B.C. foundation offers free hiking app membership to encourage more time in nature

Okanagan Lake is pictured in a photo on BC Parks Foundation's website. (BC Parks Foundation)

A B.C.-based foundation has teamed up with a popular, international hiking app to offer free services to the public as part of a wider initiative to improve mental health.

BC Parks Foundation’s nature prescription program and AllTrails have partnered to provide a free, six-month AllTrails Plus membership to encourage people to reap the health benefits of stepping out in nature.

“We are absolutely thrilled that the most popular hiking app in the world has joined our long list of PaRx partners and supporters,” said Jennie McCaffrey, vice president of health and education at the foundation, in a statement.

“It’s a testament to the vision of the foundation that they see the value here.”

The AllTrails app offers a large database of international trails to help outdoorsy types plan and navigate their routes when hiking, biking or running outside. The free version of the app has 500,000 trails with details on the route, maps, reviews, and photos.

The Plus membership, typically priced at $35.99 annually, enables extra tools like offline maps, wrong-turn alerts, and 3D trail previews to encourage a safer experience when stepping out into the wilderness.

Dr. Suzanne Hackenmiller, AllTrails’ chief medical advisor, said her patients regularly report improvements in both their mental and physical health from activities as simple as walking outdoors in nature.

“I can think of no intervention I offer that has fewer potential side effects, and such immediate and profound benefits,” she said in the statement.

Prescription program PaRx, launched by the foundation in 2020, was designed to remove the barriers preventing people from connecting with nature and is utilized by healthcare professionals across the province.

The program encourages people to spend at least two hours a week in nature and offers tips on how to implement those habits into daily routine.

In April, BC Parks joined forces with the Vancouver Art Gallery to allow health-care providers to prescribe wellness visits to its Emily Carr: Navigating an Impenetrable Landscape exhibition. Carr’s exhibition, running at the gallery until January, featured a selection of vivid paintings inspired by the province’s dense forests.

Other B.C. partners PaRx is working with to offer free or discounted access to nature-based experiences include UBC’s botanical garden, the VanDusen botanical garden, and Bloedel Conservatory.