View Full Version : Best apps for access points, water sources, etc
DownYonder
06-18-2018, 10:24
Daughter and I want to do the VA section of the AT over the remainder of this year and next. She can usually get off work long enough for 3 day/2 night trips with an occasional 3 nighter. We need a good app/book that can help us find ingress-egress points, water sources and where back country camping is permitted/restricted. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Slo-go'en
06-18-2018, 11:15
Guthook for on trail use. AWOL AT Guide for planning. State road map might be handy too.
The only camping restrictions in VA are in the Catawba area due to the popularity of Dragons tooth, McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs. (Avoid weekends in this area if possible). However, due to the fact much of the AT in VA traverses a rocky, narrow ridge with thick undergrowth of briers and saplings, camping at shelters is much easier and is generally the only place you'll find reliable water. The southern end of the AT in VA crosses a lot of farms and/or private land and that restricts where you can camp too, although it may not be specifically posted as no camping. Common sense tells you not to camp in the middle of a cow pasture. There are established, but non-designated camping spots here and there, but these are usually small spots, far from water and you can't really rely on finding the site empty at the end of a long day.
soumodeler
06-18-2018, 13:39
Guthook for on trail use. AWOL AT Guide for planning. State road map might be handy too.
This, exactly. Although you could get by with either Guthook or AWOL alone, they make an amazing combo.
DownYonder
06-18-2018, 17:05
Can Guthook be downloaded onto a laptop for planning and transferred over to an iphone for on the trail?
Slo-go'en
06-18-2018, 21:05
Can Guthook be downloaded onto a laptop for planning and transferred over to an iphone for on the trail?
Pretty sure it's just an Android / iPhone app. It would work on a tablet, which is pretty close to a laptop. Once you buy it you can down load it to as many devices as you want. It does help to have a decent sized and HD screen if you want to read the map.
Just finished a section hike from Hot Springs to Sam’s Gap, Guthook was great. It told how far you were from a particular location, elevation, and your next water source. It also allowed for comments from hikers to update. Great app and would not hike without it anymore.
Storm27m
06-19-2018, 12:30
Guthooks is great. Just make sure you have it oriented in the direction you are going. You can toggle the settings between NOBO and SOBO.
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DownYonder
06-19-2018, 17:24
Thanks for the recs! Downloaded one section of the AT and have been playing with it. Looks like a great app. Thanks again!!
Question about the guide: If you buy it and put it on your phone once, does it keep updating indefinitely? Or do you need to get new editions annually, the way you do with paper guidebooks?
chknfngrs
06-25-2018, 07:21
Updatable forever
Offshore
06-25-2018, 10:16
Updatable forever
I wonder how long until they sunset the existing version and create a new one on a subscription basis. Selling an app and data files once and maintaining them forever is an unsustainable business model, particularly for a relatively limited-interest app. It's sort of like buying AWOL once and having new versions provided each year for free.
If Marta is asking about the electronic copy of the AWOL guide, that's a purchase of the PDF for the applicable year. It is not a subscription and not updated automatically. If you want the newer version in the future, you'd have to buy that just like you'd buy the printed copy.