Waypoints

Waypoints mark key locations along your route — campsites, water sources, resupply towns, summits, road crossings, or any point worth planning around. They appear as pins on the map and are listed in the daily itinerary.

Adding a waypoint

Inside a day section, click + Waypoint at the bottom of the waypoint list. You can set:

Distances: map-calculated and manual

Each waypoint distance is the leg from the previous stop in that day's list — the day start point, then each waypoint in order. It is not a cumulative total and it is not "remaining distance on the trail."

Map-calculated — After you upload a GPX file, placing a stop on the map fills in the distance along the route (or along your drawn off-trail path). Totals in the trip summary, moving time, and Active burn use these leg distances.

When you upload multiple GPX files, each file is its own route line on the map. Legs within one file follow the GPX (including backward along that file). Legs from one file to the next are straight-line off-route distances — click away from the route to draw shuttles, ferries, or road transfers (see Uploading a GPX file).

Manual — You can type a distance at any time, including before a GPX file is uploaded. Trailkeep never changes a distance you typed yourself.

Manual override — If you type a distance for a stop that already has map coordinates, the map placement is cleared so section stats stay consistent (see Editing a waypoint). The pin returns to amber; your typed number is kept.

When distances update automatically — Inserting, deleting, or placing a stop on the map recalculates map-linked legs (stops with saved coordinates). Typed-only legs are left unchanged. If you insert a stop between mapped ones, downstream map-based distances clear until you place the new stop and the chain is rebuilt — your pins stay put. Off-trail connector lines cleared this way need to be re-drawn when you re-place the affected stop by clicking away from the route to enter draw mode.

Waypoint flags

Mark stops with water source or resupply point toggles on each waypoint row (desktop: icon buttons; mobile: expand the row, then ⋮ → Water or Food). You can also star any waypoint for quick scanning.

• Water source — creek, spring, or water cache (blue droplet in the list and on shared trips)
• Resupply point — town, post office, or supply cache (amber basket)

Water and resupply are mutually exclusive on a single waypoint — turning one on clears the other.

Inserting a waypoint between two existing waypoints

If you forgot a stop between two waypoints you have already added, use the + button that appears between waypoint rows. This inserts a new empty waypoint at that position without moving existing pins.

The inserted waypoint appears immediately in the list at the correct position. Fill in the name, place it on the map, or type a distance as you would for any new waypoint.

When the stop before the gap already has map coordinates, Trailkeep clears downstream map-based distances (and any off-trail connector drawn to the old next stop) until you place the new stop. Typed distances are not changed. See Distances: map-calculated and manual.

The waypoint connector line

When stops have map coordinates, the Trip Planner draws an orange planned path between placed stops in order — not through unplaced rows or dimmed ahead pins. The line is separate from the navy GPX upload: the GPX is your reference track; the orange path is the route you are building stop to stop.

Placing a waypoint on the map

Once a GPX route is uploaded, every waypoint can have a precise coordinate set by clicking directly on the interactive map.

Open the waypoint, then click Place on map. A map dialog opens using the MapTiler Outdoor basemap — a topographic style that shows hiking trails, contour lines, and terrain. Click on or near the GPX route to place the marker — it snaps to the nearest point on the route and saves immediately. You do not need to hit the line exactly; the snap area scales with zoom so a distanced view is still easy to use.

A few map features worth knowing:

• Route preview — on-trail, a live dashed line follows your cursor along the GPX from the last placed marker (including a camp→trail connector when rejoining after an off-trail stop). Off-trail before you click, the cursor switches to a cell (draw) icon and the distance HUD shows an OFF badge — no ghost line until you click to start drawing. While drawing, a short preview segment follows the cursor from your last trace point. While you pan the map (grab cursor), preview lines and the HUD hide until you release.
• Context hints — the status bar shows Place stop, Drawing path, or Off-route start. While Drawing path is active, hints include ⌘Z undo point and Backspace clear path (returns to Place stop).
• Google Maps link — after placing a waypoint on-trail, the status bar shows the coordinates and a Google Maps icon. Click it to verify the location in a new tab.
• Expand button (desktop) — an expand/minimize icon in the top-right fills the screen with the map for precise placement.
• Legend — the ⓘ button in the bottom-right opens a colour key for map markers, the planned route line, and direction chevrons along your path.
• Escape — cancels an in-progress draw or off-route pin first (preview and HUD clear immediately); closes the map dialog when nothing is in progress.
• Backspace / Delete (desktop) — while drawing, clears the whole path and returns to Place stop immediately; ⌘Z / Ctrl+Z removes one trace point at a time. On touch devices, use Undo on the floating bar for step-back; there is no keyboard clear-path shortcut yet.
• Map focus — the map pans to the stop you are editing, the last placed anchor, or the full route if nothing is placed yet. Your zoom level is kept while the dialog is open — including when you start placing, switch chips, or auto-advance after a save. Only the initial full-route view (nothing placed yet) adjusts zoom to fit the track. Pan/zoom is not remembered after you close the dialog.
• Context marker — the previous day's last waypoint appears as a grey "LAST" marker for reference. It is not interactive and does not affect placement.

