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Backpacking Trip Planning Resources

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hikers planning a backpacking trip with maps and a computer

Planning a traverse of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness as part of Backpacking Light’s Wilderness Adventures program.

Trip Planning Resources

Here are some of our favorite trip planning resources. These are curated by our staff and include products we’ve personally used and recommend.

  • Gaia GPS Software – online mapping, beautiful map layers, premium version, very nice user interface, powerful route planning features, GPS import/export, desktop and mobile versions, and regular updates. In addition to route planning, we use this for real-time navigation on a smartphone as well.
  • Guthook Guides – trail resources for popular long-distance trails.
  • Orbit – a smartphone app used to monitor satellite positions, which can help optimize your use of a satellite communicator or GPS device.
  • Windy and Meteoblue – wind and weather forecasting.

Gear for Navigation and Trip Planning

Other Resources

What are your Favorites?

Share your favorite trip planning resources, books, gear, and more in the forums below!

DISCLOSURE (Updated November 7, 2019)

  • Some (but not all) of the links on this page may be “affiliate” links. If you click on one of these links and visit one of our affiliate partners (usually a retailer site), and subsequently place an order with that retailer, we receive a small commission. These commissions help us provide authors with honoraria, fund our editorial projects, podcasts, instructional webinars, and more, and we appreciate it a lot! Thank you for supporting Backpacking Light!

Comments

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  • Oct 3, 2020 at 11:40 am #3678282
    Backpacking Light
    Admin

    @backpackinglight

    Locale: Rocky Mountains

    Companion forum thread to: Backpacking Trip Planning Resources

    Trip Planning Resources Here are some of our favorite trip planning resources. These are curated by our staff and include products we’ve personally us

    Oct 4, 2020 at 10:00 am #3678410
    Brian T
    BPL Member

    @cryptobrian

    Good list, several new to me. Windy looks fantastic. Another resource I have come to really appreciate and use often is CalTopo. Great mapping, both desktop and app, with very nice planning, much easier routing than Gaia, and some really useful overlay options (including Sentinel satellite imagery, weather, etc.), and of course tons of trail data. Interface not quite as “pretty” as Gaia, takes some getting used to, but worth checking out for sure.

    And of course, there the sites like Alltrails (and here in the PNW, WTA.org) that are great resources for reading trip reports and getting insights from recent hikers about trail conditions.

    Oct 4, 2020 at 11:48 am #3678414
    Garrett McLarty
    BPL Member

    @gmac

    Locale: New England, PNW, Northern India

    Caltopo

    Oruxmaps

    Locus maps

    I see very little on here about them and lots about Gaia.  I have tried Gaia and not found it better and it costs more.  Locus is probably my most used GPS and Nav app, but it is not available on iPhone, so maybe this is why others use Gaia.  Caltopo is an amazing resource, planning, sharing, printing.  They now also have a phone app

     

    Oct 5, 2020 at 12:32 pm #3678528
    Oliver Fields
    BPL Member

    @oliverphnd-net

    Thanks for the tips, there are many good options for covering mapping needs here. Often trip planning also includes setting up a trip schedule/itinerary, commonly done in a separate spreadsheet or similar. I created Ambulate to combine both mapping and scheduling of trips. It is still early days, but any feedback would be welcome:)   https://ambulate.app

    Oct 5, 2020 at 1:54 pm #3678534
    Stewart Logie
    BPL Member

    @slogie

    Gaia GPS has an error in its reporting of ascent when you save a planned route. In the case I submitted to them it was 50%. Their reply was that they were “working on it”, but with no ETA. Reading their forums shows this has been a known issue for at least 2 years. Whilst you are editing the route the ascent looks more believable, but be aware that the number increases drastically upon saving. Do not rely on the saved ascent number for planning.

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