For every family, there’s should come a time when you can pack your stuff and simply go out in nature and enjoy the beauty. Things like camping or hiking are a fantastic experience where you and your family members can bond and simply have a great time. But with the hectic lives we have, it can be challenging to organize that kind of trip. You need to find the place where you want to go and you need to pack properly to ensure you don’t forget vital stuff like food, extra pair of clothes or even a map.
Nevertheless, every family deserves a good time and to help you out to make it happen instead of having to raincheck for every next weekend, we dig deep to find exactly what apps might help you make it happen. Here are our 3 picks.
Coleman – Where the Adventure Begins
No matter if you plenty or none experience with camping and hiking, this app will come in handy. It neatly lists all national parks and campsites far and wide, making it easy for you and your family to make the choice of where you want to go. But what really sets it apart is the extra information you get to make your experience a truly memorable one. You can check outdoor recipes of food that can easily be made without too much preparation. Also, the app guides you through packing so you don’t have do doublecheck anything and still take everything you need. Finally, if you’re really having doubts about where to go, many places come with stylish travel guides, so you can quickly pick your destination. You might not need the last feature, depending on what you already own and what you exactly need, but you can also shop various camping gear in case you need an extra tent or just a flashlight.
One thing that might seem obvious an app like this should have are maps. Still, depending on the campsite, some maps are missing. This is likely due to the camping site itself instead of developers, but still, it would be nice if the user could get a map for every possible location – especially if they are going there for the first time. One way around this is you can simply use a GPS, type in the address and you’ll instantly get a whole map so you can easily navigate.
ViewRanger – Hiking Made Better
Speaking of maps, if the first one lacks a map or two, ViewRanger likely has every single one of them. As we were looking for helpful hiking maps, we stumbled upon a nice list that really helped us pick what we believe is the best one. Thus we’d like to share the list so you can check it out.
There are many other apps, so just in case our choice isn’t what you’re looking for, you can always pick another one.
But with ViewRanger, it only takes only a couple of minutes to pick maps you want and later you can use them alongside all the nifty feature offline – no WiFi needed. But where the app truly shines is hiking. If you and your family want to do something more than just sit in the camping ground while grilling some delicious food, this app will make hiking a lot easier. You can check routes and pick the right one so you’re sure you don’t get way over your head with the trail difficulty. This is especially important if you have younger kids for instance but you still want to go hiking together. Points of interest show you what parts should you visit while you hike to really soak in nature and after you’ve done, you can sit around and check your route, how long have you hiked and how much ground you covered. It’s a great app any hiking enthusiast will love.
For more experienced hikers, although you’ll find this one useful, you might notice that some roads might be missing. The app regularly updates its maps but we’re guessing it does take some time – which is understandable. You don’t have to worry about getting lost because the maps are as accurate as they can be, but there’s a slight chance you might notice a small path as you’re walking that isn’t indicated on the map although this is really rare.
WeatherBug – Check for Sunny Days
Naturally, we can’t talk camping and hiking, without mentioning the weather. Picking the right weather is a crucial part not just of organizing an outdoor family trip, but also when you’re already there since as we all know – weather can be shifty. Besides the obvious weather reports, we picked WeatherBug because of the feature called Lifestyle Forecasts that allows you to customize the report based on your activity. All you have to do is set “camping” for instance, and the app will customize the information by sending notifications if it’s alright to stay in the camping site. This way, you won’t have to base your decisions on guessing and instead, you’ll have more confidence in deciding if you need to pack your bags or you can say.
It’s a simple app as it tells the weather, what more can you ask, right? Like any weather report, sometimes it might not be completely accurate, but that’s what you get with any weather report – no matter if it’s an app, radio, TV or the Internet. But you can rest assured you’ll have a much better insight if you have to bring your family to safety or you can enjoy the warm sun and a stary, stary night.
Conclusion
So there you go. With the 3 apps, you and your family will be more than ready to take a hike and go camping. Moving away from the city is something every family should do now and then since we get so easily stuck up in our daily routines. But by going and experiencing nature, you can literally take a breath of fresh air and enjoy life.
If you’re planning to go camping or hiking, we hope you’ll find them helpful and if you have any other cool apps you think other families might find useful, let us know. We’d love to share the experience.
