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USEFUL APPS FOR ANDROID AND IOS
Trip Planning
NPS: Official app for all 420+ national parks. Find interactive maps, tours of park places, on-the-ground accessibility information, and more.
Recreation.gov: Your on-the-go solution for reserving thousands of incredible camping destinations.
Navigation
Gaia GPS: Explore amazing offroad routes while spending less time looking at your phone.
FarOut: Embark on the adventure of a lifetime with FarOut, the most reliable navigational guide app for long-distance exploration.
onX Backcountry: Easily find and navigate the trails you're looking for—whether you’re seeking out new backcountry ski lines, climbing routes, or trails to hike and mountain bike.
Spyglass: An essential offline GPS app for outdoors and off-road navigation, packed with tools.
First Aid
First Aid American Red Cross: Puts expert advice for common emergencies in the palm of your hand—from the latest First Aid and CPR techniques to the nearest hospital location.
Outdoor Skills
Knots 3D: The ultimate knot-tying app for fishermen, climbers, boaters and scouters alike. Over 190 unique knots.
Offline Survival Manual: essential to Understanding the outdoors and how to operate in them. Fully working offline
Identifier Apps
Peak Visor: Will make you a champion of mountain navigation, putting state-of-the-art Peak Identification, 3D Maps, Trails, and outdoor GPS tracking into the palm of your hand.
Seek iNaturalist: use the power of image recognition technology to identify the plants and animals all around you.
Merlin Bird ID: Helps you identify birds you see and hear. Powered by eBird, the world’s largest bird database.
Sky Guide & Sky Map: Hand-held planetarium for your Android device. Use it to identify stars, planets, nebulae and more.
Moon Phases: Lunar calendar and valuable source of information about the Moon
HIKER RESOURCES PAGE LINKS
WEATHER
mountain-forecast.com: Dedicated mountain weather forecasts for more than 11300 (and growing) major summits for climbers and mountaineers, provided for up to 8 different elevations.
NAVIGATION
caltopo.com: Map your world with CalTopo. Backcountry or your backyard; research, plan, share, and take maps with you on your mobile device. View real time data, choose layers that suit your needs, print maps, record tracks and more.
GEAR TRACKING
lighterpack.com: LighterPack helps you track the gear you bring on adventures. This site will tell you how much your Total Weight is, what portion of that is Consumable, what part is Worn, and what your Base Weight is.
RECOMMENDED TRAIL BOOKS
A.T. Guide: Hikers using this guide know where they are on the trail, what views, streams and campsites are ahead, and whether they’ll be hiking uphill or downhill to get there. The A.T. Guide answers all of your questions about how to get rides, where to stay, and where to get supplies.
Pacific NW Trail Guide: From the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, the Pacific Northwest Trail is a unique hiking experience, offering a variety of backcountry scenery and outdoor adventure. Here is the official guide to the spectacular long-distance trail that stretches 1,200 miles from Glacier National Park in Montana to Washington’s Olympic National Park.
The Ultimate Hikers Gear Guide: This guide is a must for any backpacking, hiking, or camping trip. Supreme long-distance hiker Andrew Skurka—accomplished adventure athlete, speaker, guide, and writer—shares his knowledge in this essential guide to backpacking gear and skills. Skurka recounts what he’s learned from more than 30,000 miles of long-distance hikes.
Edible Wild Plants for Beginners: Provides you with the essential information and guidance to begin foraging for edible wild plants and including them in your diet. It provides profiles of common edible wild plants and includes information on dangerous look-alikes, the best time to harvest, where to find each type of wild plant, and how to cultivate your own garden.
Wilderness Navigation: Where am I? How far is it to my destination? Will I be able to find my way back? This book shows you how to use orientation and navigation to answer these most frequently asked questions in wilderness travel. By the time you finish reading this guide, you will have a good handle on the tools of navigation and the proven techniques of top-notch navigators, who have acquired their skills through years of roaming—and being lost in—the wilderness.
Map Reading and Land Navigation: Provides a standardized source document for Army-wide reference on map reading and land navigation. It applies to every soldier in the Army regardless of service branch, MOS, or rank. This manual also contains both doctrine and training guidance on these subjects.
Hike it Baby: Presents 100 outdoor adventures across the U.S. that you can take with babies and toddlers (really!), along with everything you need to know about exploring the natural world. Sourced from real families using Hike it Baby’s trail-tested system, this book helps moms and dads get out there in their comfort zone, yet feel like hardcore adventurers!
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