Share Your California Trail Knowledge, or Your Brand
California Hiking Trails is building the most complete county-by-county hiking guide for the Golden State, and we’re always open to new contributors and partners. Whether you’re an experienced hiker with firsthand trail knowledge or a brand that wants to reach people planning California hikes, we’d love to hear from you.
We publish two kinds of content from outside our team: guest posts and sponsored posts. Both are welcome.
Who We’re Looking For
- Experienced California hikers, backpackers, and trail runners
- Local outdoor writers and bloggers who know a specific county or region well
- Park rangers, trail volunteers, and outdoor educators with firsthand knowledge
- Photographers who regularly document California trails
- Brands, retailers, and service providers in the outdoor, hiking, travel, and gear space who want to promote a product, brand, or service to our readers
What We Publish
We’re especially interested in:
- Trail guides for specific hikes, including trailhead details, parking, distance, elevation gain, difficulty, seasonal conditions, and what makes the hike worth doing
- County and regional insights covering hidden gems, local favorites, and trails that don’t get enough attention
- Seasonal hiking guides, such as wildflower hikes, fall color, winter-friendly trails, and summer escapes from the heat
- Practical how-to content on trail safety, gear for California conditions, permits and reservations, and planning for terrain like desert, coast, and high Sierra
- Hikes for specific audiences, including dog-friendly, kid-friendly, accessible, and beginner-friendly trails
- Sponsored posts and brand promotion, including product features, reviews, gear roundups, brand spotlights, and service promotions that are relevant to California hikers and outdoor travelers
Sponsored Posts and Brand Promotion
We accept sponsored posts and content written to promote a product, brand, or service. If you’d like to work with us, we can discuss:
- Articles written by our team featuring your product, brand, or service
- Articles you provide, which we’ll review and edit to fit the site
- Placement in existing relevant posts or new content
Content must be relevant to hiking, the outdoors, or California travel, and must be accurate and not misleading.
Contact us for rates. Send us a pitch using the details below and we’ll share pricing and options.
Guidelines for Guest Contributors
To keep the quality of the site high, every guest post should meet these standards:
- Original and unpublished. Your article must be written by you, not previously published elsewhere, and not generated by AI tools or spun from other sources.
- Firsthand and accurate. Write from direct experience and verify details (distances, fees, permit rules, closures) against official sources such as the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, or California State Parks.
- Genuinely helpful. Aim for roughly 1,200 to 2,000 words, with clear headings, and practical detail a reader can use to plan a real trip.
- Honest about difficulty and risk. Be upfront about exposure, water availability, heat, closures, and anything else hikers should know before they go.
- Respectful of the land. We promote Leave No Trace principles and don’t publish content that encourages trespassing, off-trail damage, or entering closed areas.
- Your own photos, if you include them. Only submit images you took or have permission to use.
What We Don’t Accept
- Content about trails or places outside California
- Plagiarized or heavily rewritten content
- Posts that promote gambling, adult content, or other unrelated or inappropriate topics
- Content that is false, misleading, or unsafe
What You Get
- Your content published on a California hiking site read by people actively planning trips
- Light editing and formatting from our team, so your piece looks and reads its best
- For sponsored posts, exposure for your product, brand, or service in front of a relevant outdoor audience
How to Pitch Us
Please send us an email with the following:
For guest posts
- Your name and a short summary of your hiking experience and the California regions you know well
- Your article idea or topic, with a short outline or summary (a few sentences to a paragraph)
- The trail, county, or region your piece focuses on, and why it’s worth covering
- One or two writing samples or links to your published work, if you have them (not required, but helpful)
For sponsored posts
- Your company name and website
- The product, brand, or service you’d like to promote
- What you’d like to achieve (awareness, traffic, sales) and any content ideas you have
- Your timeline and budget, if you have one in mind
Email: contact@californiahikingtrails.com
Please put “Guest Post Pitch” or “Sponsored Post Inquiry” in the subject line so we can find it quickly.
What Happens Next
We read every message and aim to reply within 2 to 3 business days. If your idea is a good fit, we’ll confirm the details and next steps. Guest posts go through our review, where we may suggest edits or ask follow-up questions, and we’ll let you know the planned publish date.
Because we’re a small team, we can’t accept every pitch, and we may pass on topics we’ve already covered or have planned. You’re always welcome to pitch again.
Questions?
If you have questions before reaching out, use our Contact Us page. Learn more about who we are on our About Us page.
We look forward to hearing from you. Happy trails!