I was reading with interest the recent thread about handhelds and whatnot.

I got lost in a maze of unmarked trails a while back that scared me into not going out alone anymore (there were no safety concerns where I was, just hopelessly lost).

I am not current with technology, and I have a visual disability that makes web surfing very difficult, so I could use your collective sage advice on this. I have an iPhone 7+. I would like to be able to turn on 'insert suggested app here' and from that point have it track my steps via ?gps? and if I get lost, I can look at the screen and it will show me the 'breadcrumb' steps I have taken and also shows me where I am at that moment, and can track my movements in real time so I can see if I am going the right way (like Google Maps does when I am in the car).

Help?

Warrior Woman
old dog trying to learn new tricks

Hi Warrior Woman!

I have an app called Gaia GPS that is free in the app store. I think it is very user friendly and tracks your route when you press the record button. It has many of our local trails in its built in map, but not all. There are other apps like that, but this is the one we have and it works great.

roo :-)

Hi roo!

Thank you so much for the tip! I'm going to check it out!

Warrior Woman
scampering off with a new toy

I use Map My Fitness
once on trail or for me at my car I start the app and just let it go in the background and if I get lost just open the app back up and I can see where I started. I have been lost a few times on trails and it really helps to know where your car is. Especially if you forgot your water and it's in the car.
Another app I use is All Trails and I have used Find iphone app it will locate you and show a google type map of where you are.
Happy Trails,
oceanwinds

Oooh! Another good app!

Warrior Woman
grateful for this community

I also carry a extra battery charger with me in my backpack. Apps are nice but can pull your phone down. And a dead phone is no good to you. Sometimes you just need someone to talk you out the woods. lol

I use Map my Walk app. Not only does it map your walk, you can save all routes for reference. Just beware, when you don't move fast enough for her she makes snide remarks like " 1 mile, time 40 minutes, pace NOT MOVING". She doesn't understand that you are doing more than just walking and you can't make her understand why you're hiding containers under rocks.

The app that I used last week to get us back to the car was Map My Hike. Even though we didn't start out using it, I was at least able to see some landmarks on the map and head back in the right direction. And, I agree with a previous response, definitely have a back up charger with you if you use these apps, they are battery drainers.

I use a “map my...” app but I don’t remember which one at the moment. As someone else suggested, carry a spare battery and cord for your phone. All of the GPS apps will quickly drain your battery. In cold weather, you can easily drop from 50% charge to dead phone in 10 minutes (been there, done that!) so I now keep the battery fully charged when it is below freezing.

I also use AllTrails and love it. Sometimes it is just nice to be able to look at the app and see how far it is to get back to where you started. And I use it to track miles for treasure hiker pathtags and providing a heads up when I am hiding boxes.

If I'm driving in the car, my tablet is plugged into a charger plugged into the cig lighter. It's the only way to maintain enough charge for those times I'm out of the car.

If you're leaving the car and are concerned about getting back to it, there's a way that uses a bit less juice. While you're at the car, bring up any good mapping app (my choice is MAPS.ME) and mark the location of the car with a bookmark. Then you can actually turn the phone off if you want to save battery power. When you decide you're hopelessly lost, fire it back up and it'll show you where your car is. It won't provide a safe route to get there, but at least you'll know which direction to go.

Love it!

Aha! That’s what it was!

Getting lots of suggestions for AllTrails. It’s nice to hear from another old timer ☺️

I am always astounded by your breadth of knowledge, Kirbert, and I am always grateful for it 😊

when you are concerned about battery life and you are not expecting any important calls / text messages, try putting your phone on airplane mode instead of powering it off. The GPS will still work but the battery savings will be huge - especially if you are a bit further from cell towers and your phone is struggling to find a signal. It's the phone/data anntenna's that really suck the battery down (although screen on-time is likely the biggest battery killer).
The advantage of airplane mode vs off is that you can look at a map (saved offline), or read clue (saved offline), or take photo whenever you want.
I didn't read this entire thread, but when I really want to keep a track (especially for adding a trail to the OSM maps), I prefer using my older Garmin handheld with AA batteries - can track for 5-6 hours and if I need to I can just swap out the batteries and I'm good for more hours. It's pretty much all I use it for now, and all my geocaching and letterboxing data file are on the phone.

Map my fitness, Map my run and Map my walk all the same. But I turned the sound off. I didn’t need Ms. Negativity talking to me while trying to find boxes.

I use airplane mode too. Just don’t forget to turn it off Once you’re back in the car