Oregon · a sit-spot, not a trail app
Return to one nearby place. Notice what the air, the light, and the creek are doing today.
Most nature apps optimize for novelty: a new hike, a famous waterfall, a longer species list. Reconnection is slower. A sit-spot is the practice of going back to the same overlooked patch — a bench, a tree cluster, a muddy creek — and paying attention.
The problem is not distance
For Oregon students and people in the city grid, forests are often closer than they feel. What is missing is return: the same maples in August heat, the same ditch after rain. Without a place to come back to, “go outside” stays generic — and easy to skip.
Nature has opening hours
In August, wildfire smoke can make outdoor air a closed system. SitSpot checks US AQI before it invites you onto a lawn. When the air is unhealthy, the default is a Window sit: ten quiet minutes with whatever sky you can see. Missing an outdoor sit because of smoke is not a failure.
One loop, on purpose
- 1. FindOverlooked patches within a 10–15 minute walk. Not Multnomah Falls.
- 2. CommitChoose one SitSpot. Check whether outdoor air is open.
- 3. SitTen or twenty minutes. Notice. Optional ghost photo. A place portrait grows over visits.
SitSpot does not diagnose health, score your virtue, or chat about the forest. It is a gate: a map, the air, a timer, and a record of what you noticed. Built for OregonHacks 2026.