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Backcountry SkiingGaia GPSNew Maps

Find Backcountry Skiing in Gaia Winter Map

by Abby Levene
written by Abby Levene

Discover backcountry ski zones, snowmobile trails, and trails for every winter activity with our new and improved Gaia Winter map. Complete with world-wide ski resort maps plus nordic, fatbike, uphill skiing and snowshoe trails, Gaia Winter serves as the go-to map for winter travel. We’ve updated it to make it even more useful for your adventures.

Just like our original Gaia Topo, Gaia Winter comes with industry-leading clarity and download efficiency. Download the map for your entire state so you can always have a map on hand, even when you lose cell service. From backcountry ski zones to snowmobile trails to enhanced tree cover, read on to learn about the improvements and how to get the most of Gaia Winter this season.

Discover Backcountry Skiing

Backcountry skiers planning their next tour have come to the right place. We’ve added popular backcountry ski zones to the map. Areas shaded in blue show where you may find places to tour. Regions shaded in orange illustrate starting points.

Our cartographers created these backcountry start and ski zones based on where users started recording ski tracks and where their tracks took them, respectively. Backcountry ski zones are mostly contained within North America now. And you’ll also find a few zones in Iceland, Norway, and France.

Spy Snowmobile Trails

snowmobile trails in Gaia Winter

Sledders can now discover snowmobile trails right on the map. We’ve added all the snowmobile trails from our Snowmobile Trails map to Gaia Winter for your convenience. Before you go on your next tour, download Gaia Winter for offline use so you have a trail map on hand. That way you can reroute on the fly, find somewhere to refuel, or navigate in a white-out. 

Get even more trail details including grooming status, access dates/restrictions, trail width, difficulty level, trail length, and direction of travel with our interactive Snowmobile Trails map. Pair this trail overlay with Gaia Winter for optimal planning and navigation. 

Understand Landcover and Topography

Say goodbye to the blues. We’ve revamped the color palette to make Gaia Winter brighter, with more detailed landcover. As you’re planning your next ski tour, use Gaia Winter to see if you’ll be skinning over shrubs, through trees, or across tundra. Sledders can see if they’re traveling past prairies or farmlands. 

The winter-themed color palette of the map sets a seasonal tone and enhances its utility. Tour the backcountry with confidence thanks to a stronger emphasis on terrain, tree cover, and contour lines. Mountains pop out of the map, helping you scout the best uphill and ski lines. See exactly where treeline ends so you can find powdery bowls and untracked glades. Hiking, mountain bike, and other three-season trails are deemphasized to make it even easier to see ski, snowshoe, and fat bike trails.

Activate Snow Mode

Gaia Winter’s less diverse color scheme also pairs perfectly with our safety and weather maps. Pair Gaia Winter with our suite of winter safety maps, including Slope Angle shading, Avalanche Forecast, Snow Stations Daily, Snow Depth, and Satellite Imagery to help you plan safer tours. Check out our primer on how to use maps to help avoid avalanches for a refresher.

Trails for alpine skiing, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, fatbiking, uphill skiing, and snowmobiling are indicated by line type. And now you can also distinguish trail activity type thanks to icons right on the trails themselves. 

Gaia Winter is Available with a Premium Membership

Gaia Winter is available on the web and in the Gaia GPS app with a Gaia GPS Premium membership. To access this map, visit the layers menu and search for “Gaia Winter.” Or from the layers menu, select “Topo Maps.” Scroll down and tap “Gaia Winter.” Tap the “Add Layer” button. Learn how to add and manage overlays here.

A Premium Membership also gives you access to Gaia GPS’s entire map catalog, including a suite of avalanche safety maps. These include Slope Angle, Avalanche Forecast, recent satellite imagery, Snow Stations (Daily), Snow Depth, and snow forecast maps. Read up on how to use maps to help avoid avalanche danger.

Plus, with Premium, you can layer maps together. For example, you can place the Slope Angle map on top of Gaia Winter to find the best low-angle terrain. And you can download your maps (including Gaia Winter) for use without cell service, as well as print maps so you always have a backup.

Take winter to the next level. Join Gaia GPS Premium with Outside+ to get one subscription to fuel all your adventures, thanks to access to Trailforks Pro, Outside, SKI, Trail Runner, Outside Watch, and more. 

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Gaia GPSHow-ToOffroading

How to Get Started Overlanding

by Bryan Rogala
written by Bryan Rogala

Image Credit: 4X Overland Adventures

Overlanding has taken the outdoor industry by storm in the last few years. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s a term used to describe vehicle-based travel that typically involves dirt roads, four wheel drive, and getting as far off the beaten path as possible. Overland Journal, the longtime authority on the subject in the U.S., describes the pastime as “self-reliant adventure travel to remote destinations where the journey is the primary goal.”

Think of it as backpacking with a 4×4. Overlanding originated in Australia and Africa and can involve anything from driving the Pan American Highway in a Volkswagen Syncro, to circumnavigating Africa in a Jeep Wrangler, to an overnighter at a dispersed campsite on a local Forest Service road. While the method of transportation plays a role, more than anything overlanding is about the journey and the experience along the way. Anyone can do it with some basic knowledge, a mechanically sound vehicle, and a thirst for adventure.

In this article, we’ll cover what an overlanding route looks like, along with the type of vehicle and equipment you’ll need, and some tips for getting started. Here’s what you need to know to get into overlanding.

What an Overlanding Route Looks Like

Overlanding routes vary greatly in terrain and difficulty, a lot of which depends on where they are located. Routes in the Western U.S. tend to be longer and more remote, and can involve high mountain passes, vast swaths of empty desert, or long stretches of rough roads. Routes in the Eastern U.S. are typically shorter in length but can be tighter and trickier to navigate with a large vehicle.

