Every guide on this site is built from two layers: official live data synced from government APIs, and hand-curated trail data we verify ourselves. This page explains both — and what we refuse to guess.
Official sources, synced automatically
- National Park Service API — park facts and every active alert and closure.
- NOAA / National Weather Service — the forecast you see in each park's Live block. No key, no middleman: straight from the forecast office covering the park.
- EPA / NOAA AirNow — air quality and wildfire smoke (AQI), read from the nearest monitoring stations; we show the worst valid reading, never an average that hides smoke.
Hand-curated, human-verified
Trail tables (length, elevation gain, shade, restrooms, dog and stroller suitability, youngest comfortable age), nearby services (24/7 vets, urgent care, groceries), permit and lottery deadlines and the "things nobody tells you" notes are curated by hand per park, from official park pages and first-hand research — then re-checked when a park's rules change.
What the ratings mean
- Dog policy A–D — our editorial grade of how much of a park a leashed dog can actually enjoy: A = most trails, D = little more than roads and campgrounds. It summarizes published NPS pet rules; it is not an official NPS rating.
- Kid age ratings — the youngest age we'd call comfortable on a trail, judged from length, gain, exposure and facilities. Your child, the weather and the crowds always overrule a table.
What we refuse to guess
When a data point isn't verified, the site says "not on record yet" instead of inventing an answer. A missing air-quality monitor never becomes a green "Good"; a park we haven't curated never gets a fabricated "no reservation needed". An honest gap beats a confident guess.
Corrections
Found an error — a closed trail, an outdated deadline, a wrong grade? Write to [email protected] and we'll re-verify against the official source and fix it.
How we make money is a separate, shorter read: the affiliate disclosure.
Last updated: July 19, 2026