Hi, I just got out of 2 months on New Zealand’s South Island on the Te Araroa Trail and loved it so much, I am now planning to go on the PCT next season. My Uniqlo Puff Down Jacket is ready to retire so I would appreciate some recommendations on ultralight Puff jackets. I am female and tend to run cold easily. Probably still prefer down over synthetic… thanks so much 🫶🏽
Though CalTopo and Gaia remain the overall favorites for many people, Avenza is used by many GIS professionals, government agencies, SAR teams, and more.
From a recreational backpacker's standpoint, Avenza lets you import georeferenced PDF maps from CalTopo you create or from other sources, which are often available on government websites. One example: camping zone maps here in Grand County, Utah.
Many nonprofits also make their maps available for free download in the Avenza store, while small map companies sell their maps there. I think the Latitude 40 maps, for example, are excellent for the Moab, Utah, and Grand Junction/Fruita areas.
No more.
Info here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/gis/comments/1squcv3/avenza_maps_alternatives/
In essence, Avenza got bought out by a venture capital firm:
"Blue Marble Geographics is backed by Eterna Growth Partners, a growth investment firm focused on scaling innovative technology companies."
You can no longer download and add georeferenced PDF maps without a paid subscription. Organizations, companies, and nonprofits can no longer update their existing maps or publish new maps. New publishers cannot join the platform either. You can still download maps that already exist in their current state in the map store.
However, the map store will eventually be phased out as well.
https://community.esri.com/t5/gis-life-discussions/avenza-alternative/td-p/1700623
EDIT - Screenshot from another subreddit - https://imgur.com/ZYm6TjG
Source - https://www.reddit.com/r/algonquinpark/comments/1rhkkik/heads_up_avenza_maps/
That last point matters. For many small organizations, Avenza offered a cost-effective, sometimes free, way to get electronic maps into people’s hands. This fall, for example, I used the Cohos Trail map on Avenza. I assume that the map provides at least some revenue stream for a small nonprofit.
CalTopo lets you add georeferenced maps, of course, and it is still an excellent tool. But for maps you download from elsewhere, Avenza was a quick-and-dirty option with fewer steps and easier in the field or just on a phone.
For adding georeferenced maps, Field Maps is one suggestion mentioned in the thread above. I’ve used it a bit for volunteer work, but I’m not overly familiar with it.
So it goes.
Just finished the Camino de Costa Rica. Solo, self-guided, no tour company. I've spend some time in CR before, so I had a decent baseline going in. Short version: absolutely worth it, and less intimidating to plan than the internet makes it sound.
Planning and Resources:
The Mar a Mar nonprofit (they built the trail) runs the main Facebook group, and it's genuinely useful for hikers to ask questions, minus the spam. Any post, literally any post, will have an accommodation host and tour company commenting on it. I really don't know why its not policed better, but it's readily allowed.
FarOut handled navigation without any issues. I've used Guthook/FarOut before so tbh I didn't really crack it open until I was closer to starting the hike.
Reserving the accommodations was pretty easy. There's a website dedicated to this, specifically for the Camino de Costa Rica, and I had 13 accommodations sorted out in about an hour using the site and their whatsapp tool. Which is my next point: I booked everyting in advance. The Mar a Mar frowns upon figuring it out on the go, which makes sense as some stages only have a handful of trail accommodations.
There is a paper guide that's available on Amazon. I travel alot and so getting anything from Amazon is sort of a pain, so I skipped this, but other hikers had good things to say about it.
And finally, I skipped the full guide service. There's a lot of pressure online suggesting you need one, but in practice, plenty of people are doing this self-guided. I ran into several on the trail, and hosts mentioned it's becoming more common. The one exception: you do need a guide for the day crossing Indigenous land, but arranging that independently I found was simple.
Trail Experience:
It's a mixed bag. What I liked was the remote jungle, constant wildlife, mountain views, landscapes that shift every few hours. But there's more road walking than you'd expect, and some of it is genuinely unpleasant. A few stretches have fast traffic and almost no shoulder. On one particularly busy section I ended up hitchhiking after a driver spotted me as a Camino hiker and pulled over.
The opening stretch from the Pacific coast is flat, hot, and mostly pavement. It's a nice symbolic start at the ocean, but if I was to do this hike again, I would skip it.