An overlanding route planned using the Gaia Overland map in Gaia GPS.

If you’ve ever driven a vehicle off road, you likely already know what type of obstacles to expect. Rough dirt roads, washboard, deep ruts, stream crossings, sandy washes, mud, loose hill climbs, tight switchbacks, and even snow are all common road conditions you might encounter. That being said, overlanding differs from four wheeling, rock crawling, and other forms of off-roading because it takes place for an extended period of time, includes driving on pavement, and typically doesn’t involve “extreme” obstacles like you might see a Jeep Wrangler tackling in Moab.

Overlanding draws you to remote, uninhabited places to enjoy the scenery and solitude, and you’ll need maps to find your way. Gaia GPS offers a catalog of off road and 4×4 maps that show you what kind of terrain you’ll encounter and how difficult your route will be. You can download the maps for offline use with a premium subscription and use them out on the trail, which is far more useful than just a paper map. Toggling between Gaia’s proprietary Gaia Overland map, NatGeo Trails Illustrated map, the MVUM (USFS) (US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map), the USFS Roads and Trails Map, and Gaia Topo layers gives you on-demand access to trail junctions, road conditions and closures, dispersed camping sites and terrain features. Using these at home on a desktop helps with route planning, and then using them offline on a phone helps with navigation in the field and allows you to deal with unexpected route changes, like deadfall across a road or another impassable obstacle.

Tread Lightly, Stay on Established Roads

The USFS MVUM and Roads and Trails Maps are indispensable because they also have notes on road closures and status, grade, road material, and even whether a road is passable in a passenger car or requires high-clearance and four-wheel drive. It’s also important to stay on legal roads—driving off-road doesn’t mean pointing your truck into the woods and creating your own path, it just means driving off pavement, on a dirt road. The key here is that you’re still driving on a legal road of some kind, and it’s important to follow Leave No Trace principles and guidelines for responsible 4×4 use from Tread Lightly.

Vehicle Considerations

The vehicle you drive plays the largest role in an overlanding trip. It will act as your home base, and needs to be comfortable both on and off pavement. While you can technically overland with whatever vehicle you’ve already got, there are some things most overland rigs have in common.

Four Wheel Drive Versus All Wheel Drive

First, you’re going to want four wheel drive, or at the very least, all wheel drive. Traditional four-wheel-drive vehicles have a transfer case that allows the driver to send power to both the front and rear wheels, and the power is typically split 50/50. Four-wheel-drive trucks and SUVs, like a Toyota Tacoma, let you select from a high or low range, the latter of which increases torque, helps you navigate steep hills, and generally puts more power to the wheels. Overlanders prefer true four wheel drive for a number of reasons, but mainly because it’s more capable off road than all wheel drive.

A Subaru Outback negotiates a stream running through a field.

All wheel drive, like what you find in a Subaru Outback, automatically sends power to whichever wheel has lost traction, and typically doesn’t split the power evenly between the front and rear wheels. This type of system works well on icy or wet pavement, and can certainly get you down a dirt road, but it’s not as robust and doesn’t work as well in the serious off-road situations many overlanders face. Learn more on the differences between four and all wheel drive.

Ground Clearance

Another important consideration is your vehicle’s ground clearance. Most passenger cars and some crossovers don’t have enough clearance to safely navigate rocks and ruts off road. Subaru’s Outback and Forester have 8.7 inches of ground clearance, which is plenty for most situations, while a Toyota Tacoma has 9.4 inches and a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon has 10.8 inches.

Storage Space

An SUV with a roof rack is parked on a beach at sunset.

Storage space and payload capacity are also particularly important for an overland rig since you’ll be camping and need to be fully self-sufficient for the duration of your trip. Smaller SUVs like a Jeep Wrangler are great for rock crawling and general trail riding, but their limited interior size and small payload doesn’t make them particularly well-suited to overlanding. A full-size truck, or a larger, truck-based SUV like a Toyota Land Cruiser often works better because you can load it up with gear and it is rated to carry heavier loads. It’s very easy to exceed your vehicle’s payload capacity once you include the weight of passengers, gear, and any accessories like roof racks, rooftop tents, or a winch, which can impact the vehicle’s drivability and safety. Longer trips also often require bringing spare parts since you’ll be far away from help, so having lots of storage space is always a good idea.

Accessories and How to Use the Rig You’ve Got

If you spend much time around the overlanding crowd you’ll quickly realize that outfitting your rig with aftermarket parts and accessories in order to make it more capable and comfortable is extremely popular. Things like heavy-duty off road bumpers, skid plates, winches, additional off-road lighting, as well as suspension lifts and locking differentials are all popular upgrades. If you already own a vehicle that would make a good candidate for an overlander, upgrades like that can be a good way to protect your vehicle from damage and ensure that you can make it further into the backcountry.

How to Upgrade the Vehicle You Already Own

You can make your vehicle more off-road worthy with a few simple upgrades, no matter what you drive. Tires are the most important modification you can make to a vehicle if you want to drive off road because they provide your vehicle’s traction. A tricked-out 4×4 won’t get very far if it’s rolling on street tires without an aggressive tread pattern. All-terrain tires are a good choice for most overlanders because they offer a mix of on-and-off road performance. The BFGoodrich T/A KO2 gives you great traction in dirt, mud, and snow, and is still quiet and comfortable on pavement. If you want to try overlanding in your crossover or smaller SUV, you should consider something like the Falken Wildpeak A/T Trail. This tire weighs less than the KO2, but still provides improved off-road traction and is a better fit for something smaller like a Subaru or Toyota Rav4.

