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Backpacker Magazine – June 2008

4 Trip-Planning Sites and Top Tech Tools

Every great trip boils down to this: Picking an ideal location, capturing memorable moments, and bragging about it.

by: Evelyn Spence, Jason Stevenson, Kris Wagner

Plan the Perfect Trip | Get Maps and Go | Websites and Tech Tools

Here's how to get started the high-tech way.

4 TRIP-PLANNING SITES
The best places to scout, research, and map out new hiking routes

  • Backpacker.com
    • Our (completely) unbiased pick to browse thousands of editor-approved hikes on Google Maps, skim reader trips, post your own treks, send waypoints to your GPS or phone, and get free GPS software.
  • Trails.com
    • This pay-to-play site turns guidebooks and USGS quads into printable PDFs. A $50 annual fee gives you unlimited access to scanned pages and seamless maps. trails.com
  • National Geographic TOPO! Explorer
    • Launched in April, NatGeo's new mapping home meshes USGS maps, aerial imagery, detailed points of interest, and elevation modeling into a single downloadable SuperQuad. ($25 for the software, plus $1 per download, topo.com)
  • Google Earth
    • Your one-stop shop for viewing interactive 3D maps, scouting unfamiliar terrain, or just zooming around a digitally miniaturized globe. It's the indispensable tool for planning (and later, sharing) a digital hike. (free, earth.google.com)

PIMP YOUR TECH TOOLS
3 sweet upgrades for trail gadgets

  • Brunton Solio 7.5
    • This 12-oz. portable battery ($65) stores extra power for USB-chargeable gadgets. Add the Inverter ($49) to juice up with a wall charger. brunton.com

  • Purosol Optical
    • This natural cleaner leaves your optics streak-free, and it comes with a non-abrasive microfiber cloth. $10, 1 oz.; purosol.com

  • SD/SDHC Memory
    • These wafer-like camera cards store photos and video. SDHC cards hold 4GB and up. Pack 512MB per day for photos, and 2GB a day for videos. ($20, amazon.com)

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READERS COMMENTS

I was hoping there was a one-stop shop for software download that would help plan and track my hiking trips to my GPS-enabled phone...Trimble Outdoors does not support HTC phones. Any ideas?
Posted: Jan 08, 2009 Jon

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