The highlight:
The people. Easily. Most nights you're staying with local families or in small cabins on their property, not hotels. Hosts were generous and welcoming in a way that's hard to describe without sounding like a young reader's adventure travel book.
Other things worth mentioning: wildlife is everywhere and consistent, roadside fruit is excellent, the trail is quiet compared to most long routes, and the overall cost is reasonable.
Cost:
I was on a budget and that was about $65/day all in. You can spend more with nicer accommodations, but it's hard to go much lower without camping , and tbh, the homestays are the point. I wouldn't skip them to save money.
Bottom Line:
The Camino de Costa Rica is rough around the edges. The road sections are a real drawback, and it takes some flexibility to enjoy. But it offers something most trails don't, which is genuine cultural immersion, not a packaged gringo-y version of it. If you've got some trail experience and you're comfortable figuring things out as you go, self-guided is completely doable.
it is
AMA!! I am about to get a haircut but I will respond once it's done
And yes, I see my title typo
Resources:
I've Thru Hiked the PCT and CDT and recently went from the Durston X-Mid to the Big Agnes Copper Spur UL 2. The Copper Spur is much less durable without a ground sheet. Would there be a problem with cutting a piece of Tyvek the same size as the bottom of your tents footprint and gluing the two together. This way you don't have to worry about that extra step when setting up?
...especially if you're a woman who menstruates and/or vegetarian/vegan!
For the past 10 years, I always felt like I just sucked at exercise. Turns out, I was low on iron (without anemia) all this time! I've only been taking supplements 2.5 months now and I already feel so. much. fitter. The difference in stamina and recovery is noticeable, can't wait to see how I feel in another few months. (Kind of mad at my doctors though for overlooking it for this long - might have saved me years of suffering on trails. Turns out "normal" range is far from ideal range.)
So yeah, just sharing this as something worth looking into if you're planning a big hike but not feeling your best.
And if anyone's been on this journey of fixing your iron levels before, I'd love to hear your experiences! How long did it take you to get to higher ferritin levels? How did you feel before/after symptom-wise? Did you keep supplementing on trail?
I’m looking into doing the Camino de Costa Rica this June or July as a solo female. I have a decent amount of thru hiking experience and speak Spanish fluently so I’m not so much worried about trail conditions/navigation, but am concerned about general safety from theft and sexual violence. Ideally I would not like to hire a guide, as I’ve had prior experience with guides in Central America being highly flirtatious bordering on harassment.
Do any women/solo hikers have experience or advice? Is the trail trafficked enough to find a group to loosely join?
Hi 👋🏻 I'm planning to do the GR 11 section from Candanchú to Puigcerdà in July. Is there a fast, cheap and reliable way to reach Candanchú? Zaragoza airport seems to be the closest one, and it says that there is a direct bus, but it's apparently only twice per week. I emailed the Avanza service provider to check but no answer yet.
Many thanks!
If yes - I have questions!
Has anyone managed to read the QR-code, with the (hopefully) .gpx data’s on the info sheet?
I figured, we needed to book 17 different PR Trails, each with a specific time slot.
If you do a thru hike, it’s almost impossible so say where you at, at a certain time each day. Nevertheless we took the challenge and it took us 3-4hours to guesstimate which trail, we need to book when.
For sure the PR1 on day three was already booked out so we need to just wing it.
How was you experience with booking the trails and how strict they are with sticking to specific time slots?
Any general tips for the trail? 100km in 6 days should be manageable?!
I hiked the PCT in 2022 and totally fucked up my achilleas like 300 miles in from over use. Recently been considering attempting an FKT near me but I have a hard time slotting enough time on feet in the day to confidently attempt it.
Just curious if there's any other desk job folk like me out there that have used a walk pad during their 9 - 5 as training. Anyone have any experience with these? Kind of feels like a big hack as far as thru hike training goes. Kind of considering picking one up.
I have the Nemo tensor all season and I HATE it, it is so loud and causes me shoulder pain. The only way that I can sleep is to deflate it almost to the point of my hips hitting the ground, and even then, it’s even louder. Sounds like I’m rolling over on a pile of balloons. People near me complain that it’s all they hear all night long.
I need something light enough for thru hiking, QUIET, insulated for all seasons, available in the USA, and comfortable for a side and stomach sleeper.