Description
This plugin allows you to display the status of trails on your website. Any user can add a trail status (for review), while only editors and admin can add and update the trails and status names. The trails can have links to pages with more information about them. Both the shortcodes and widget are customizable. Widgets and shortcode can have different sets of trails and notes.
Features
- Widget
- Shortcode for showing:
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- Trails in a list format
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- Trails in a block format
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- Add trail status (with optional anti spam google recaptcha)
- Add images to trails for display in the shortcode
- Placeholder images for trails without images
- Add links to the trails
- Support for embedded youtube video in the comment field
- Set up statuses including their color
- Trail name and status can be the status color
- The order of both trails and statuses can be set
- Notes can be added at the end which can include embedded videos
- Separate notes for the shortcode and widget
- Initial set of trail conditions
- Admin that allows authors and higher users to update the current conditions
- Every Trail can show a list of the last X trail updates submitted by users
- Every Trail can show a list of links to a) weather forecasts b) forest fire smoke forecasts c) Avalanche forecasts
DISCLAIMER: Under no circumstances do we release this plugin with any warranty, implied or otherwise. We cannot be held responsible for any damage that might arise from the use of this plugin. Back up your WordPress database and files before installation.
License
Released under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
External services
This plugin connects to a Google API to protect trail updates from spam attacks, it’s needed to provide anti-spam detection in the plugin.
It sends a unique key every time the widget is loaded.
This service is provided by “Google”: terms of use, privacy policy.
https://developers.google.com/recaptcha/docs/faq
Screenshots
Admin Trail List Page 
Admin Menu 
Admin Settings 
Shortcode: Add a Trail Status Update 
Shortcode: Show Trail Status List 
Admin Statuses List Page 
Admin Trail Status List Page with Inline Editing
Installation
Video of installation walkthrough:
Plugin Settings
Hiking Trail ‘Category Type’ to Monitor Statuses: Optionally lets you indicate which wordpress post category relates to trails. These are then selectable in the Name field when entering new trail statuses.
Google Recaptcha API Key v2 (anti-spam): Optional anti spam Google recaptcha API Site key.
Google Recaptcha API Secret Key v2 (anti-spam): Optional anti spam Google recaptcha API Secret key.
Send Notifications ‘from’ Email Address: Optional email address to send notifications ‘from’. (if none specified we usue the default wordpress admin email)
Send Notifications ‘to’ Email Address: Optional email address to send notifications. (currently one email per day is sent if at least 1 trail status has been submitted on that day. The wordpress ‘admin’ email is used as the ‘from’ sender email address)
Shortcode Usage
Trail List Shortcode: [vstm-trail-status]
Trail Blocks Shortcode: [vstm-trail-status-blocks]
Trail Table List Shortcode: [vstm-trail-status-list]
Add Trail Status Shortcode: [vstm-trail-status-submit]
Show the last x trail status updates for the current trails page: [vstm-trail-status-most-recent]
Embed Youtube video Shortcode: [vstm-trail-status-youtube]
Options
show_images: Show’s the trail image. Trails without an image will get a placeholder image. (default: yes)
color_text: Set the text color for the trail name and status by the status. (default: yes)
box_shadow: Add box shadow to trail images. (default: yes)
small_images: If yes, the max-width of the trail images will be 50px. If no, the image will be the full thumbnail size. (default: no)
border: If yes, the table list will show a border. (default: no)
Examples
[vstm-trail-status]
[vstm-trail-status show_images=”yes” color_text=”no” box_shadow=”yes” small_images=”yes”]
[vstm-trail-status-blocks show_images=”yes” color_text=”yes” box_shadow=”no” small_images=”no”]
[vstm-trail-status-list show_images=”yes” color_text=”no” box_shadow=”yes” small_images=”yes” border=”no”]
[vstm-trail-status-submit]
[vstm-trail-status-most-recent border=”yes” name-partial-match-prefix=”yes” name-match-limit=”5″]
[vstm-trail-status-youtube width=”300″ height=”300″ src=”https://youtu.be/b5v4uFrDE9w”]
Features
Trail Statuses may be submitted by unregistered users with optional photo preview, but are unapproved until reviewed by an admin
Optional email notifications may be sent to admins when a user has submitted a new trail status update
Filters to show unapproved trail status submissions
Ability to bulk update trail statuses
Ability to link trail status updates with wordpress posts containing a specified post category
Optional anti-spam google recaptcha integration
FAQ
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Can I use HTML in the notes?
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- Yes. You can also use iframes to add things like embedded videos.
Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
“Trail Monitor” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
Translate “Trail Monitor” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.10 (2025-10-19)
– Bug fixes intriduced in 1.9 corrected
1.9 (2025-10-16)
– Added new shortcode attributes and consolidated recent trail status code. Its possible to show recent trail status updates
for a specific trail and configure how to display it, as well as show the last x most recent trail statuses for all trails.
[vstm-trail-status-most-recent] – shows a list of trail status updates for either the current hike’s gps or all recent hikes
Show all recent trail status updates but only the last 3 most recent and hide the comments column:
[vstm-trail-status-most-recent border=”yes” name-match-skip=”yes” name-match-limit=”3″ cols-visible=”yes,yes,yes,yes,no,yes”]
Show the last 5 most recent trail status updates for the specific trail that the current page has GPS coordinates for (partial match on trail name):
[vstm-trail-status-most-recent border=”yes” name-partial-match-prefix=”yes” name-match-limit=”5″]
Show the last 3 most recent trail status updates for the specific trail for the current page using specified GPS coordinates and (partial match on trail name):
[vstm-trail-status-most-recent border=”yes” name-partial-match-prefix=”yes” name-match-limit=”3″ weather-forecast=”53.38056,-120.25308″]
1.8 (2025-09-05)
– Added new shortcode properties: Show the last x trail status updates for the current trails page: [vstm-trail-status-most-recent]
with ability to show a) weather forecasts b) forest fire smoke forecasts c) avalanche forecasts
1.7 (2025-07-22)
– Added new shortcode: Show the last x trail status updates for the current trails page: [vstm-trail-status-most-recent]
1.6 (2025-06-23)
– Bug fixes for default statuses
– Updated WordPress icon and screenshots
1.0 (2025-04-29)
– Initial WordPress.org release.