A close-up of a vehicle with flat tire on a dirt road.

You can’t do anything to increase a vehicle’s payload capacity, but you can increase storage space by adding a roof rack. You don’t want to strap too much stuff on top of your vehicle because you’ll increase the center of gravity and have a greater rollover risk, but a good roof rack like Frontrunner’s Slimline II will allow you to easily carry gear you can’t fit inside the car. You can also bolt on accessories like bike, ski, or kayak carriers, mount a storage box on top, or carry a rooftop tent and an awning to protect you from the elements.

Two people sit outside a van parked at sunset.

The Equipment You’ll Need

It’s very easy to overthink what type of gear to bring and how much of it you’ll need on an overland trip. In this article, we’ll cover just the basics to get you started; just keep in mind that you can acquire a lot of this equipment over time as you learn what your needs are and how your vehicle performs.

Sleeping: Rooftop Tents

People stand around a bonfire at night with a flock of jeeps parked in the background.

Essentially an off-the-beaten-path road trip, overlanding brings you to dirt roads where you camp along the way. You’ll need to decide where you’ll sleep. The easiest and cheapest option is to simply use a tent. Many overlanders with larger SUV’s (or pickup trucks with a camper shell) choose to sleep inside their vehicle to keep things simple. This offers more weather protection than a tent, but you need a vehicle with a bed or seats that fold flat. Sleeping inside the vehicle becomes more complicated for two people traveling together since you’ll need to move all of your gear outside the vehicle to create enough space for sleeping at night.

A jeep with a roof tent is parked in the desert. Off to the side, two people sit in camp chairs around a fire, gazing at the sun setting behind the mountains in the distance.

Many people opt to sleep on top of their vehicles in rooftop tents. Rooftop tents (or RTTs) attach to your vehicle’s roof rack and either have hard sides that pop straight up, or soft sides that fold out into a traditional tent shape. RTTs have a couple of advantages: they eliminate the need for a flat piece of ground free of rocks and offer a comfortable memory foam mattress where you can store your sleeping bags. They’re also quicker to set up than a ground tent, which is something overlanders value because it allows you to spend less time setting up camp and more time exploring and enjoying time outside. The downside is they’re quite heavy (usually around 150lbs), and they can negatively impact your vehicle’s fuel economy.

Campers

A modified truck with a storage unit in the back and a rooftop tent is parked at a beach on a sunny day. Turquoise water laps behind and stratocumulus clouds cover the blue sky.

The next step up from a ground tent or rooftop tent is either a camper of some sort built into your vehicle, or pulling a camping trailer. There are pros and cons to every option, and ultimately you’ll have to weigh factors like convenience, comfort, and budget to determine the best solution for you. A self-contained camper performs better off road, and allows you to maneuver in tight spots more easily. It’s also easier to park and drive around town, but it’s easy to overload your vehicle and exceed it’s payload capacity if your build is too heavy, which can be dangerous.

Trailers

A truck with a covered back and a trailer hitch drives across dry, grassy plains with mountains in the distance.

A camping trailer, can store all of your camping equipment full-time, making it easier to hit the road since you won’t need to pack your vehicle each time. But it takes more skill to maneuver a trailer on technical trails. Some trailers, like Hiker Trailer’s Extreme Off Road Deluxe model, are overland-specific and have modified suspension systems that make them incredibly capable off-road. Trailers also allow you to unhitch and create a base camp, so you can use your tow vehicle to run into town for supplies, or drive to a trailhead without breaking down camp. Some trailers like Off Grid Trailers even include kitchen components, a shower, and ample sleeping space. However you choose to camp, the key is to keep your setup as simple as possible and make it easy to access your gear and break down camp to continue your trip.

Basic Camping Equipment

Chances are you already own all of the camping gear you’ll need. Overlanding doesn’t require any specialized camping gear, but the beauty of camping out of your rig is that you can afford to bring heavier stuff, like thick sleeping pads, blankets, and camp tables to make your experience more comfortable. Two things to consider are how you’ll be storing food and water. If you’re going out for a long weekend and won’t have access to more drinking water, you should bring at least seven gallons with you. That will ensure you and your trip mates have enough water to drink, do dishes, and rinse things off. Some people like to have access to a shower while overlanding, which can be easily done with something like a RoadShower. You can even make your own solar shower if you’re so inclined.

An overlander sits in a camping chair, tending to scrambled eggs in a skillet on a two-burner portable stove. Vegetables sauté in the a pan on the other skillet. A pack of sausages sit on a cooler in the foreground.

Food Storage

Someone stands with their back to the camera. They work on a laptop placed on a standing desk, which faces out of the back of a built-out van.

Coolers work perfectly fine to store food that needs to be refrigerated, but a popular upgrade for overlanders is an electric cooler. You can power one from your vehicle or a portable battery, and they’re particularly nice for overlanding because you won’t need to worry about melting ice and soggy food after several days of off-grid travel.

Recovery Gear

A close-up of vehicle shows a flat tire with a torque wrench wedged in the hub.

Recovery gear is also essential. Since you’ll be traveling on dirt roads, your vehicle may lose traction and get stuck in deep mud, sand or snow at some point. You should be prepared to get yourself or another vehicle unstuck. A winch on the front bumper is a great choice, but at the very least you’ll want to have a recovery kit with tow straps, and a set of MaxTrax. MaxTrax are traction boards you slide under your tires to give you more traction. It gives them something to grip onto when they’re spinning freely and not moving your vehicle anywhere. They work incredibly well thanks to the raised “teeth” that give your tires something to dig into, and they are built to last for decades without wearing out.

