Hey Joey,
Great question! I’ve also been on the lookout for solid online hiking communities in Australia, and it’s one of the reasons I created these forums. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts to promote them, engagement here has been pretty quiet—even though the site gets over 60,000 visits a month! I’d love to see this grow into a thriving community where people can share experiences, ask questions, and connect without the distractions of social media.
I’ve checked out Bushwalk.com, but I find it tends to lean towards an older crowd, and discussions can sometimes become quite opinionated. Reddit has some active hiking groups, but the things you mentioned were another reason I wanted to build a dedicated space here—somewhere with a more focused, supportive community.
As for ads, I totally get that they can be annoying. Trust me, I’d love to run the site ad-free, but they’re currently the only way I can cover the costs of keeping Trail Hiking Australia online and providing free resources. I try to keep them to a minimum while ensuring the site remains sustainable. Hopefully one day I will be able to remove them completely.
For now, Facebook groups seem to be where most Australian hikers are connecting. But I’d love to see more people using this forum so we can create a space that’s truly dedicated to Aussie hiking without the clutter of social media. Hopefully, with time and more engagement, we can build something great here!
Thanks for starting this discussion—keen to hear what others think!
Cheers,
Darren
