Best Hiking Apps to Download in 2024
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You will all agree if we say hiking is the perfect way to fulfill all of your needs, whether you want to get out of your mundane workout routine, crave adventure, or simply want to connect with nature. Best part is that hiking doesn’t require any special skills, and you don’t have to be on a mountain to do it. If you’re a fitness newbie or a seasoned athlete, you can get the forest-bathing benefits you seek by venturing out onto more secluded paths in your local parks and beaches.
The benefits of hiking in nature have become so widespread that some doctors have begun prescribing it as a complementary treatment to conventional medicine. Generally, exercise can help relieve stress. However, in contrast to other forms of exercise, hiking takes place outside in nature, which obviously has more benefits. It doesn’t matter where you hike — a city park, public garden, mountain trail — hiking gives you that dose of nature you need to stay happy. You will work all the muscles in your lower body with a good incline. It challenges your calves, quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and core muscles. Hiking can also serve as a workout for your upper body if you carry a backpack or choose a trail that involves scrambling or climbing.
Additionally, you might want to consider incorporating hikes into your workout plan if you have trouble sleeping some nights. The Journal of Life and Environmental Sciences published a meta-analysis in July 2018 that found that exercise in general can help you sleep better. This is not the only study; you will find hundreds of such cases on the internet.
Well, it looks like the benefits of hiking might just go on and on, so let us just stop here and get to the actual part of this article, which is some of the some apps/tools to help you along the journey. Before that, you need to ensure that you have a steady and fast internet like Spectrum, so that you can get notifications in a timely manner, especially when you are on a hike.
Anyway, below are some of these apps to download immediately:
Cairn
There are a number of cases in which hikers disappear. Unfortunately, not all of these stories end happily, so safety should be a priority regardless of the season. Hiking apps can be useful for many reasons, including this. Cairn might be just what you’re looking for if you plan to do this.
If you’re going on an adventure, Cairn will make sure you get home safely. You’ll always feel safe, regardless of the reception, with this app, which works online or offline. In order to explore where you will be, you must download the map beforehand.
You will also be able to comfort your family by knowing that they will be alerted if you are overdue. No reception is required to use this feature. Cairn will notify your circle (aka those people you add to follow where you are) if you knowingly return later than you said you would.
Spyglass
This GPS toolkit is packed with impressive outdoor navigation tools. In comparison to other map applications and standard GPS available on the App Store, Spyglass iPhone app offers more high-tech features. Viewfinders are created using the camera on your device. This app calibrates positional information using the device’s hardware sensors when opened. An augmented reality display overlays a digital compass. Your exact location can also be displayed on a map by overlaying the compass.
A compass, speedometer, altimeter, sextant, and a gyro compass are included with this spyglass compass application, along with a tactical GPS, a real-time viewfinder, and a real-time map. Also, it can guide your position based on the position of the moon and stars. Whether you’re off-roading, hiking, mountain climbing, or exploring rivers, this device is perfect. The GPS can even be used as a navigation tool when flying a plane.
PeakVisor
PeakVisor turns you into an outdoor navigation superhero by providing access to 3D maps and tools for identifying mountains. You can view names and elevations of nearby peaks using its camera and augmented reality technology.
PeakVisor uses a landscape model with higher precision. While it might not be as noticeable in hilly regions like Toscana, Italy, it is a huge deal in mountainous regions like the Colorado Rockies, Swiss Alps, and the Dolomites. You can always disable HD maps or download them in small chunks if you don’t want to use that much space on your phone. But higher precision maps take more space on your phone. There is a wide variety of additional information available with PeakVisor, in addition to the peak name and elevation. This includes topographic prominence, mountain range, short description, administrative entities, and photos. Moreover, there is information on castles, mountain huts, and hiking trails.
Wrapping Up
Though there are many useful apps that will make hiking a fun experience for you, but these are our top picks. We did not want you to confuse with a bunch of options. Let us know which app did you like the most in the comments section below.