Trip Planning Tips

Once you get all of your gear sorted, it’s time for a trip. You can start with a day trip to ease into things, and then plan a two-day, one-night weekend trip after that, so you don’t have to worry about packing too many supplies and can instead focus on having fun. Pick an easy, well-known, and well-driven route for your first trip, like the Valley of the Gods road near Mexican Hat, Utah, or a trip to North Carolina’s South Core Banks. That way if you run into trouble or have some sort of mechanical problem, there’s a better chance of someone being able to help you.

Travel with another vehicle, especially on your first few trips so that if something happens to you or your vehicle you’ll have help and can avoid a long hike out. It’s also wise to check whether there will be cell service along your route in case you need to call for a tow or other assistance.

Start simple when it comes to route choice. If you don’t live near any famous overland routes, start by finding dispersed campsites on nearby public lands or by finding Forest Service roads in an area you’ve wanted to visit and create your own route. Make sure to pack light, keep it simple, and most importantly, bring plenty of good food. Finally, don’t stress too much about the gear; the beauty of overlanding is in the journey itself and the simple joy of having an adventure.

If you’re excited about overlanding and want to hear more, listen to our interview with Lifestyle Overland on the Out and Back podcast, sponsored by Gaia GPS.

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Gaia GPSNew FeaturesNew Maps

Our Favorite New Maps and Features

by Abby Levene
written by Abby Levene

As our community dreamed up more routes, downloaded more maps, and covered more miles than ever before, our team remained hard at work making Gaia GPS even better for your adventures. Here’s a look at our favorite maps, features, and updates we launched this year. We’re counting down, 12 days of Christmas style. 

12. Map Packs (Beta): A Totally New Way to Map

To put the best of our 300+ maps in your hands, right now, we’ve totally redesigned our mapping interface. Meet map packs.

Enable this new beta feature available on iOS and get the best map presets curated by the Gaia GPS team. Whether you’re visiting a national park with your family, backpacking a long trail, or skiing in the backcountry, just tap the map pack crafted specifically for your adventure to put the right maps on your screen

Or create your own map pack so you can always have your favorite map combinations at your fingertips. Explore map packs.

11. Gaia Classic: The Map That Never Goes Out of Style

Do you yearn for the classic topo maps of old? You know, the ones not busied up with excessive colors and silliness when all you really need to know is how to plot your path from that alpine lake to that mountain pass and down the other side?

Or maybe you’ve found yourself yelling at our cartographers, “why or why can’t I see the contour lines in this blazing sun!?”

Enter Gaia Classic, the map that just may answer that call of the wild. It’s inspired by a classic aesthetic, from the colors to the fonts to the very textures of the map itself. Maybe it’s totally pointless, or maybe, just maybe it’s the only map you’ll ever need.

Check out our new map, Gaia Classic.

10. Gaia GPS Master Classes: Map Like a Pro

We’re the first to admit there’s a bit of a learning curve to mastering the breadth and depth of gaiagps.com and our app. That’s why we teamed up with Outside Learn to bring you two master classes. Find the best of our 300+ maps for your adventures. Learn how to take your maps offline. Layer maps together to unlock more terrain detail. Reroute on the fly. Share your routes with friends and family. Discover our top hacks. It’s all here. Take these two courses to brush up on your mapping skills and to get the most of the app. 

Take Gaia GPS 101 and Gaia GPS Advanced. 

9. Wildfire Maps: Spot Fires Faster

This update is lit. You can now spot wildfires on the Wildfire map as soon as they appear on InciWeb, the government website that tracks wildfire information for the public. Our cartographers also added wildfire labels right onto wildfires themselves for easy viewing. Plus, we expanded our smoke forecast maps coverage to include Alaska and Canada.

Check out the enhanced Wildfire and Smoke Forecast maps.

8. Snowmobile Trails Map: Discover Global Sledding Trails

Planning snowmobile routes and navigating across the snow has never been easier. Find sledding trails across the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia with our new Snowmobile Trails map. We’ve pulled together trail data from local, state, and federal sources to bring you some of the most comprehensive sledding coverage in the world.

Easily spy trail networks to build routes and find your way in the field. When available, see key details like trail width, grooming status, restricted access areas, and difficulty ratings. Plus, find warming huts, gas stations, and snowmobile shops.

Try out the Snowmobile Trails map.

7. Android Auto: Navigate from the Dash

We’ve revamped Gaia GPS on Android Auto so you can manipulate the map, record tracks, and drop waypoints all from your dashboard. Just connect your phone to your car display and navigate with your favorite Gaia GPS maps like Gaia Overland, MVUMs, hi-res global satellite imagery, and National Geographic Trails Illustrated—all from the luxury of the wide screen.

From expanded map controls to clearer visibility, here are the major updates. And if you’re on iOS, check out Apple CarPlay.

6. Slope Angle: Stay Safer with Highest-Res Map

Scout avalanche terrain easier than ever before. We’ve updated our Slope Angle map with the latest highest resolution 1-meter LIDAR DEM data from the USGS. This data is the gold standard for slope angle shading, rendering our Slope Angle map crisper and clearer for your winter adventures.

Whatever your objective and mode of travel, you can now enjoy the highest resolution slope angle data, wherever it’s available. Check out the updated Slope Angle map.

5. Rec.Gov: Make Campsite Reservations from the Map

Find the perfect campsite in Gaia Topo, and then reserve it right from the map. The ultimate tool for reserving public campsites in the US is now accessible right from our app and gaiagps.com. In addition to reservations, recreation.gov gives you every detail you could possibly want about a campsite. View photos to see if the campsite has the spectacular mountain view. Find out how many cars are allowed, and if pets and campfires are permitted. Even see if there’s a fire ring or a grill.

