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Cbacon

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What are some apps to download for off road exploring using phone for gps guidance? Been looking at AllTrails.com, Trailsoffroad.com, and Gaiagps.com. Anyone have any experience with these? Heading down to Arkansas in Feburary. Looking for some forest road, etc to explore.
Also trying to plan a trip to Colorado for next year.
Thanks,
Corey
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fat_head

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Gaia is the gold standard. Don't rely on it's built in MVUM's tho. They are years out of date. Get the most recent maps from here http://open-mvum.com/
 

IronScott

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What are some apps to download for off road exploring using phone for gps guidance? Been looking at AllTrails.com, Trailsoffroad.com, and Gaiagps.com. Anyone have any experience with these? Heading down to Arkansas in Feburary. Looking for some forest road, etc to explore.
Also trying to plan a trip to Colorado for next year.
Thanks,
Corey
Gaia is definitely the most used here in the Ozarks and Ouachitas. The MVUM layer is reasonably current for this area but I definitely wouldn’t totally trust it. The MVUM layer was recently changed from a color-based scheme to match the forest service black and white scheme, so it’s easier to compare the USFS MVUM and Gaia for building routes.

A lot of people are now using Avenza either in addition to Gaia or stand alone. It’s free and pretty good and getting better. Below is a link to the Ozarks maps and other info. If you’re on Facebook it’d be worth joining Natural State Overland group. A lot of guys in there know the trails extremely well. I’m just a rookie but they have helped me a lot.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/osfnf/maps-pubs
 

IronScott

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Cbacon

Cbacon

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Just joined natural state overland group. Still trying to figure out all these different gps maps
 

spurly

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I use Avenza primarily. And the free version of Gaia to track my routes. Avenza can be difficult to understand when you first start because you have to find the maps you want to download in the area you're visiting.
 

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Cbacon

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I downloaded Gaia and also export files from Trails offroad.com. So it puts your trail on Gaia. Just been playing with it. I really like trails offroad. Com. It very detailed about the trail.
 

fat_head

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I downloaded Gaia and also export files from Trails offroad.com. So it puts your trail on Gaia. Just been playing with it. I really like trails offroad. Com. It very detailed about the trail.
I just signed up for this site because I was curious. Here are my thoughts.

It only has a tiny fraction of all trails available. Maybe it's different in the East where I know opportunities are more limited. For example in New Mexico, you'd drive pass 200 forest roads to get to every one listed on trails offroad. Times 5 that if you include everything BLM land has to offer. My wife is not an adventurer at all and she wants to read 5 trail books and know EXACTLY what she's getting into before she goes with me on any trail. I on the other hand use Gaia and start driving on forest roads/BLM land and do whatever the trail gives me. For me it's part of the adventure.
 

RockyMtnHigh

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Buy this book: https://amzn.to/2Eb1S3z. It's fantastic. It classifies all the trails by difficulty and tells you what specs your vehicle should have to complete the trail (4 wheel drive, 33" tires recommended, lockers recommended, etc.) It breaks the trails down by location and tells you exactly how to get to them including GPS coordinates. It also uses landmarks and GPS coordinates so you know your still on the right trail when there's a fork in the road. There are also short descriptions of the trails and what you'll see along the way. I highly recommend buying this book.
 

MarkY3130

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Buy this book: https://amzn.to/2Eb1S3z. It's fantastic. It classifies all the trails by difficulty and tells you what specs your vehicle should have to complete the trail (4 wheel drive, 33" tires recommended, lockers recommended, etc.) It breaks the trails down by location and tells you exactly how to get to them including GPS coordinates. It also uses landmarks and GPS coordinates so you know your still on the right trail when there's a fork in the road. There are also short descriptions of the trails and what you'll see along the way. I highly recommend buying this book.
I have this book as well as the guide to northern CO (north of I-70) and the Moab area book. You can get all the info from funtreks website but the book sure organizes it well. I think it’s worth the cost but I also choose to use other sources as they typically have more reviews of the trails by users, and they often have recent trail conditions posted because they have the user reviews.

I don’t think there is a perfect source out there, but funtreks is a major source of info for me.
 
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Cbacon

Cbacon

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I'm definitely getting this book. Thank you
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