Show up for the parks fifteen minutes from your house.
thicket maps every park around you, including the ones you've probably never noticed: a pocket park two streets over, a quiet fishing dock, a trail you drive past every day. Check in, build a streak, and turn finding your own escape into a habit you share with people nearby.
An escape closer than you think.
Not every escape needs a trailhead and a full tank of gas. thicket exists to get you outside more: to help you find the parks near you that you didn't know were there, and to turn showing up into a habit worth keeping. Check in regularly and thicket rewards you for it, while connecting you with a community of neighbors finding their own version of the same escape.
- 82% of US adults visited a local park in the past year — around 276 million people, about 23 visits each
- 1 in 6 say what keeps them from going is simply not knowing what's there or what it offers
- 90% of what's spent on city parks comes from local budgets, not federal ones
Discover, check in, level up.
Discover nearby parks
A live map plus list view surfaces every park around you, including the small municipal ones that never show up anywhere else — plus every national park and national forest in the country.
GPS-verified check-ins
Your device confirms you're actually there. Only a yes/no proximity result is sent, never your raw coordinates.
XP & 30 levels
One XP currency, five title bands from Rookie to Park Ranger. Your level is derived from lifetime XP, so it can never drift or be edited.
Streaks that roll with real life
Streaks run weekly instead of daily. Miss a week and a banked recovery token can save it, so one busy week doesn't reset your progress.
117 achievements
Park-type explorer badges, unique-park milestones, and a handful of secret achievements that only reveal themselves once you've earned them.
Leaderboards
Monthly and all-time rankings across a few different metrics, so there's always a reason to get back out there.
Piloting around St. Louis, Missouri.
thicket started with every park in St. Charles County and has been expanding since — across St. Louis, and out to Phelps County where alpha testers asked for it. Every national park and national forest in the country is included too, so the app comes with you when you travel.
- St. Charles County Live
- St. Louis County & City Live
- Phelps County (Rolla) Live
- National parks & forests, nationwide Live
- Beyond St. Louis Expanding
Your coordinates never leave your phone.
Most location apps make money from knowing where you've been. thicket can't, because it never receives it. Your device measures how close you are to the park and sends only the yes-or-no answer.
- No raw GPS coordinates are ever stored: only "verified check-in at park X at time Y."
- No background location tracking. Location is read at the moment you check in, and nowhere else.
- Photo EXIF data is stripped before upload.
- No passwords: sign-in is a one-time email code.
- No ad tracking, no third-party analytics, no data sold to anyone.
- Delete your account and everything goes with it, permanently.
This website practices it too. No cookies, no analytics scripts, no third-party requests of any kind. The fonts are self-hosted and nothing on this page phones home. View source and check.
Read the specifics. The full Privacy Policy lists exactly what's collected, who processes it, and how to delete it.
Where thicket is headed.
The alpha is just the start. Here's what we're building toward as the pilot grows.
Recently shipped
- Level-up and achievement animations
- Real leaderboards, monthly and all-time
- In-app feedback, read by the actual team
- A refined, curated set of achievement titles
Up next
- Push notifications for streaks and achievements
- Double-XP weekends and other events
- App Store and Play Store listings
Planned
- Groups: join local orgs like park volunteer crews and birding clubs
- A noticeboard of nearby events, posted by the groups you follow
- Photo and review capture, moderated by the team
- Sponsorship and event badges
- Growing outreach across more of St. Charles County
This is alpha software and this list will keep changing.
thicket is an active, early-stage pilot.
We're building it in the open around real parks and real feedback. Apply for the alpha to get it now, or join the waitlist to hear when the beta opens up.
One email when the beta opens. Nothing else, ever.