Learn more about our rec.gov integration. 

4. Trailforks MTB Map: Discover the Best Bike Trails

Trailforks’ coveted mountain bike trail database is now in Gaia GPS! Discover brand new routes, get the beta on trail conditions, and easily spy trails based on type and difficulty level with this new map.

Trailforks, a trail management system, catalogs trail networks around the world. The crowd-sourced database and moderated site provides the most accurate and comprehensive trail data available. And now you can get all 361,392 Trailforks mountain bike trails around the globe right in the Gaia GPS app and on gaiagps.com.   

Check out the Trailforks MTB map.

3. Planning Tools: Easily Dream Up Your Own Routes

Creating your own adventures in Gaia GPS got even easier—and more fun. Meet our new route editing tools, here to let you quickly fix any mistakes or changes of heart, automatically out-and-back any one-way route, send your route back to the start, and reverse your route direction.

You asked, and we listened. We added these route editing tools so that you can explore our maps with even more abandon, knowing you can painlessly erase any route-building mistakes and let our planning tools handle the tedious tasks. Enjoy these tools on Android and on the big screen at gaiagps.com. To put the cherry on top of this route creation cake, we’ve added keyboard shortcuts to the web so you can perform any of these tasks without even touching your mouse, making it even easier to carry on route building with our smart snap-to-trail planning tools.

Explore the new planning tools. 

2. OpenSnow Weather: Localized Forecasts at a Tap

While we can’t supply a crystal ball, we can supply the weather for exactly where you’re going, exactly where you need it—right on the map. We partnered with OpenSnow, the leading resource for backcountry weather, to bring you hyper-localized weather forecasts that you can access at a tap.

Just tap anywhere on the map, anywhere in the world, and get the current weather plus the forecast right in Gaia GPS. Learn more about weather at-a-tap.

1. Gaia Overland Map: World’s Best Offroading Map

Ditch the crowds with Gaia Overland, the best overlanding map you can put right on your vehicle’s dashboard. MVUM, USFS, public land boundaries—it’s all in here. Designed in-house for planning big routes, navigating tricky terrain, and rerouting on the fly, Gaia Overland is the definitive map for all of your overlanding, offroading, and motorized adventures. 

Modeled after our proprietary Gaia Topo map, Gaia Overland comes with the same crystal-clear resolution and download efficiency you know and love from Gaia GPS. But it puts everything for motorized travel first. Whether you’re embarking on a multi-day expedition or just heading to a remote trailhead, use Gaia Overland to get you there efficiently and (relatively) effortlessly.

Check out Gaia Overland.

It Wouldn’t Be the Holidays Without a Few Bonuses

Permitted Rivers Map

This map overlay shows you all the rivers that require a permit to raft or kayak. Tap to learn the river’s name, see permit information, and get the link to a permit application. Check out the Permitted Rivers map here.

Customized Waypoints

You can now change the color of waypoint borders. Use these colors of the rainbow to classify and categorize your waypoints to your heart’s desire. Learn more about all of the ways to use waypoints here. 

Ski Resort Reports Map

From Aspen to Zermatt, get conditions for ski resorts around the globe in Gaia GPS. Ski areas with fresh snow light up on our new Ski Resort Reports map. See snow totals and weather readings. Find out how many trails are open. Even read the resort’s daily report, all right within the app and on gaiagps.com. Explore the Ski Resort Reports map here.

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Gaia GPS

2022 Mapped: Gaia GPS Year in Review

by Abby Levene
written by Abby Levene

From Auckland to Zermatt, Santiago to Santa Fe, you dreamed up adventures and explored the world. No one defining region, activity, or way to use the app and website stood out in 2022. But that’s the beauty of Gaia GPS—it’s infinitely customizable for your needs and dreams.

In terms of rising tides, though, we saw water. Everywhere! This year, water lovers of all varieties flocked to Gaia GPS both for planning and recording adventures. Backcountry winter travelers quietly lurked in the wings: our Slope Angle map, used to find gentler slopes with less avalanche-prone terrain, was the most used and most downloaded map only behind our proprietary Gaia Topo.

Overlanders continued to demonstrate they’re eager to venture into the unknown. Despite not launching until halfway through the year, the Gaia Overland map quickly cracked into the top 10 downloaded maps this year.

Let’s dive into the year. You can start by checking out your personalized 2022 Mapped.

View Your 2022 Mapped

And together, let’s explore how the community adventured with Gaia GPS this year.

Those hikes, bikes, swims, runs, skis, kayaks, backpacking trips, fishing outings, bikepacking adventures, climbs, and overlanding outings added up. The community recorded 354,374,790 miles in the app.

Hiking remained our most popular activity for planning routes and recording activities. But overlanders, you’re not too far behind! Bikers of all types, cyclists, gravel grinders, mountain bikers, and commuters, took to the roads and trails this year. Biking was the third most popular activity for both planning routes and recording tracks. Not to be forgotten, snow sports rounded out the top four in both categories.

Surprisingly to us, kayaking cracked the top 10 for both planned routes and recorded activities. We love to see it! Camping, hunting, rock climbing, and fishing all snuck in there, too.

Speaking of climbing, we ascended 17,547,769,890 vertical feet. We’re out of breath just thinking about it.

