Quick start

Use Quick start when you need tracking now and do not have time to create a full plan. It is meant for low-friction safety coverage, not route planning. If you already know the route and have time, a full hike plan with notes and a GPX track is still better.

Quick start always creates a brand-new hike. It never starts an existing planned hike, even if one is scheduled for today. This avoids accidentally starting the wrong plan when you are already outside and trying to move quickly.

The Quick start button only appears when you have no active hike. This follows the same one-active-hike rule used everywhere else in the app, so emergency contacts and safety-card status are never ambiguous.

If you cannot load the site but can send a text or satellite message, use the SMS QUICK command from a verified sender number. QUICK creates a new hike even when planned hikes exist. You can include a duration, such as QUICK 90M or QUICK 2H, otherwise HikeRuleOne.com uses 4 hours.

When you tap Quick start, the app asks for confirmation and expected duration. The available durations are 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, 4 hours, and 5 hours. The default is 2 hours.

After confirmation, HikeRuleOne.com creates a new hike, starts it immediately, assigns your active non-opted-out emergency contacts, and sends start notifications to contacts who are verified. If browser location is available, the start event stores latitude, longitude, and GPS accuracy.

Quick-start hikes have no trailheads, so trailhead rows are hidden on cards, detail pages, share pages, and printed pages. The active hike page still works the same: check in, add time, or finish when you are back.