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The Best Apps for Camping and Hiking
Do you find yourself getting cabin fever? Are you wanting to get outdoors and enjoy the fresh air? Well, preparing for your next camping trip or hike in ANY season has never been easier or more exciting with these best apps for camping and hiking.
AllTrails
- Access to over 50,000 trail maps.
- Connects to your maps to give you driving directions to the trailheads.
- Map your next hike by those nearest to you, difficulty, length, time, and rating by other AllTrails users.
- Filter to find the trail that’s perfect for you such as: dog-friendly, kid-friendly, and great views to name a few!
- Save your favorite trails or ones you’d like to explore for easy access.
Cost: FREE
PeakFinder Earth
- Shows the names of mountains and peaks with a 360° panoramic view.
- Uses GPS & Compass to help find coordinates and the peaks around you.
- Works offline and worldwide.
- Access to over 250,000 peak names.
Cost: $3.99
First Aid by Red Cross & Pet First Aid by Red Cross
- Instant access to information on handling common first aid emergencies.
- Be prepared for weather-related issues that could arise.
- Find the nearest hospitals for severe emergencies.
- Be prepared for pet emergencies and learn how to treat and handle common issues.
- Find pet-friendly hotels, tips on traveling with your pet, and training tips.
Cost: FREE
Looking for tips on how to build your own first aid kit? Check out this post.
MapMyHike
- Track and map your hike workouts – for every mile you’ll get feedback on how to improve performance.
- Receive stats on your hike including pace, duration, distance, calories burned, elevation, and more.
- Set personal goals to help you improve your workouts and choose from over 600 different sports/activities.
Cost: FREE
Topo Maps+: The Ultimate Outdoor App
- While using Topo Maps+ you never have to fear being lost again. Between the combination of your phone’s GPS and compass while using downloaded Topo Maps+ you can view your current location even when miles away from even a spot of cellphone service.
- Have an Apple Watch? Topo Maps+ offers support for that too so you can stay hands-free while viewing offline maps.
- Prepare for your trip by tracing routes and find distances, elevation profiles, and more between each location.
- If you enjoy hiking, camping, long-distance treks, or traveling a lot this app is a gold mine!
With Topo Maps+ PRO you have access to many high-resolution map passes such as:
- USGS & US Forest Service topo maps with hill shading and trail overlays
- Partial US Forest Service Maps
- US National Maps
- Partial US National Park Visitor Maps
- NRCAN Canada Maps
- Thunderforest Topo Maps with hiking and biking trails
- Glacier Topo with hiking and biking trails
- MapBox, Run, Hike, Bike Map
- MapBox Satellite Map – worldwide satellite imagery
- MapBox Terrain & Street Map
- Open Cycle Map
- US NOAA Marine Charts
- New Zealand Topo Map to NZ mainland, the Chatham Islands, and offshore islands
- Best of all? When your subscription runs out you can still use all of your downloaded high-resolution maps for free!
Is Topo Maps+ PRO worth it?
With all of the added features that the PRO version offers and the fact that you can keep the maps after your subscription expires, we think the PRO version is a no-brainer!
Cost: FREE to download basic Topo Maps + or $19.99/12 months of Topo Maps+ PRO
GoTenna
- Send and receive text messages without internet access.
- Share your GPS location on detailed offline maps even without service.
- Encrypted 1-to-1 & group messaging.
- “Shout” broadcasts for anyone within range for emergency situations.
Cost: FREE
Must have GoTenna devices to use the app.
Cost of devices: $149
Yonder
- One of our favorite apps! Yonder features over 20,000 destinations worldwide.
- Gather new ideas and experiences from other people in the Yonder community.
- Discover thousands of geo-located images and videos from around the globe.
- Upload your own ideas and adventures to inspire others while saving your favorites.
Cost: FREE
ParkFinder
- Find the parks closest to you with the activities you want to do.
- A huge database of national parks, state parks, local parks, and the federal public in America.
- Includes park overviews, activities and descriptions, maps and directions, lodging information, nearby attractions, and weather/seasonality.
Cost: FREE
RecGovCamp
- Find available campsites at National Parks, forests, and other Federal Recreation facilities.
- Filter by type of site, equipment length, hookups, driveway, waterfront, pet-friendly, accessible needs.
- Gives campground details including photos and driving directions.
- Reserve your selected campsite on the recreation.gov website.
Cost: FREE
Spyglass
- A sophisticated tool to find your way around areas with no obvious maps or checkpoints.
- GPS Toolkit for outdoors and off-road navigation.
- Features include: high-quality compass with map overlays, gyrocompass, speedometer, altimeter, angular calculator and more
Cost: $3.99 (on sale)
National Parks by National Geographic
- It contains interactive guides to 25 of America’s most visited national parks.
- Free photo galleries, visitor information, and maps.
- Each guide contains all of the information you need to know in order to plan your trip!
Cost: FREE
Sky Guide
- Study thousands of stars, comets, and satellites.
- Easily see what constellations are above you as you star gaze.
- Receive information about specific planets, constellations, and stars.
- Get notifications about upcoming astronomical events and more.
Cost: $2.99
What Knot To Do
- Learn to tie the perfect knots for fishing, sailing, backpacking, hunting, building a shelter, and more.
- Access to over 70 must-know knots in six categories.
- Step-by-step tying instructions and illustrations to meet any outdoor and safety needs.
Cost: FREE
MyNature Animal Tracks
- Database with 7 search-able track categories and 5 searchable categories for scat.
- Fully illustrated by size and shape for quick identification.
- Full-color digital images of tracks, scat, and animals.
- Sound files for identifying animal vocalizations.
- No wireless connection needed.
Cost: $1.99
Coleman® Campfire Tales
- A collection of scary stories to read around the campfire.
- Categories for kids, teens, and adults.
- Stores even have sound effects to make these spooky tales creepier!
Cost: FREE
Are you ready to take your next trek or camping trip? What are some of the best apps for camping and hiking you use to make exploring the outdoors easier?
Comments & Reviews
Sienny says
Wow! I love to hike too 😉 We share similar passion, love hiking! Am saving your post & I wanna to check out all of them in the list shared by you above. Am sure the apps would be definitely helpful for us who love to hike. Cheers, Sienny
kallsypage says
So glad to hear that you also have a passion for the outdoors! I hope you find these apps as useful as we do! 🙂
Paula says
Very good resources! I love hiking but now that we have a 4 year old, we rarely get to do longer hikes anymore. We loved hiking with a baby in a carrier, but now it’s hard. Being in the nature is amazing.
kallsypage says
I can definitely see why! We have seen many people on the trails with babies or small toddlers and I don’t know how you (or they) do it! Someday I will need some tips from you. 🙂
Hendrik says
Really cool overview of actual existing apps! Are there some of them that you can strongly recommend, especially the ones that cost? The sky guide sounds really cool, would like to try this out.
Cheers and thanks for sharing!
kallsypage says
I would say that Sky Guide is one that is definitely worth purchasing if you love laying outdoors or looking at stars. It gives you quite a bit of information! 🙂 AllTrails is our personal favorite and it’s free!
Christina says
I like the idea of being able to see that 360° panorama before, maybe also to decide between different tracks. Or following the stars. And the campfire tales! Sigh. The thoughts alone make me wanna go right now. Too bad though that many are focused on the US, will have to research some for my areas of interest 🙂 Cheers!
kallsypage says
We love all of the free ones but some of the purchased ones we’ve used quite a bit too! I’m not sure if you are able to use some of these in other countries but I would assume that many are global or have global versions! 🙂 Thank you!
Victoria says
Holy moly there are SO MANY good tips here!!!!!!!!
kallsypage says
Thank you Victoria! We love using these in the great outdoors. 🙂
Alexis says
If I can ever convince my husband to go camping I’d love to try some of the camping apps. In the meantime, we love hiking and National Parks so those apps will come in very handy! Great tips, thanks!
kallsypage says
There is always “glamping”! We will try it out sometime and let you know the difference. However, an RV is also a nice choice. 🙂 Thanks for reading!
Gemma says
Craig loves the Sky guide! Such a useful post. Your site is looking neat!
kallsypage says
We love it too! Thank you Gemma – we’ve been vamping it up a bit lately. 🙂
Agnes says
Nice list. I have not heard of these apps before. I have a similar one to the sky guide, though. And the First Aid one is very useful doesn’t matter where you are. Will download it right away!
kallsypage says
Glad you found this post useful! There are so many great apps out there. 🙂 The First Aid one is definitely a must!
kallsypage says
Thank you so much! We love these apps and are always looking for more. Glad you found this useful!
kallsypage says
I can definitely see many of these being great for any traveler! We obviously love the free ones but the paid ones are great for specific purposes too. 🙂
kallsypage says
Let us know what you think when you use them! The scary stories are a tad cheesy but fun for those late night bonfires. 🙂
kallsypage says
AllTrails is definitely our favorite but we also love Sky Guide for fun and of course First Aid is extremely helpful as well! Let us know what you think about some of the others. 🙂
kallsypage says
Glad you found this helpful! Let us know what you think if you end up trying any. 🙂
kallsypage says
Glad you found this helpful! Many of them have proven themselves time and time again for us so we were happy to share these tips to others. 🙂
kallsypage says
Campfire Stories is cheesy but so fun when sitting around the bonfire! 🙂 Thank you for reading!
Mike says
Super helpful post. I have pinned this for when I next plan some hikes.
Brooke says
great list! I used All Trails and map my hike but the rest are new to me. I would definitely use the park finder app and I think the emergency broadcast option is amazing! Technology has brought us so far!
Kallsy Page says
I am right there with you! Technology has improved many aspects of travel.
Julian Casamonte says
Oh hike … so much time without doing a good one 🙁 ! … btw: this rugged phones were great for its time; expensive but worth it… were rare not so much time ago,,, Have you seen the agm line ? They remember me this one: but since they are waaaaaay cheaper but still pretty good and waterproof ! ip68 and now the x1 has a Gold version or so with a 5k battery :O Nice article! TY for sharing
Julian Casamonte says
With my agm x1 i can use as a GPS on my hikes without needing a weatherproof case and still have battery left over; you know: rugged phone! The cool thing about it is its price: really cheap for the specs. Well, great note ! Thank you for sahring