Not only did we spend a lot of time doing, we also spent a lot of time dreaming. On, average every Gaia GPS user: 

  • Spent 26 hours planning routes in the app and on gaiagps.com
  • Recorded 39 adventures in the app

Unsurprisingly, our default base map Gaia Topo took home honors as the most downloaded map this year. But with industry-leading file efficiency, crystal clear resolution, and essentially every trail and point of interest you need, the ranking is well deserved.

Winter travelers looking to stay safer in avalanche terrain sought out the Slope Angle map, the second most downloaded map this year. We just recently updated this map with the highest-resolution lidar data from the USGS. See how it’s even crisper for your backcountry ski, snowshoe, and sled adventures.

A classic used across many activities, Satellite Imagery ranked third. Gaia GPS users enjoy this map to get a crystal-clear bird’s eye view of the landscape to help them find clearings for campsites, scout ski lines, and much more.

We’re stoked so many of you took advantage of the National Geographic maps you can find in Gaia GPS, including Nat Geo Trails Illustrated. These digitized maps of America’s favorite outdoor destinations are like having the very best guidebooks in your pocket—without taking up any weight or space.

Our community sought out trails off the beaten path this year, as evidenced by the fifth most downloaded map: USFS Roads and Trails. This overlay features backroads, forgotten trails, and brand-new routes currently unavailable on any other Gaia GPS map.

In addition to Satellite Imagery, three other maps overlanders love cracked into the top 10: Public Land, Private Land, and our new Gaia Overland map. Designed in-house with the help of overlanding experts, Gaia Overland takes the best of offroading map and puts in it one convenient place so you can keep your hands on the wheel and eyes mostly on the road. Offroaders, we see and solute you for your love of maps!

Another map designed by our cartography made the top 10 most downloaded list: Gaia Winter. Like Gaia Topo and Gaia Overland, this map provides razor-sharp resolution and unparalleled file efficiency so you can take it offline without taking up too much space on your phone. The key difference is Gaia Winter is designed for, well, winter. Find ski resort maps around the globe, and its winter color palette pairs perfectly with our suite of avalanche safety maps.

This list looked nearly identical for most used maps of 2022, with the Wildfire map at #9. Notably, our suite of wildfire, smoke, and air quality maps are updated in real-time, so they cannot be downloaded for offline use. So be sure to check these maps before heading out the door.

Speaking of taking maps offline, here’s where the community downloaded regions of the map. Want to take your maps offline so you can navigate out of cell service? Go Premium!

Looking at this map, we’re sensing a trend…it seems mountainous, yes, but also watery. In fact:

Take us to the beach!

Coastal areas around the world were not only the most downloaded regions of map. These places also saw the most activity for dreaming and doing. In terms of route planning, the two coasts of the US saw the highest concentrations anywhere in the world. But the United Kingdom, France, and Mediterranean regions of Europe were not far behind. The east coast of Australia, New Zealand, and coastal regions throughout Asia also put up strong showings.

Trends for recording tracks looked similar, with South America surging strong. From Columbia down to Argentina on the west, and throughout Brazil on the east, we saw huge growth in recorded tracks on both South American coasts.

From planning adventures on the map to recording adventures in the app to the locations you chose to explore, water was the defining theme of 2022.

We saw huge increases in recorded tracks for water activities: 

  • Boating – 628% increase
  • Fishing – 26% increase
  • Swimming – 12% increase

And we saw a similar increase for water-based adventures planned in the app:

  • Swimming – 237% increase
  • Fishing – 93% increase
  • Kayaking – 74% increase

X marks the spot of those special campsites you want to remember. You put more campsite waypoints on the map than any other, save the default red pin and camera icons. Whether you’re backpacking, bikepacking, backcountry ski touring, overlanding, or just vacationing, we love camping because it brings so many activities together under a shared pastime.

Speaking of camping, someone sure has a lot of time on their hands for nights on end in the great outdoors. The longest overlanding public track covered 5,414 miles. Take us with you next time, please?

Someone must really want to find Lionel Messi. The longest route planned in Gaia GPS this year circumnavigated Argentina. covering 10,021 miles. Check it out on gaiagps.com.

Many notable records went down this year with the use of Gaia GPS, including Jack Kuenzle‘s record on the Bob Graham. He bestest the mountain, trail, and ultrarunning GOAT Kilian Jornet’s time by 12 minutes. Josh Perry broke Heather Anderson’s iconic record on the Pacific Crest Trail, a time so stout it stood for nine years. Courtney Dauwalter recorded the fastest time for man or woman on Colorado’s rugged 160-mile Collegiate Loop. And Joe “Stringbean” McConaughy broke the iconic John Muir Trail FKT by over a day, before Jeff Garmire eked him out by 13 minutes a few weeks later. Check out all of their trip reports on fastestknowntime.com.

Way to get after it this year, and thank you for making Gaia GPS part of your adventures. Seeing you explore with the help of the app and gaiagps.com is the ultimate gift. Where will 2023 take you? Start dreaming.

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slope angle shading on a 3d map
Gaia GPSNew Maps

Spy Avalanche Terrain with Higher Res Slope Angle Map

by Abby Levene
written by Abby Levene

Scout avalanche terrain easier than ever before. We’ve updated our Slope Angle map with the latest highest resolution 1-meter LIDAR DEM data from the USGS. This data is the gold standard for slope angle shading, rendering our Slope Angle map crisper and clearer for your winter adventures.

Gaia GPS users primarily use our Slope Angle map in winter to avoid avalanche-prone terrain. But hikers, mountaineers, and bikepackers use it year-round to find the easiest path over mountain passes. Photographers and adventurers turn to this map to find unique rock features and waterfalls. Whatever your objective and mode of travel, you can now enjoy the highest resolution slope angle data, wherever it’s available. 

