Planning the Next Adventure

As an avid hiker and trail runner I am always on the lookout for interesting places to explore and there are a couple of ways I routinely seek out my next adventure. When seeking to explore a new area getting a trusted opinion of someone who has hiked the area before is usually the best bet but not always feasible.  When there is no one to ask, however, I have become a fan of using some apps/online research tools to identify trails that would interest me. The approach that I tend to use is as follows:

1. AllTrails – This app has been around for a relatively long time and was one of the first hiking apps I can remember using, but it is an app that I find myself using less often as time goes on.  I think it is still a great resource to identify interesting areas to hike and run as you can view pictures of a trail and frequently read reviews of a given trail.  The downside to me is that you are only readily presented with a pre-canned list of routes with no easy way to create a custom route from point A to point B if it does not already exist. It’s great for ideas of where to go, but necessarily the best for planning how to see everything you want when you get there.
2. Hiking Project – Hiking Project is an app that I find myself using more and more often for the role that AllTrails used to fill – finding an interesting area to explore.  I really like how they overlay pictures of different scenic views onto the map so you can figure out that you want to see these 3 sites off the blue trail and these 2 off of the red trail along with an idea of where they are on each trail.  It gives you a bit more granular insight into how you can make the most of your adventure.
3. Komoot – this has become my go to app for route planning.  Once I identify an exciting area to explore using AllTrails or Hiking Project I will turn to Komoot to plan a route through the area.  This way I can easily see that in order to hit every site I want to see on my journey I need to start on the red trail and then switch to the blue and then finally take the yellow trail back to the start. I can layout a route that works for me and not just follow a pre-canned route created by someone else. I also really like the elevation profiles that they provide as part of the route planning. If I am training for a particular event I can try to find routes that will have similar elevation profiles to race day.
4. Paper maps and compass – Not an app by any means but something I always like to keep handy.  GPS navigation is great and highly convenient, but things can occasionally go wrong – batteries die, signals can be poor, devices break, etc.  When this happens, you need to ensure that you have a way to navigate out if needed. While plasticized or laminated maps are best for the waterproofing, even without having the ability to purchase those it’s trivial to print off a map from one of the above apps to have a hard copy that you can store in some place where it will stay dry.  It adds negligible weight to your pack but is invaluable when the need arises.