Offroad Trail Apps, How to Use Them?

KimsJeep

KimsJeep

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Ok guy's, I downloaded a few apps for my iPhone for find trails. I have the Gaia GPS app, the All Trails App, Backcountry app and also one called ViewRanger.

The problem I am having is actually finding off road trails for vehicles. They are all geared for hiking. How do you all find vehicle trails on them? The only one I even so an option to select "4x4" was the Gaia App and even when I selected it, it only showed me hiking trails.

Of course I am using the free versions for now. Once I figure out how to use one or 2, I wouldn't mind paying for more features, but I want to make sure they do what I want and show off road trails, not hiking.
 
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I use Gaia (which works offline) paired with traildamage.com (edit: I meant trailsoffroad.com). From there you can download the GPX files to Gaia and be out of service.
 
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Recently I've been trying something new that seems to work great. I find trails on sites like trailsoffroad.com or alltrails.com to see a map of the route. Then I create a new map in Google My Maps and route the trail there. For your own google account you can use this link.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/

Google has most of the trails and you just have to add allot of points to get it to follow the route/trail you want. Then you can share it with anybody that uses google maps. When they view the map online it should save the route automatically for use offline. It's free and allot more people use google maps than a particular pay app. If you want you can export the route to a KML file and even convret it to GPX if you are a little more computer savvy.

Here's one I did recently, just email anybody the link and you're all on the same page.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=17zJoxTHA09XDREXObM7RaumHPP9qI5LT&usp=sharing
Not for everybody especially tracing the route but once you've got the route down it's difficult to beat the convenience.
 
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Where I live Gaia with the USFS base map plus GPX files from various sources is perfect. For areas other than USFS lands change the base map to something more suitable.
 
So I'm guessing to actually see the 4x4 trails on Gaila, I have to pay the 30 bucks or what ever it is. That is the issue, I can't seem to find off road trails, I get hiking trails using the free part of the app.
 
pagrey said:
You might post in the NorCal Jeep adventures! thread, those guys would probably send you the GPX files for stuff around you. They've helped me, good people and good info over there.
Click to expand...

I may do that. I was just thinking these apps would be able to show different trails and rate them. Seems not unless you hike. LOL
 
Trailsoffroad.com is pretty good in my region. Though, downloading the gpx files requires a subscription.

I need to study Google maps more. It sounds like that would be a good replacement for Garmin Nuvi, which worked great for many years, but is feeling very antiquated now.
 
I run an android double-din head unit in my dash and trail maps are one of the best things about it. I use an app called Locus Maps to display trail maps and routes. My primary map source is California Trail Maps (www.californiatrailmaps.com) which integrates directly with Locus Maps.

I use other apps like AllTrails, or go to places like trailsoffroad.com to research and download GPX files for the trails I'm interested in (in AllTrails you can filter by activity if you just want off road driving trails). Then I transfer the GPX files to my head unit and load them into Locus as tracks. Then basically I just follow the blue line on the screen and I'm on the right trail.

None of the apps or sites are free, but they're fairly cheap and very useful.
 
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Skully said:
I run an android double-din head unit in my dash and trail maps are one of the best things about it. I use an app called Locus Maps to display trail maps and routes. My primary map source is California Trail Maps (www.californiatrailmaps.com) which integrates directly with Locus Maps.

I use other apps like AllTrails, or go to places like trailsoffroad.com to research and download GPX files for the trails I'm interested in (in AllTrails you can filter by activity if you just want off road driving trails). Then I transfer the GPX files to my head unit and load them into Locus as tracks. Then basically I just follow the blue line on the screen and I'm on the right trail.

None of the apps or sites are free, but they're fairly cheap and very useful.
Click to expand...

I finally paid for the Gaia (sp) app and I still am having a hard time figureing it out. I select that I want 4x4 trails and do a search for trails near me and I still get walking trails. I haven't paid for other apps yet, I would like to test drive them first. I just got done playing around with AllTrails and it only gives walking trails in the "free" version. I don't see anywhere to select 4x4 trails. I will probably pay for the Trailsoffroad.com's full version. It appears to be geared more toward what I am looking for.

Hardest part is figuring out how to use the apps. LOL
 
KimsJeep said:
I finally paid for the Gaia (sp) app and I still am having a hard time figureing it out. I select that I want 4x4 trails and do a search for trails near me and I still get walking trails. I haven't paid for other apps yet, I would like to test drive them first. I just got done playing around with AllTrails and it only gives walking trails in the "free" version. I don't see anywhere to select 4x4 trails. I will probably pay for the Trailsoffroad.com's full version. It appears to be geared more toward what I am looking for.

Hardest part is figuring out how to use the apps. LOL
Click to expand...

I haven’t found a way to make GAIA useful alone (unless you want to just track GPS records). Trailsoffroad should have some free samples before you commit.

Using trails offroad, find a trail (such as red cone:https://www.trailsoffroad.com/trails/432-red-cone).

Scroll down to “GPX Download”. That will at least let you choose to open it with GAIA.

Once loaded, The middle of the top buttons is the GPS selector. You can tap it twice to locate and follow the device’s location.
 
KimsJeep said:
I finally paid for the Gaia (sp) app and I still am having a hard time figureing it out. I select that I want 4x4 trails and do a search for trails near me and I still get walking trails. I haven't paid for other apps yet, I would like to test drive them first. I just got done playing around with AllTrails and it only gives walking trails in the "free" version. I don't see anywhere to select 4x4 trails. I will probably pay for the Trailsoffroad.com's full version. It appears to be geared more toward what I am looking for.

Hardest part is figuring out how to use the apps. LOL
Click to expand...

I had downloaded the trial version of Gaia but with some of the other resources I found I didn't see it to be very useful to me.

Alltrails looks like a good service and I use it a lot, but I use the website for researching trails - I don't really use the app that much. If you just go to their website - www.alltrails.com - type in an area and click on one of the blue trail dots on the map. It will give you a list of trails in that area. Then under the 'what to do' heading above the map, click on 'OHV / Off Road Driving'. That will filter the list. You can't actually look at the trail details without paying, but it will give you a good idea of what trails they have for your Jeep. If you subscribe you get all the trail info including GPX files that you can use in any mapping app, or you can just navigate using the Alltrails app (although I don't use the app for that so I can't speak to how well that part works).
 
Thanks guys! I just paid for a membership for the Trailsoffroad.com site. It is exactly what I was looking for. With the paid subscription it rates the trails for how difficult they are, it gives info on the trail, and even has waypoints along the trail that has pics and info on each waypoint. I really like it so far.

I do wish they had an app for cel phones but I will just learn how to download and share the gpx to my phone. If I can't do it to my phone, I have an old Zumo that I used for my MC days. I can transfer them to it , I think. LOL Hopfully it isn't to old. Now I need to go find my car mount for it. LOL
 
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I've got the AllTrails map. I find it easier to use on the computer to find trails. You can filter out OHV (Off Highway Vehicle) trails. There's two down in Big Sur if that's feasible for you, and there's also Hollister Hills State Vehicle Recreation Area.

I've only been able to check out the Old Coast Road, which is a 10 mile rocky dirt trail through the hills. You'd only need 4wd I'd it was wet.
 
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