exporting waypoints from Gaia to Garmin Fenix in a course

Looks like you have import your route to the Garmin Connect website, add waypoints there, download the FIT file and not the GPX file, and manually add the file to the watch. If you sync the course, Garmin will add waypoints for every turn on the course.  https://www.reddit.com/r/Garmin/comments/s7y3en/up_ahead_feature_on_fenix_7/

Does your Fenix 5 have a Courses page under the Navigate option? I have a 945 and if I do the above, I can see the course waypoint and the distance to the waypoint, but not any other waypoints coming up like the Up Ahead feature.

Import gpx to Garmin Base Camp. Send the imported info (tracks and waypoints) to Fenix.

So, I create the routes using caltopo, add waypoints, download it as a gpx file. Should not be any different in gaia.

Then I take the gpx file into plotaroute.com and save it as a FIT file.

This FIT file can then be manually downloaded into Fenix (I have a Fenix 6) courses directory.

Now when you start the course – you will be able to see “next waypoint” and “distance to next” fields. On the map screen, at the bottom, it will count down the “distance to next” and once you reach the waypoint, it will automatically switch to the next waypoint etc. It is pretty cool! Another thing the FIT file does is stamps an arrow field on the breadcrumb trail which is also good as you can see you are going in the right direction. Not having the arrow means you could be going in the reverse direction and you cannot figure it out easily. So, I like the peace of mind of having the arrow as well.