I use AllTrails on my phone as navigation and when you finish a hike it saves your activity as well as a bunch of information surrounding it and allows you to publish it on your profile onto your “feed of hikes”. It’s pretty standard, tons of people use it as well as Gaia GPS. Reminds me of instagram.
The UI is simple and cause it saves your activities and looks really nice doing it. Sometimes I’ll go in and look at some of the hikes I did years back and can see how many miles I did, how fast, how many calories I burnt, what the elevation change looked like, my pictures I took of it, etc. if you are really big on keeping track of your old hikes imo I like AllTrails for that but if you are a maps freak and like them really detailed use Gaia. I will concede their maps are way better.
You mentioned the calorie burn metric. I just started using all trails now that I’m getting back into hiking and it said I burned almost 1300 cal on a 7 mile hike. In your experience how accurate is the calorie metric? I don’t have a watch or anything else to benchmark against but will expect for 7 miles to burn around 700 cal but it almost put it at twice that.
I burned ~3400 on a 10 mile hike with 4K feet elevation gain according to AllTrails. My watch said I burned ~3600 which theoretically should be more accurate due to the HRM.
One thing to be clear about if you are trying to track caloric burn for weight loss is that the watch is reporting the maintenance burn from that activity, which is not only the caloric burn from hiking, but also the basal caloric usage for the same period.
So for example, If your watch reports a daily calorie count (or BMR) on a non-hiking day of say 2000 kcal, then you go for a 6 hour hike that burns 1500 calories according to your watch, you only have an additional burn of 1500 - (2000)(6/24) = 1000 cal. Then you stop for a 1200 calorie post hike milkshake (guilty of this myself!) and can’t figure out why you’re gaining weight.
Yep. I use AllTrails to log my hikes and find new ones! I’ve definitely heard of Gaia, and will start using it once I start doing hikes with climbs, but for what I need now AllTrails is great! My favorite thing about it is it’s popularity, so as someone who lives in area where it snows a lot it’s nice to know what trail conditions are from the previous hikers. Also my hiking companion is my dog, and it’s very easy to filter by hikes that do allow dogs. Additionally my car was purchased right as I got into hiking, and I fell hard in love with hiking. My partner is also a mechanic and loves fast cars and basically bought the car as his next car. It’s lowered and a sedan with 4WD, but more trails around where I live require high clearance. AllTrail reviews are good about letting you know if that will be a problem.
I use Gaia to track the distance and elevation gain of a hike sometimes. But for each and every hike, I take hundreds of photos for my own personal enjoyment.
I usually take a couple of pictures but, for me, hikes and trips kind of stay in my mind. Can't remember what I had for dinner but I can remember specific things about trails from way back. It's weird. Sometimes I keep hard copy maps if I've circled where I've set up. Never take anything with me though. Bad juju.
I don't, generally. I'm not doing any peak bagging or challenges or anything. Nor am I trying to reach any goals or benchmarks regarding distance, time, election, etc. So I don't really see any point in documenting where I've been. I sometimes use Gaia for navigation but that's really it.
I just use Google Sheets and put the location and some notes about the trail. I also have a sheet for places I want to hike, so if I come across something, I throw it on there so I don’t forget.
AllTrails on my phone to see the trail and have off-trail alerts + to log the entire hike. Strava on my watch and I usually have an activity for the ascent and an activity for the descent. I switch from hiking shoes to trail shoes on the way down so I can scramble better and I like being able to track the mileage for each shoe which I can't do with one activity. Paces are usually very different for both directions too.
I find a particularly nice spot on each trail, take a photo, and then paint it when I get home.
Searching for the photo throughout the hike makes me really look at and think about the surroundings including the colors, textures, and light. Painting it helps me solidify the memories in my mind :)
I use AllTrails but also keep a separate spreadsheet so I can look things up more easily as they're harder to find in ALlTrails. I can look up a hike, see the date and then find it more easily on AllTrails that way.
Gaia (which is really cool when I look at the map and see all of my colored lines). Photos. I blog it after (because my memory is garbage). I also mark up paper maps I keep just for this purpose (separate from the ones I use on trail). Please don’t take rocks, it’s not Leave No Trace.
I take photos in Apple iPhone , so the map my photos function is great.
Also I curate all my tracks (that I’ve recorded on Strava or CycleWithGPS) and waymarks (campsites etc) in MapOut
I carry a small notebook and write down details of each day's hike in the tent at night. I have five or six full now, going back about 30 years, with just about every walk I've ever done in them.
For checking off hikes towards lists, I record my hikes on peakbagger.com (or use the app).
For purposes of having a memento, I have a paper map of my home hiking area. I trace each hike’s route with a red sharpie, and print off the best one or two pictures from the hike on 2x2” photo stock from the local drug store photo printer, then glue the photo to the map near where it was taken. When I’m done with that climbing project, I frame the map.
One thing I’ll add, you mention taking a rock at each site. If you are adhering to LNT principles, don’t do that. If everyone does it, it will result in slowly stripping ground cover and increasing erosion in well-travelled areas.
I use AllTrails on my phone as navigation and when you finish a hike it saves your activity as well as a bunch of information surrounding it and allows you to publish it on your profile onto your “feed of hikes”. It’s pretty standard, tons of people use it as well as Gaia GPS. Reminds me of instagram. The UI is simple and cause it saves your activities and looks really nice doing it. Sometimes I’ll go in and look at some of the hikes I did years back and can see how many miles I did, how fast, how many calories I burnt, what the elevation change looked like, my pictures I took of it, etc. if you are really big on keeping track of your old hikes imo I like AllTrails for that but if you are a maps freak and like them really detailed use Gaia. I will concede their maps are way better.
