The Rush Creek Wilderness Trail is possibly the world's first computationally derived, unofficial public wilderness trail. The trail was first "discovered" by a computer algorithm called a "virtual hiker" (a feature of the C5 Landscape Database API) that traversed the backcountry of California. The results produced a tracklog that can be uploaded to a GPS device and then followed by a real hiker through the actual landscape. Phase 1 of the trail (From the Rush Creek Wilderness Trailhead to Rush Creek Spring) was opened by Brett Stalbaum December 27th and 28th of 2005. Phase 2 of the trail (Rush Creek Spring to the De Facto Rush Creek Trail Terminus) was opened by Stalbaum and Paula Poole June 19th-21st of 2006.

The trail provides beautiful views of the Great Basin desert environment, plentiful wildlife viewing opportunities, solitude, and the unique experience of comparing the wayfinding abilities of a computer algorithm to your own wayfinding skills and intuition. For safety, backcountry experience is required.

Info:
http://www.paintersflat.net/rush_creek/

GPS Data:
http://www.paintersflat.net/rush_creek/data.html

Video:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6420463550697768755