Meet the Slope Angle Gold Standard: Lidar

Last year, we developed our Slope Angle map in-house and tapped into the US Geological Survey’s 3D Elevation Program and NASA’s Digital Elevation Model. These sources allowed us to expand our coverage globally, integrate high-resolution data, and fine-tune color details.

Now we’ve updated the map even further with the best data available on the planet: LIDAR DEM. Harnessing a laser scanner, Global Positioning System (GPS), and Inertial Navigation System (INS), Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) technology produces high-resolution models of ground elevation within an accuracy of 10 centimeters, or four inches. This means our Slope Angle map contains more accurate data than ever before while also pulling out more of those smaller terrain details that can be easy to miss.

Lidar Coverage Continues to Spread Across the US

The updated Slope Angle map uses the latest lidar data wherever it’s available. Check out the map above for a full view of lidar coverage. As you can see on the map, avalanche-prone regions in the northeast, California, and the Pacific Northwest enjoy excellent lidar coverage. 

We’re still waiting for the USGS to supply full lidar coverage of the mountain west. The USGS hopes to complete its collection of lidar data for all of the U.S. and its territories soon; see the status map. Thanks to its high cloud cover and remoteness, Alaska uses Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (IfSAR) instead.

Graded Color Style Picks up the Details

A continuous color ramp shows terrain changes in a graded fashion, making terrain features a snap to read on the map.

The map emphasizes 30 to 45-degree zones in orange and red colors, recognizing and calling your attention to the fact that these slopes comprise the starting zone for most avalanches. Less steep terrain—in the 20 to 25-degree range—is highlighted in green. Slopes steeper than 45 degrees are shaded in greyscale colors to point out the steepest terrain on the map. The grey shading also helps people with red/green confusion color blindness see the map details.

Identify Avalanche Terrain Worldwide 

While LIDAR DEM does not cover the entire US, our Slope Angle map continues to provide not just country-wide, but also worldwide coverage using the highest quality data available from the US Geological Survey’s 3D Elevation Program and NASA’s Digital Elevation Model. 

Whether you’re backcountry skiing the bowls or snowmobiling deep into the forest, add the Slope Angle layer to your favorite global base map like Gaia Winter or Satellite Imagery to help plan safer winter routes through the backcountry.

Keep in mind that you can tweak the opacity of the Slope Angle overlay to your needs. Turn the opacity down to reveal underlying terrain details, or dial it up to more clearly view slope steepness. 

Warnings and Limitations

Avalanche forecasting uses many tools to analyze avalanche risk in the field. Slope shading is best used for a big-picture overview of terrain. All slope angle maps, including the updated Slope Angle layer, fail to show micro terrain such as small starting zones. Snow features like wind pillows and cornices will not be on the map.

Be prepared to use an inclinometer and other on-the-ground assessments in the field in addition to the slope angle map. Change your plans accordingly if the terrain does not match up to the data depicted on the slope angle layer.

Educate yourself about avalanche and snow safety before traveling in any areas prone to avalanches. For more information on how slope angle maps are made, see Jeff Deems’ presentation about how these map overlays are made from the 2019 Colorado Snow and Avalanche Workshop or the article “Digital Mapping: Do You Know What Your Map Knows?” in September 2020 issue of The Avalanche Review.

How to Get the Slope Angle Map

The Slope Angle layer is available with a Gaia GPS premium membership. To access the layer, visit the layers menu, and select the “Features/Weather Overlays” tab. Scroll down and tap “Slope Angle.” Tap the “Add Layer“ button. Learn how to add and manage overlays here. 

Pair this map with other useful backcountry skiing maps available with a Premium membership on Gaia GPS. Read up on how to use maps, including the slope angle layer, to help avoid avalanche danger. 

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Gaia GPS

How to Find a Christmas Tree Using Gaia GPS

by Abby Levene
written by Abby Levene

Pine-ing for a tree-mendous Christmas? Spruce up your holiday decor. Celebrate the holidays outside by harvesting your own Christmas tree. 

Terrible puns aside, finding your own Christmas tree is an adventure you’ll never forget. And choosing a real tree over an artificial one is also a gift to the planet. Even the United States Forest Service agrees, writing on its site, “By cutting your own tree, you take an active part in managing your national forests!”

Gaia GPS Principal Engineer Andy and his wife Angela found their tree in a Washington forest last year.

Fir, pine, spruce, cypress, cedar—trees traditionally used for yuletide cheer provide a home to wildlife, filter air, and prevent soil erosion as they grow. Harvesting your own tree from the forest gives remaining trees breathing room to thrive. By freeing up access to water, nutrients, and sunlight, thinning the forest reduces stress and improves resiliency to disease, insects, and wildfire.

Supporting your local tree farm is always a viable option. But if you want to inject adventure into your holiday decor, go find a tree of your own. Grab your skis, snowshoes, or sled, a hot thermos, and a hand saw. Here’s how to find your own Christmas tree.

1. Find Your Forest

Many national forests around the US let you cut your own Christmas tree. Find a participating national forest near you at recreation.gov. You may need to purchase a permit for a nominal fee, which you can do on rec.gov as well. While you’re there, check your forest’s tree-cutting guidelines to keep the Christmas elves happy.

2. Hone Your Zone

O’er the fields we go! Now that you have a forest in mind, pull out the maps and make a game plan to get there. Gaia GPS provides several specific maps that will help you pinpoint where to find the perfect tree. 

Find Seasonally Open Roads

Start by opening Gaia GPS. Select the Gaia Overland map as your base map. Overlay Gaia Overland with the MVUM map. Use these two map sources to see which roads are seasonally open in your national forest of choice. If there’s snow on the ground, bring snowshoes or backcountry skis to venture off the beaten path in your search for the optimal tree.