Distance HUD

While moving the cursor across the map, a live readout appears in the bottom-left corner showing:

• Distance from the previous waypoint along the trail (or straight-line while off-trail)
• Cumulative total for the day so far
• Elevation at the cursor position — live as you move, only shown if the uploaded GPX file includes elevation data
• OFF badge when the cursor is away from the GPX (off-trail hover or while drawing)

This updates in real time so you can see exactly how far a proposed camp is from the last water source before committing.

Off-trail placement

There is no separate Off Route toggle — placement mode follows where you click:

• On the route — click near the GPX (snap scales with map zoom) → the stop saves immediately, snapped to the trail.
• Away from the route — click farther from the GPX → you enter draw mode automatically. Each click adds a point to a breadcrumb path. Press Set or Enter on the floating bar to save the stop and trace.

Use off-trail placement for resupply towns, huts across a field, or any stop that requires leaving the trail.

Drawing and rejoining

• The first point of your path is automatically set to the previous marker's location — you start drawing from where you left the trail.
• While drawing, clicks near the GPX snap to the trail so you can finish a return leg cleanly; the preview line follows the snap. Click the route (or press Set when the hint shows on route) to rejoin on-trail — your bushwhack trace is kept and the pin lands on the GPX.
• Undo (floating bar or Cmd/Ctrl+Z) removes the last trace point while drawing. Backspace (desktop) clears the entire path and returns to Place stop — preview lines and the HUD vanish at once, without moving the mouse.
• When you are not drawing and the map shows a floating Undo (no Set bar), Cmd/Ctrl+Z or that button undoes the last saved placement for this map session — one step only, for first-time saves. The map stays at the same zoom; you can place again immediately.
• The status bar shows how many points you have placed and whether your cursor is on route.

Sticky draw after bushwhack

When you switch to an unplaced stop and the previous stop in the chain was placed off-trail (with a drawn path), draw mode turns on automatically — so you can draw the return path or continue bushwhacking without extra steps. After an on-trail stop, the next leg starts on-trail. Re-editing a saved off-trail stop opens with its trace restored in draw mode; re-editing an on-trail stop opens ready for a single click on the route.

The drawn path is stored and visualised on the map as a dotted line so your navigation app can lead you there exactly as you planned.

Loop routes

On loop trails, each leg follows the shortest path along the GPX between the previous stop and the next. That direction is saved with the waypoint and used for distances and export.

There is no direction-flip control in the map dialog. If a leg uses the wrong arc (rare — usually when two stops sit almost symmetrically on a loop), open the waypoint again and click a point on the intended arc of the trail to re-place it. Check the Distance HUD before saving.

When you have placed two or more stops, the route preview and shared trip map emphasise your planned path (orange) and show the full upload as a faint reference line (navy). With only one stop placed, the full upload stays prominent.

Connector line colours

Navigator

The map dialog includes a navigator bar at the top showing all items for the current day — the start point and each waypoint in order. Click any item in the navigator to switch to it without closing the dialog. This lets you place all points for a day in one session.

While you place or edit one stop, all other placed stops for that day stay visible on the map — earlier stops as normal pins, later stops as dimmed numbered reference pins. Connector lines and distance preview only run from the last confirmed stop up to your cursor, not through stops you have not placed yet in a gap.

Each navigator chip shows its placement status at a glance:

Connector lines between chips are green when both adjacent items are placed, grey otherwise — a quick read of how much of the day is mapped.

A + Add waypoint button at the end of the navigator adds a new waypoint to the day and immediately switches to it, so you can place it on the map straight away.

Auto-advance

When you place a coordinate for the first time (not re-placing an existing one), the map automatically advances to the next unplaced item in the day. This means you can work through all items in sequence — click, place, advance — without manually switching between them.

Undo last placement

After a first-time save (start or waypoint), you can undo that single step while the map dialog stays open:

• Click the floating Undo on the map (when you are not in draw/Set mode), or press Cmd/Ctrl+Z.
• Coordinates for that stop are cleared; ghost waypoints created only for that placement are removed.
• The map view does not jump away — you stay zoomed where you were.
• Undoing Day 1 start returns you to the S chip when no waypoints on that day have coordinates yet.

Undo does not apply to re-edits of stops you placed earlier in a previous session. Use Place on map again to move a stop.

Start point

Day 1 has a start point — a map coordinate at the top of the navigator that anchors where the hike begins. Select it and click on the map to place it (or use Place on map). Click on the GPX to snap and save immediately; click away from the route to place an off-trail trailhead, then press Set.

Day 2 and later do not have a separate map start. Each day continues from where the previous day ended (usually camp). With a GPX route loaded, the start row shows Cont. from Day 1, Cont. from Day 2, and so on — edit the text if you like, but the route chain follows your placed stops, not a second pin. Without GPX map mode, every day’s start row uses Start point like Day 1.

Elevation stats (when a GPX file is loaded) use the same model: Day 1 from trailhead (or first placed stop if no trailhead) to that day's last stop; Day 2+ from inherited camp to that day's last stop.

Editing a waypoint

Click a waypoint in the list to select it, then click the Edit button. All fields can be updated. Changes save immediately.

To move a waypoint's map location, open it and click Place on map again. Placing a new coordinate replaces the previous one and recalculates that leg and any downstream map-linked legs automatically.

Deleting a waypoint

Select a waypoint and click the Delete button, or use the context menu (three-dot icon). The pin is removed from the map immediately. Deletion is instant with no confirmation dialog.

Map-linked legs after the deleted stop are recalculated automatically. Typed distances are not changed.