how-to: backcountry route planning - part III, favorite tools

Welcome to the third and last part of a series on backcountry route planning, where we’re learning tools to plan custom backcountry trips.

So far we’ve covered:

part I. trip planning using Caltopo and Gaia GPS

part II. taking notes and saving your trip history

Today we’ll look at some of my favorite tools for trip planning and navigation afield: Caltopo, Gaia GPS, Topo Maps! and Avenza Maps. The summary below will give you an idea of what tool suits your backcountry aspirations best.

Note: pricing information current as of May 2019

summary of favorite tools

Caltopo

The core of my backcountry planning process. I use Caltopo to research trips, create maps, prepare pdfs to print, and keep track of all my notes for past and future backcountry trips.

primary use: planning, sharing maps, printing maps, database for trip notes
platform: web app for desktop and mobile
good:
- excellent ability overlay information and customize maps
- easy (and free) to share and collaborate
bad:
- desktop only (mobile web app available, but useless offline)
- long learning curve for some features
Cost:

Caltopo subscription levels, click table for details

more info:
- CT knowledge base: http://help.caltopo.com/kb

Gaia GPS

Alongside paper maps, my primary tool for backcountry navigation.

primary use: backcountry navigation and notes
platform: iOS and Android mobile apps, web app for desktop
good:
- wide variety of maps available (though this is limited by subscription tier)
- easy to download maps and use offline (with subscription)
- web app enables easy upload/download of gpx files
bad:
- requires subscription to be useful
- slope-angle and Nat Geo Trails Illustrated layers require top-tier subscription
Cost:

more info: www.gaiagps.com

Avenza Maps

Allows offline viewing of Caltopo PDFs on your phone

primary use: backcountry navigation and notes
platform: iOS and Android mobile apps
good:
- allows viewing of Caltopo maps in the backcountry
- free to upload up to 3 of your own maps
bad:
- requires subscription for >3 maps
- pdf map files are larger than equivalent Gaia map files
- maps purchased through Avenza app are expensive
Cost:

more info:
- www.avenzamaps.com
- an article I wrote on how to import Caltopo maps to Avenza

Topo Maps!

Excellent, cheap tool to get you started

primary use: backcountry navigation and notes
platform: iOS mobile app
good:
- Cheap ($7.99 one-time)
- solid offline topo-map functionality
bad:
- USGS Quad and Canadian Government topo are only map layers
- limited features (no track recording)
- downloading maps for offline use is cumbersome
Cost: $7.99 one-time
More info: topomapsapp.com

That’s it for the series! If you followed along I hope you’ve found some tools and techniques that will help you craft your own adventures, or at the very least avoid looking like this guy: