Camping and trekking is pretty activity-free considering the act of trekking, setting up camp, preparing food and drinks, and settling in all take much more time than they do in real life. That’s part of the appeal – the things that we take for granted in our everyday lives are suddenly much more challenging and therefore rewarding. Sure, you can find a billion “camp hacks” online, but the point of camping is to eliminate the hacks and get back to the action of things.

To that effect, I’m struggling with the idea of this trekking app because – besides when it is needed for survival – part of the fun is navigating and orienteering. Though I have approached an iOS app developer. In my next post, Odds and Ends, I’ll walk you through some of the small pieces of gear that will help you enjoy your camping and trekking. One or two of them are designed to help you orienteer. It’s also fun to test your brain with different trail signage, lack thereof, and using things like THE SUN and MOSS GROWTH to dictate your path rather than an app that simply tells you to “head left” or “turn right.”  I use Google Maps pretty much every time I go somewhere new in the city, and while it’s super helpful in getting me places on time, it certainly hasn’t helped me learn to get myself around very well.

I love being in the woods and using the sky to help me determine my path. I love being lost but not knowing it yet and then making time calculations to ensure I’m not out lost at night. This is where I think the app could come in handy – if I’m out and it’s getting dark and I’m not sure how to get back to my site, part of me goes into panic mode. I likely wouldn’t use the app/map function for the entirety of a trek, but if I get nervous it certainly is a nice security blanket.

I like to bring music and a speaker for part of the trek and to listen at breakfast, but I do love nature sounds themselves too. I like to bring some games to play at the site whether it be cards or an elaborate board game. Some of my friends like to bring a slack line and spend the day walking between trees, but since I sleep between trees this is partly lost on me.