About Nestward

A one-person project, and why it exists

Hi, I'm Chris Hayworth. I'm a software developer, a dad, and the entire team behind Nestward.

Nestward started the way a lot of family trips do: with a spreadsheet, a dozen browser tabs, and a nagging feeling I was forgetting something. Every national-park trip meant the same scramble: which stops are actually worth it, how long to spend, where to stay, what's open, whether we could bring the dog. The information was all out there. It was just never in one family-shaped place.

So I built the thing I wished existed. First the app, a planner that drafts a real day-by-day itinerary and then actually helps once you're on the road, with next-stop reminders and the whole family on the same page. Then these guides, because the planning starts long before you open an app.

How the guides are made

Every guide is grounded in real National Park Service data (actual trails, real logistics) and written to be genuinely useful, not padded for a search engine. That means telling you when a park is worth a special trip and when it's a half-day add-on at best. If a place isn't worth your time, I'd rather just say so. The photos come from the NPS and are credited to the photographers.

The deal

The app is free. No subscription, no ads, and no data collection. Your trips and your location stay on your device, not on my servers. If you book a place to stay through a link in the app, I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. That's the entire business model, and it's what keeps the lights on.

Nestward is a labor of love from one person, and it will keep getting better. If you have feedback, a park I should cover, or something I got wrong, I genuinely want to hear it: chrishayworth@gmail.com.