GPS Pal App for Hiking

Columbia Sportswear has released its free GPS Pal, a terrific hiking app for Android and the iPhone that allows you to track your route via GPS, take photos, video and notes with geotagging information for each item. It will also keep track of your elevation, distance, speed and time. At the end of your hike you can view your entire route on a Google map, with photo and note markers at points on the trail. 

Image courtesy of Columbia Sportswear

Set up the free account on the website and sync your data in a journal format you can organize and share via social media.


We've tried it one our hike this weekend and were quite satisfied with the results, with the minor exception of the toll the GPS took on the iPhone's battery. We started the hike at 100% of battery life and watched it die around five hours later, so that it looks like our route ended abruptly somewhere in the wilderness. Nothing a solar-powered charger won't fix.