Park conditions report, dated October 9, linked from its park condition reports page. It changed several things:
- Snow on top of the ridge, with muddy sections and cooler temperatures on the trails.
- K'esugi Ken Campground closed for the season. The draft had listed it as open.
- More facilities closing October 19, including Byers Lake Campground's loops.
- The Outlet Bridge at Byers Lake closed, so the Byers Lake Loop, one of the guide's shorter options, can't be walked as a loop for now. My route wasn't affected.
- Upper Troublesome Creek, the far south end, now a wilderness route where the parks advise against travel.
Claude re-read the park report itself before fixing anything. The audit also found GPS distances a little off and two lines that went further than what I'd actually said, and Gemini caught that my film's title card says "30 mile hike," not "30 miles." Thirteen findings in all, every one fixed, and the guide went on sale that morning.
Three 2027 editions in one morning
On October 11, Claude refreshed three of the most popular guides for the 2027 season, and a second, independent session checked every change. I said yes, and all three were live by mid-morning.
Alta Via 1: hut bookings and buses
The Alta Via 1 guide follows my film of seven days hut to hut through the Dolomites. Hut booking dates moved:
- Rifugio Vazzoler moved its 2027 booking day to November 1, 2026 (the hut's site).
- Rifugio Carestiato opens 2027 bookings on November 2, online only (its site).
- Rifugio Coldai had no 2027 date posted as of October 11 (its site), so the guide now says that instead of mid-October.
The bus from La Pissa, where the trail ends, to Belluno got a revised winter timetable from October 12, with a new weekday evening bus and still none on Sundays (Dolomiti Bus timetable).
At the start, the Cortina Express bus from Venice airport moved its Cortina stop to Piazzale Revis on October 1 (Cortina Express notice). My own line about a "2-hour FlixBus" stayed as I said it.
Hornstrandir: an emergency number
The Hornstrandir guide covers my four days alone in Iceland's Hornstrandir Nature Reserve, where there's almost no phone signal. The most important fix was small. The guide's number for calling Iceland's emergency line from a satellite phone came from SafeTravel's hiking page. The emergency line's own site, 112.is, says that number is for calling from abroad and lists a different one for satellite phones. When two sources disagree, the one that runs the service wins.
The rest:
- The boats. There are no roads in the reserve. None of the three boat companies from Ísafjörður (Borea, Hornstrandaferðir and West Tours) had posted 2027 timetables by October 11, and the guide says so, with the date.
- Flights. A state contract now keeps Icelandair's flights to Ísafjörður until at least August 2030.
- Polar bears. A new line: very rare, but one came ashore in the reserve's Jökulfirðir in September 2024. Call 112.
Lofoten: a closed hut and the camping rules
The Lofoten guide follows my six days across Norway's Lofoten Islands this summer.
- Munkebu, the small red hut I walked past on Day 2, was still listed as closed on October 11 (its page on ut.no), so the guide says to check it for your dates.
- Timetables. The summer 2027 boat timetables aren't out yet; the Bodø to Moskenes ferry has only its winter one posted (Torghatten).
- The no-tent zones. The second check read the regulation itself (Lovdata) and found two zones near Svolvær are only partly closed to tents, not whole zones.
- Fires. The camping rules now include Norway's general fire ban, April 15 to September 15 (Visit Lofoten).
How I plan my own trips, in my own words
I usually do a lot of research on a trail, but it's hard to find specific information about the places you stay. Usually I can just see the type, whether it's a campsite, a hut or a refuge, and maybe a photo or two. So I often go into these hikes completely blind, and I'm usually pleasantly surprised. Over the years I've come to understand the different kinds of huts: what to expect at different elevations and from where they sit on the map. I read the AllTrails map to get a sense of what the experience will be like. Now I know that if I'm sleeping in a valley, sunrise and sunset will probably be lackluster compared to a more remote hut higher up, on the edge of a cliff or on a peak, where the light keeps hitting me until the sun goes down or after it comes up. When I'm after good views and good footage for a film, I plan around those sunrise and sunset shots.
What happens when nothing is known yet
A lot of 2027 isn't published in October. The rule is to never guess. The guide keeps the last confirmed facts with their year, and where something isn't out yet it says so with the date it was checked. Each refresh also ends with a watch list, like Lofoten's summer timetables and whether Munkebu opens. Those become the next check. Nothing in these three refreshes needed me, so nothing was held.
Free updates for buyers
Every guide's cover now carries its edition, like "2027 season edition, updated October 2026". If you've already bought a guide, the new edition comes to your download link for free, as every guide page says next to the buy button.
What I learned, and what's next
Official sources update quietly: a park report one day old changed half a page. A second AI that didn't write the guide, made to show its source, catches what the first one misses, and re-opening that source before a fix keeps the auditor honest too.
Next: checking the dates on each watch list as they're published, and the same 2027 refresh for more of the guides.
FAQ
Who checks the guides, a person or AI?
AI. A separate Claude session that didn't write the guide audits it against official sources, and new guides also get a pass from Google's Gemini. Anything about my opinions, my story or a price comes back to me.
What does the audit check?
Anything that can change: opening dates, hut bookings, timetables, closures, rules, emergency numbers. It also checks distances and climbing against my GPS and every quote against my films.
How often are guides updated?
Before a new season, starting with the most popular guides. Hornstrandir, Alta Via 1 and Lofoten got their 2027 editions on October 11, 2026.
I already bought a guide. Do I get the new edition?
Yes, free. New editions come to the same download link.
How do I know how current my guide is?
The edition is on the cover, and time-sensitive facts are dated in the text. Each guide also has a "Before you go" list of things to check close to your trip.
What if something isn't announced yet?
The guide says so, with the date it was checked, instead of guessing.