Outdoors apps to check out before your next trip

Before I begin this post, I should make something clear. I take my phone with me when I hike and backpack.

Don’t give me that look. I promise never to interrupt your solitude with my ringing phone. If I’m on a trail, my phone is off or on airplane mode.

But I still bring it with me on every hike. It’s a perfect resource. For less than 4 ounces, I can carry as many guidebooks with me as I could ever want: birds, wildflowers, trees, animal tracks. It’s brilliant.

I’ve come across a few nifty apps lately worth sharing.

Washington Trails Association’s Trailblazer: This is a great app for anyone who likes to hike. I wrote about it earlier here.

Washington Wildflowers: This app was produced by the Washington Herbarium at the Burke Museum. It’s a lovely app. You can search for flowers using a variety of categories, including flower color, growth habit, location and more. Read more and find links to buy it here.

Bird watching: The Nature Conservancy has a good roundup here of bird guide apps: Audubon Birds, iBird Pro, National Geographic Birds, Person Birds and Sibley eGuide to Birds. I personally use and love iBird Pro, but all of these sound like they’d do the job.

Peaks: This app could be pretty amazing, if it works. The idea is it helps you identify peaks in the mountain ranges you can see. I’m going backpacking this weekend, and I’ll definitely be trying it out. You can read about it here.

Cornell Guide to Bird Sounds: This isn’t an app, but it’s still pretty nifty. Cornell has a mind-blowing collection of high-quality recorded bird calls. My mother owns the CD set, and although it’s amazing, it’s a bit clunky to use. The downloaded version, which also comes with downloadable guides, would be a lot simpler to use. The full version is $49.99 right now ($10 off it’s usual price.) You can also get a set for beginners for only $12.99 ($7 off usual price.)

What about you? What’s your favorite app for the outdoors? Leave me a comment here or send me an email.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Brandon Hailey of Cytrus, center, plays the saxophone during a headlining show at Madam Lou’s on Friday, Dec. 29, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lynnwood-based funk octet Cytrus has the juice

Resilience and brotherhood take center stage with ‘friends-first’ band.

FILE - In this April 11, 2014 file photo, Neko Case performs at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Fire investigators are looking for the cause of a fire on Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, that heavily damaged Case’s 225-year-old Vermont home. There were no injuries, though a barn was destroyed. It took firefighters two hours to extinguish the blaze. (Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP, File)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Singer-songwriter Neko Case, an indie music icon from Tacoma, performs Sunday in Edmonds.

Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli
Tangier’s market boasts piles of fruits, veggies, and olives, countless varieties of bread, and nonperishables, like clothing and electronics.
Rick Steves on the cultural kaleidoscope of Tangier in Morocco

Walking through the city, I think to myself, “How could anyone be in southern Spain — so close — and not hop over to experience this wonderland?”

chris elliott.
Vrbo promised to cover her rental bill in Hawaii, so why won’t it?

When Cheryl Mander’s Vrbo rental in Hawaii is uninhabitable, the rental platform agrees to cover her new accommodations. But then it backs out. What happened?

The Moonlight Swing Orchestra will play classic sounds of the Big Band Era on April 21 in Everett. (submitted photo)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Relive the Big Band Era at the Port Gardner Music Society’s final concert of the season in Everett.

2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport AWD (Honda)
2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport AWD

Honda cedes big boy pickup trucks to the likes of Ford, Dodge… Continue reading

Would you want to give something as elaborate as this a name as mundane as “bread box”? A French Provincial piece practically demands the French name panetiere.
A panetiere isn’t your modern bread box. It’s a treasure of French culture

This elaborately carved French antique may be old, but it’s still capable of keeping its leavened contents perfectly fresh.

(Judy Newton / Great Plant Picks)
Great Plant Pick: Mouse plant

What: Arisarum proboscideum, also known as mouse plant, is an herbaceous woodland… Continue reading

Bright green Japanese maple leaves are illuminated by spring sunlight. (Getty Images)
Confessions of a ‘plantophile’: I’m a bit of a junky for Japanese maples

In fact, my addiction to these glorious, all-season specimens seems to be contagious. Fortunately, there’s no known cure.

2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited (Hyundai)
2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited

The 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited is a sporty, all-electric, all-wheel drive sedan that will quickly win your heart.

The 2024 Dodge Hornet R/T hybrid’s face has the twin red lines signifying the brand’s focus on performance. (Dodge)
2024 Hornet R/T is first electrified performance vehicle from Dodge

The all-new compact SUV travels 32 miles on pure electric power, and up to 360 miles in hybrid mode.

Don’t blow a bundle on glass supposedly made by the Henry William Stiegel

Why? Faked signatures, reused molds and imitated styles can make it unclear who actually made any given piece of glass.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.