Built by a Peak Bagger Who Got Tired of Checking 10 Weather Sites

I kept reading the same stories. Rescues on Franconia Ridge, hypothermia on Washington, hikers airlifted off the Bonds. News reports, rescue logs, books by local authors. The details changed, but the mistakes were always the same.

Then I started thinking about how fragmented hiking information is. The NWS forecast covers the valleys. Mount Washington Observatory data covers one summit. Trip reports are scattered across Facebook groups and buried in Reddit threads. USGS stream gauges are useful but hard to interpret. To plan one safe hike, you'd need to cross-reference five or six different sources, and most hikers don't even know they exist.

I've spent 20+ years in tech: network engineering, server infrastructure, and now AI implementation. I hiked 800 miles of the AT with my dog Gus in 2013 and finished the NH 48. I knew we could do better.

So I built HikerNerd. One place where an AI synthesizes weather data, snowpack reports, trip reports, and terrain models into a clear, actionable answer: “Here's what to expect on this peak today.”

Today, over 240 hikers use HikerNerd to plan their hikes. Conditions are updated 3x daily for 100+ NH peaks. Hikers tell me it's changed how they plan. Less guessing, less suffering, more great days on the trail.