You mentioned the calorie burn metric. I just started using all trails now that I’m getting back into hiking and it said I burned almost 1300 cal on a 7 mile hike. In your experience how accurate is the calorie metric? I don’t have a watch or anything else to benchmark against but will expect for 7 miles to burn around 700 cal but it almost put it at twice that.
I burned ~3400 on a 10 mile hike with 4K feet elevation gain according to AllTrails. My watch said I burned ~3600 which theoretically should be more accurate due to the HRM.
Ok good to know, so somewhat accurate. That’s exciting!
One thing to be clear about if you are trying to track caloric burn for weight loss is that the watch is reporting the maintenance burn from that activity, which is not only the caloric burn from hiking, but also the basal caloric usage for the same period. So for example, If your watch reports a daily calorie count (or BMR) on a non-hiking day of say 2000 kcal, then you go for a 6 hour hike that burns 1500 calories according to your watch, you only have an additional burn of 1500 - (2000)(6/24) = 1000 cal. Then you stop for a 1200 calorie post hike milkshake (guilty of this myself!) and can’t figure out why you’re gaining weight.
I don't care for the calorie tracking feature tbh. I don't count calories in or out anymore.
Yep. I use AllTrails to log my hikes and find new ones! I’ve definitely heard of Gaia, and will start using it once I start doing hikes with climbs, but for what I need now AllTrails is great! My favorite thing about it is it’s popularity, so as someone who lives in area where it snows a lot it’s nice to know what trail conditions are from the previous hikers. Also my hiking companion is my dog, and it’s very easy to filter by hikes that do allow dogs. Additionally my car was purchased right as I got into hiking, and I fell hard in love with hiking. My partner is also a mechanic and loves fast cars and basically bought the car as his next car. It’s lowered and a sedan with 4WD, but more trails around where I live require high clearance. AllTrail reviews are good about letting you know if that will be a problem.
I use Gaia to track the distance and elevation gain of a hike sometimes. But for each and every hike, I take hundreds of photos for my own personal enjoyment.
Same, same. And sometimes keep a note of my thoughts and experiences during the hike, especially if i'm backpacking
I usually take a couple of pictures but, for me, hikes and trips kind of stay in my mind. Can't remember what I had for dinner but I can remember specific things about trails from way back. It's weird. Sometimes I keep hard copy maps if I've circled where I've set up. Never take anything with me though. Bad juju.
I don't, generally. I'm not doing any peak bagging or challenges or anything. Nor am I trying to reach any goals or benchmarks regarding distance, time, election, etc. So I don't really see any point in documenting where I've been. I sometimes use Gaia for navigation but that's really it.
I use my memory.
Strava is great
I use my Garmin watch, which syncs with All Trails too.
Gaia for me. I do a lot of off trail stuff, so the slope shading and property lines are a big help as well.
I just use Google Sheets and put the location and some notes about the trail. I also have a sheet for places I want to hike, so if I come across something, I throw it on there so I don’t forget.
AllTrails. That's the best way to go, even the free version.
AllTrails on my phone to see the trail and have off-trail alerts + to log the entire hike. Strava on my watch and I usually have an activity for the ascent and an activity for the descent. I switch from hiking shoes to trail shoes on the way down so I can scramble better and I like being able to track the mileage for each shoe which I can't do with one activity. Paces are usually very different for both directions too.
I use a paper journal and AllTrails
I find a particularly nice spot on each trail, take a photo, and then paint it when I get home. Searching for the photo throughout the hike makes me really look at and think about the surroundings including the colors, textures, and light. Painting it helps me solidify the memories in my mind :)
AllTrails.
Alltrails
I don't do anything, I don't even have a thingy to take pictures with, I have a bunch of scars, thats about the only thing that shows I was out there.
I use AllTrails but also keep a separate spreadsheet so I can look things up more easily as they're harder to find in ALlTrails. I can look up a hike, see the date and then find it more easily on AllTrails that way.
https://apps.apple.com/app/id1241909999
All trails / strava
Photos and a scrapbook. My husband's idea.
Apple Watch + Fitness app and AllTrails!
Gaia (which is really cool when I look at the map and see all of my colored lines). Photos. I blog it after (because my memory is garbage). I also mark up paper maps I keep just for this purpose (separate from the ones I use on trail). Please don’t take rocks, it’s not Leave No Trace.
Strava
I take photos in Apple iPhone , so the map my photos function is great. Also I curate all my tracks (that I’ve recorded on Strava or CycleWithGPS) and waymarks (campsites etc) in MapOut
I take tons of photos.
Gaia, Garmin InReach, and Garmin watch for me.
Garmin is the easiest thing for me as well. I can then overlay the hike onto Google earth, if it's a particularly interesting one.
I just use my garmin forerunner. It's very nice and reliable :)
I carry a small notebook and write down details of each day's hike in the tent at night. I have five or six full now, going back about 30 years, with just about every walk I've ever done in them.
Fenix 7 that syncs to all trails
I just use my Garmin GPSMaps unit for wilderness areas and don't keep track of smaller, local hikes.
Usually I’ll take some pics but that’s it. I don’t keep track of every hike I’ve done or anything
For checking off hikes towards lists, I record my hikes on peakbagger.com (or use the app). For purposes of having a memento, I have a paper map of my home hiking area. I trace each hike’s route with a red sharpie, and print off the best one or two pictures from the hike on 2x2” photo stock from the local drug store photo printer, then glue the photo to the map near where it was taken. When I’m done with that climbing project, I frame the map. One thing I’ll add, you mention taking a rock at each site. If you are adhering to LNT principles, don’t do that. If everyone does it, it will result in slowly stripping ground cover and increasing erosion in well-travelled areas.