After setting out on the 400-kilometre Kungsleden trail in northern Sweden, I became fascinated by long-distance hiking. I began collecting other routes in a Google Sheet, initially just for myself and a few friends. Then more people started asking me to share it.
Eventually, I decided to build a simple, delightful interface around the list. What began as a spreadsheet became a responsive web app with dynamic filters, user accounts, and saved lists. Behind the scenes, it ran on an off-the-shelf content management system.
One of the harder challenges was making the app feel fast. We kept improving its performance over time, and by the time it was acquired in 2025, content appeared with almost no perceptible delay on most connections.
The idea was to create not only a better way to discover long-distance hikes, but also a community of like-minded travellers. That community side became a separate story altogetherāone that sent me down a rabbit hole of steward-ownership, user co-ownership, and contribution-based gamification.
Below are a few screenshots, but you can explore the product on your own here.