[pct-l] Question about Halfmile's smartphone app

[Craig Giffen]

On my hike I found that the Halfmile app and Guthook apps were a good combo.

Halfmile app:
This is kind of the defacto standard that all the hikers with smartphones had.  At the start of each morning, it made it real fast to figure out about what spot on the trail was 25 miles away.  Primary water sources are indicated.

Guthook app:
This was good just to get a visual idea of where you were on the trail and what the upcoming elevation profile looked like.  It has a lot more water sources and campsites indicated just because it is a map based app.  (If all of these were indicated on Halfmile's app it would get a bit annoying).  I only ever really used the Guthook app if I was trying to figure out how much water to carry, or if I couldn't find the trail.  Several times the trail would vaporize due roads/snow/fallen trees/etc.  If I ended up off trail it was nice to have a visual picture of where I was exactly and where I went wrong.

Maps:
I had printed copies of the Halfmile maps, plus I had the PDFs on my iPhone and iPod as backups.   They were sufficient for what I needed.  They were better than Guthook's as far as a map (several lakes are just indicated as a creek on Guthook's) and it was nice to have an idea of what was hidden in all those surrounding ridges.  

I met several hikers who were not even carrying the paper maps...two of which ended up dropping their phone in a creek and "lost" their maps.  Especially when it is cloudy for days, battery power is really precious and the paper maps do not require a charge. At times I felt annoyed at carrying the paper maps, but on cloudy/stormy days I was really glad I had them.

Craig
http://lunky.com/pct2013