Terms of Service

Treeline (treeline.club) is a free, invite-only hiking club app for the Seattle area. It's run by Treeline's owner with help from volunteer admins and hike leaders. In these terms, "Treeline", "we" and "us" mean the club, the app and its owner.

By joining or using Treeline you agree to these terms, the code of conduct and the privacy policy. If you don't agree, please don't use Treeline. Some parts below limit your rights if something goes wrong, so please read them, especially "Hiking is at your own risk", "Carpools" and "Limits on our liability".

Who can join

• You must be 18 or older.
• Treeline is by invitation, and admins approve every member. Being invited doesn't guarantee a place.
• One account per person, in your own name, with details that are true.

Your account

• Keep your sign-in to yourself. Your calendar link and the one-tap links in our emails act as you, so don't share or forward them.
• If you think someone else got into your account, email hello@treeline.club straight away. You're responsible for what happens on your account until you tell us.
• You can leave a group or delete your account yourself from My profile at any time.

Hiking is at your own risk

Hiking and getting to trailheads have real risks, including falls, slips, getting lost, changing weather, cold and heat, wildlife, falling trees and rock, water crossings, poor phone signal, rescue that takes hours, and car crashes. These risks are part of the activity and can't all be removed, even with care. They can lead to injury, illness, death or damage to your things.

• Nobody in Treeline is a guide, instructor or rescuer. Hike leaders and admins are volunteers who help organize; they don't supervise you or check your fitness, skills or gear.
• You decide whether a hike suits you, what to bring, and when to turn back. Check the forecast, conditions, closures and passes yourself.
• In an emergency, call 911. Treeline isn't an emergency service, and messages in the app may not be seen in time.

Release. You choose to take part in hikes, carpools and meetups arranged through Treeline, and you accept their risks. To the fullest extent the law allows, you release Treeline, its owner, admins, hike leaders and other volunteers from any claim for injury, illness, death, loss or damage that comes from those activities or from using Treeline, including claims based on their ordinary negligence. This release doesn't cover gross negligence or intentional harm.

Carpools

• Treeline helps members find each other for rides. Each carpool is a private arrangement between the driver and riders. Treeline doesn't arrange, supervise or check drivers, vehicles or insurance.
• Drivers must hold a valid license and insurance, drive a roadworthy car, and follow the law.
• Riders choose to ride at their own risk. Anyone can decline a ride, or decline to drive someone, for any reason.
• Chipping in means a fair share of real costs like gas, parking and passes. Drivers must never make a profit or charge a fare.

Gruff and trail information

Trail details, maps, weather, carpool times and anything else on Treeline are shared in good faith and may be wrong, incomplete or out of date. Check official sources before you go. Gruff, our trail helper, is an AI made with Anthropic's Claude. He can be wrong, and his answers aren't professional, safety or medical advice. Don't rely on him for anything your safety depends on.

What you post

• You keep ownership of your profile photo and the messages, comments, suggestions and feedback you post. You give Treeline permission to store them and show them to the members who can see that space, and to use them to run Treeline. This permission ends when you delete them or your account, except for copies other members already saved and for our short-term backups.
• Only post what you have the right to share. Your profile photo should be of you (or pick a crew character). Other photos can't be posted in Treeline yet.
• You're responsible for what you post. We don't check posts before they appear and don't promise to.
• When you ask Gruff something or @mention him, what he reads is sent to Anthropic to write his answer (see the privacy policy).

Copyright

If something on Treeline uses your work without permission, email hello@treeline.club with what the work is, where it is on Treeline, and how to reach you. We'll take it down while we look into it and tell the person who posted it. We remove members who repeatedly post others' work.

Moderation and removal

• Admins and the owner may remove posts, pause someone's posting, suspend or remove members, or close a chat, as set out in the code of conduct. We may act straight away and without a warning when someone's safety is at risk.
• We decide in good faith and at our discretion. You can appeal to the owner as the code of conduct explains; the owner's decision is final.
• We may change, pause or close Treeline, or any feature of it, at any time.

No warranties

Treeline is free and provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent the law allows, we make no promises about it: not that it will be available, accurate, secure or free of errors, and not that any hike, ride or person will be safe or suitable.

Limits on our liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, Treeline, its owner, admins, hike leaders and other volunteers aren't liable for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential loss, or for lost data, and their total liability to you for all claims about Treeline is limited to $100. These limits don't apply to gross negligence, intentional harm or anything else the law doesn't let us limit.

You'll cover claims you cause

If someone makes a claim against Treeline, its owner or volunteers because of something you posted, something you did on a hike or in a carpool, or because you broke these terms or the law, you agree to cover their reasonable costs, including legal fees, to the extent the law allows.

Disputes

• If you have a problem with Treeline, email hello@treeline.club first and give us 30 days to try to sort it out.
• Washington State law governs these terms, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute goes only to the state or federal courts in King County, Washington, and you agree to their jurisdiction.
• You must bring any claim within one year after it arises, or it's barred, to the extent the law allows.
• Claims can only be brought individually, not as part of a class or group action, and both sides give up a jury trial, to the extent the law allows.

SMS terms

• Program: Treeline hike texts. Texts about the club's Sunday hike: the chosen trail and meeting time, a reminder the day before, changes or cancellations, and carpool matching. No marketing.
• How to join: texts are off by default. Members turn them on in My profile by adding a mobile number and ticking: "Text me about Sunday hikes (pick, reminders, changes, carpools). Up to about 4 texts a week. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help." We then text once to confirm and send nothing else until you reply YES. Agreeing to texts is not a condition of membership.
• Frequency: up to about 4 texts a week.
• Message and data rates may apply.
• Opt out: reply STOP at any time, or turn texts off in My profile. We'll send one text to confirm, then no more. Reply START to resubscribe.
• Help: reply HELP, ask a Treeline admin, or email hello@treeline.club.
• Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.
• Treeline does not sell or share your mobile number or SMS opt-in data with third parties for marketing. See the privacy policy.

Changes and the rest

• We may update these terms. The current version is always on this page. When the code of conduct or privacy policy changes, we ask you to agree again on your next visit; if you keep using Treeline after a change to these terms, you accept it.
• These terms, the code of conduct and the privacy policy are the whole agreement between you and Treeline. If a court finds part of them unenforceable, the rest still applies. If we don't enforce something straight away, we haven't given up the right to.
• Questions? Email hello@treeline.club.