Gear Trailspotting Uses
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Hiking Gear
Anyone can start hiking with what they already own, but purpose-made gear will reward with comfort, reliability and safety. So we've linked some of our favorite hiking gear below. This is in addition to usual considerations such as water, food, first aid essentials, emergency whistle and sunscreen. Trailspotting is non-commercial and ad-free, so any links we publish are not monetized in any way.
• AllTrails Pro [alltrails.com]
Our main navigation tool, using either crowdsourced or our own custom routes. We've paid for AllTrails Pro for years to get the offline maps, and we're particularly impressed with the stability of the iPhone app. Their crowdsourced routes and reviews are the most complete we've found on the web. AllTrails uses OpenStreetMap as their principal basemap and it's mostly accurate, but when we find errors we fix them directly in OSM.
• CoMaps [comaps.app]
This free, open source mapping app provides instant access to pre-loaded OpenStreetMap basemaps and trails. We keep several entire US state maps or European countries on our phone. It's also extremely useful for importing and layering GPX and KML files onto the basemap, including those provided by Trailspotting. We often use it to view travel plans we've created in Google Maps. The user interface is a little rough around the edges, and we do find its trail recording abilities to be mediocre. CoMaps is a fork of Organic Maps, which we used previously, but we're finding CoMaps now has a better feature set.
• INUI MagSafe Power Bank [inuishop.com]
Backup smartphone or headlamp power on the trail. We use it wired most of the time to avoid the lossy wireless charging.
• Nitecore USB Headlamp [nitecorestore.com]
We recommend carrying a headlamp if there's ever a chance of running out of daylight. A USB-powered model like this means you have confidence of ongoing illumination if you also bring a backup USB power bank.
• PurAqua Electrolyte drink mix [aldi.us]
Heat exhaustion is no joke and can have lasting consequences. On strenuous hikes—especially in hot weather, plain water isn't enough, as you also need to replenish lost salts and electrolytes. We swapped expensive, low-dose chewable tablets for these electrolyte powders, which cost about $3 for six packets. For the toughest hikes, we drink 16 oz mixed with a packet the night before, another upon waking, and a third right before hitting the trail. We carry extra for the hike and often finish with one more - it all depends on the heat and the level of exertion.
• Permethrin Repellent [amazon.com]
Tick and mosquito repellent for clothes. Spray on your hiking clothes in spring, and repeat later in the year if necessary. Not safe around cats.
• Picaridin Repellent [sawyer.com]
Tick and mosquito repellent for skin. Provides 4-5 hours of protection. Doesn't contain DEET (which has drawbacks and loss of effectiveness when combined with sunscreens).
Photography Gear
We travel extremely light and rely solely on a smartphone for trail images. Although modern dedicated cameras can provide better-quality images, they're bulky and often overkill for web-based productions like ours. Additionally, changing lenses on a trail can be a real chore.
• Photo Software
Our photos are processed with old-school Adobe Lightroom 3.2 (2010) and occasionally touched-up with the open-source GIMP3.0.
• Stitching Software [sourceforge.io]
For the widest of our panoramas, and also to avoid sometimes poor results from ultrawide smartphone camera lenses, we take multiple shots from the main lens and stich them together with the free Hugin stitching software.
• Phone Lanyard
Perhaps our most important photo accessory is a wrist lanyard that can be secured to our smartphone and case, combined with a retractable badge holder that attaches to a belt loop. We pull our phone out so often to take photos on the trail that this has stopped us from dropping our device more than once.
• Toneof Smartphone Tripod [toneof-us.com]
Photos are better with people in them, and on remote solo hikes a tripod is sometimes the only way we can frame a person in the shot. This combined tripod and selfie stick is lightweight and takes literally just 5 seconds to set up or strip down. The tripod does need a flat surface and it can be unstable in windy conditions. Combined with the lanyard for security, we can also use the tripod as a selfie stick to get some unique shots. We clip the tripod to our belt using the Spider tool holster [spidertoolholster.com].
More links:
About Trailspotting
Travelling Light with One Bag
Hiking Gear
Anyone can start hiking with what they already own, but purpose-made gear will reward with comfort, reliability and safety. So we've linked some of our favorite hiking gear below. This is in addition to usual considerations such as water, food, first aid essentials, emergency whistle and sunscreen. Trailspotting is non-commercial and ad-free, so any links we publish are not monetized in any way.
