With smartphone advances, connectivity in remote areas is more accessible than just a few years ago. This is good news for the outdoor men and women who can now enjoy using apps to help locate trails, campsites, check weather conditions, and find equipment suppliers and sales. If you’re having trouble locating your trail, there is an app with thousands of hiking trails, one for camper’s first aid, and even a plant identification app. If you are not a tech person, you may need an actual outdoor guide.

1. St. John’s Ambulance First Aid App

Accidents can happen anywhere, but when they occur in a rural area far from medical assistance it can be dangerous. St. John’s Ambulance created their two first aid apps to help people when they can’t get to a medical facility. The basic first aid app covers a wide range of first aid applications, CPR, choking, allergies, and diabetic emergencies. The cyclist first aid app covers the most common injuries cyclists encounter, and it shows how cycling equipment can be used as medical appliances to support injuries. Head injuries, pulled muscles, and lacerations treatments are also included in this important app. Both apps are free downloads and available for Android and iOS device systems.

2. Weather Live Free

Keep your finger on the weather’s pulse and click here for Weather Live Free, and keep up with the latest weather temperatures, conditions, and storm threats. You can check the weather anywhere at a glance and plan your day or week in advance. The detailed forecast includes wind speed and direction, weather radar, rain maps, and much more. Great for fishing in camping.

3. AllTrails

Hikers will love the AllTrails app for Android or iOS devices, with over 50,000 hiking and biking trail guides. When you find the trail you want, save it for offline use while you are hiking. View topographic maps and photos, plus upload your own pictures taken on the trail by using your smartphone’s GPS tracker.

4. Ramblr

The Ramblr app is a great journaling app for hikers and modern mountain men and women. The app makes it easy to record the average speed, the number of miles travelled, the highest point achieved, and other statistics. The app also includes built-in mapping. You can record audio and video, add photos and text, and create a complete record of your trip. Share your trips with other Ramblr users with an easy upload, and your story could wind up on the website.

5. Leafsnap

The Smithsonian Institute, University of Maryland, and Columbia University worked jointly to develop the Leafsnap electronic field guide app to help hikers identify plants and trees based on leaf pictures. You simply take a photograph of the plant or tree’s leaf and the app will do the rest. The app also includes high-resolution photographs of many flowers, leaves, and bark to assist with plant identification. Mark your species sightings on an included map.

From first aid to plant identification, there is a free app for your phone. Enjoy your hiking and camping trips by putting these free apps to use.

About The Guest Blogger

Chelsea Metcalfe is an adventurer! Never content to sit still and do nothing, she enjoys a wide range of outdoor activities from horse riding to hiking and is a keen backpacker too. She writes about her love for the great outdoors in her articles.