• AllTrails Pro [alltrails.com]
Our main navigation tool, using either crowdsourced or our own custom routes. We've paid for AllTrails Pro for years to get the offline maps, and we're particularly impressed with the stability of the iPhone app. Their crowdsourced routes and reviews are the most complete we've found on the web. AllTrails uses OpenStreetMap as their principal basemap and it's mostly accurate, but when we find errors we fix them directly in OSM.
• CoMaps [comaps.app]
This free, open source mapping app provides instant access to pre-loaded OpenStreetMap basemaps and trails. We keep several entire US state maps or European countries on our phone. It's also extremely useful for importing and layering GPX and KML files onto the basemap, including those provided by Trailspotting. We often use it to view travel plans we've created in Google Maps. The user interface is a little rough around the edges, and we do find its trail recording abilities to be mediocre. CoMaps is a fork of Organic Maps, which we used previously, but we're finding CoMaps now has a better feature set.
• INUI MagSafe Power Bank [inuishop.com]
Backup smartphone or headlamp power on the trail. We use it wired most of the time to avoid the lossy wireless charging.
• Nitecore USB Headlamp [nitecorestore.com]
We recommend carrying a headlamp if there's ever a chance of running out of daylight. A USB-powered model like this means you have confidence of ongoing illumination if you also bring a backup USB power bank.
• PurAqua Electrolyte drink mix [aldi.us]
Heat exhaustion is no joke and can have lasting consequences. On strenuous hikes—especially in hot weather, plain water isn't enough, as you also need to replenish lost salts and electrolytes. We swapped expensive, low-dose chewable tablets for these electrolyte powders, which cost about $3 for six packets. For the toughest hikes, we drink 16 oz mixed with a packet the night before, another upon waking, and a third right before hitting the trail. We carry extra for the hike and often finish with one more - it all depends on the heat and the level of exertion.
• Permethrin Repellent [amazon.com]
Tick and mosquito repellent for clothes. Spray on your hiking clothes in spring, and repeat later in the year if necessary. Not safe around cats.
• Picaridin Repellent [sawyer.com]
Tick and mosquito repellent for skin. Provides 4-5 hours of protection. Doesn't contain DEET (which has drawbacks and loss of effectiveness when combined with sunscreens).
Photography Gear
We travel extremely light and rely solely on a smartphone for trail images. Although modern dedicated cameras can provide better-quality images, they're bulky and often overkill for web-based productions like ours. Additionally, changing lenses on a trail can be a real chore.
• Photo Software
Our photos are processed with old-school Adobe Lightroom 3.2 (2010) and occasionally touched-up with the open-source GIMP3.0.
• Stitching Software [sourceforge.io]
For the widest of our panoramas, and also to avoid sometimes poor results from ultrawide smartphone camera lenses, we take multiple shots from the main lens and stich them together with the free Hugin stitching software.
• Phone Lanyard
Perhaps our most important photo accessory is a wrist lanyard that can be secured to our smartphone and case, combined with a retractable badge holder that attaches to a belt loop. We pull our phone out so often to take photos on the trail that this has stopped us from dropping our device more than once.
• Toneof Smartphone Tripod [toneof-us.com]
Photos are better with people in them, and on remote solo hikes a tripod is sometimes the only way we can frame a person in the shot. This combined tripod and selfie stick is lightweight and takes literally just 5 seconds to set up or strip down. The tripod does need a flat surface and it can be unstable in windy conditions. Combined with the lanyard for security, we can also use the tripod as a selfie stick to get some unique shots. We clip the tripod to our belt using the Spider tool holster [spidertoolholster.com].
More links:
About Trailspotting
Travelling Light with One Bag
Best Trails of California
See our favorite hiking trails for each region of California.
See our favorite hiking trails for each region of California.
Best Trails of New Hampshire
See our favorite hiking trails and rail trails for each region of New Hampshire.
See our favorite hiking trails and rail trails for each region of New Hampshire.
Trailspotting the Southwest
See our growing collection of hikes from the Southwestern US states.
See our growing collection of hikes from the Southwestern US states.