Spot Snowmobile Trails

If you have a snowmobile, you can head even deeper into the forest beyond the reach of plowed roads. Select Gaia Winter as your base map, and add the Snowmobile Trails map if you’re in the US, or the BRMB Snowmobile Trails map if you’re in Canada. Use these maps to find groomed roads and trails, as well as roads open to sleds.

Stay on Legal Ground

No grinches allowed this Christmas. To ensure you stay on public land and away from persnickety land owners, add the Public Land and Private Land maps. Use these maps to plot how to access national forest without trespassing. 

Size Up Your Prize

And finally, find the ideally sized Christmas tree by adding the Timber Harvests map from the USFS. Timber harvests in the five-to-10-year-old range should lend way to young trees of ideal Christmas tree heights. Tap on green highlighted regions to see what year that area was forested.

Ho Ho Ho! Offline

Once you’ve mapped your tentative route, download your base map. Taking your maps offline means you can follow your route and find your way home—even without cell service. 

3. Record Your Tree Tracks

Before heading out on your adventure, choose an opportune weather window. Tap on the map to see the forecast from OpenSnow. When it’s time to head out the door, record your tracks in Gaia GPS. That way you’ll leave a breadcrumb track in the app that you can follow to find your way home. Plus, you can follow your tracks when you go Christmas tree hunting next year. Don’t forget to drop a waypoint to mark where you found your tree!

Gaia GPS Product Marketing Manager Julia, her partner Cooper, and puppy Hank found their tree in an Oregon forest this year.

Some general tree-cutting rules to keep in mind:

  • Use a handsaw. Chainsaws are generally not permitted. 
  • Do not top the tree.
  • Cut below the lowest live limb. Leave stumps no higher than six inches.
  • Avoid damage to other trees.
  • Once the new year rolls around, give your tree the proper disposal it deserves. Use your tree for wood chips, compost, mulch, or firewood.

Bundle Up with Gaia GPS Premium Powered By Outside+

Unlock all of these Christmas-tree-finding maps by upgrading to Gaia GPS Premium with Outside+. Premium also lets you download your maps for offline use so that you can find your way even without cell service. Plus, get the most out of the app by taking our masterclasses on Outside Learn. Tap into our holiday savings when you purchase on the web.

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A person sits at the edge of a canyon holding her phone, with a ZOLEO unit attached to her backpack.
Gaia GPSOut and Back Podcast

Everything You Need to Know About Satellite Communicators

by Abby Levene
written by Abby Levene

Let’s face it—there’s no excuse to get stranded off the grid anymore. Thanks to surging competition and massive technology improvements, satellite communication devices have become lightweight, user-friendly, and economical. These palm-sized units allow you to send messages from anywhere in the world, let others track your progress, and provide a direct line to help.

There’s a handful of satellite communication devices to choose from, including Bivy Stick, Somewear, ZOLEO, Garmin, and SPOT. Last year, we compared their prices and monthly subscription plans here.

How exactly do satellite communication devices work, and can you trust them? We sat down with Morris Shawn, President of ZOLEO Inc, to give you the inside scoop on how the ZOLEO Satellite Communicator works.

What is a Satellite Communicator?

A person holds his ZOLEO unit in one hand and a phone in the other while sitting above a lake.

A satellite communication device like ZOLEO’s allows two-way messaging from anywhere in the world, even without cell service. The device connects to the Iridium global satellite network, a constellation of low-hanging satellites that cover 100% of the planet. While many brands of sat communication devices employ this technology, Shawn started ZOLEO just 18 months ago because he saw a glaring gap in the market.

“Existing devices weren’t providing customers with that sort of intuitive, fully functional messaging experience that people have come to expect from their smartphones,” Shawn says.

ZOLEO puts messaging first, meaning that it’s incredibly easy to text using the ZOLEO app on your phone. ZOLEO also wisely sends the message with wifi or cell signal if that’s available. Unlike many other sat communicators on the market, ZOLEO delivers messages over cellular and wifi. This means that you’ll never miss a message again, even if your ZOLEO device is turned off.

Sat communicators also allow you to share your location with others, so they can track your progress on a project or simply check in to see where you are. Some models, such as ZOLEO’s, can give you the weather. And perhaps most importantly, these devices have an SOS button.

What happens when you press the SOS button?

A person looks at their phone in the dark. Their ZOLEO unit is hanging from their backpack.

If you or someone you encounter finds themselves in a situation in the backcountry in which they cannot get back to safety without assistance, the SOS button on your sat communicator can save you. Simply press the SOS button on the device, or the SOS button in the app. Doing so sends an SOS message along with your GPS location directly to an emergency response center. For ZOLEO, that’s the GEOS International Emergency Response Coordination Center, who manage these calls from all over the world.

GEOS communicates directly with the person who pressed the button. If they’re unavailable, GEOS reaches out to the emergency contacts indicated on your account. If help is needed, GEOS will coordinate with a local emergency response team to get help to you as soon as possible.

Seem too good to be true? Schedule a test run to see how the SOS button works. But don’t just press the SOS button for fun, Shawn warns.

“We do see a lot of accidental presses,” Shawn says. “We see people pressing the button because they are just testing the device and don’t realize doing so is going to set a whole chain of events in motion.”

If you do press the SOS button by accident, don’t panic. You’ll have a chance to cancel the SOS request.

The Gift of Safety

Person holds a ZOLEO in one hand and their phone in the other while sitting on some rocks.

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Native Land map
Gaia GPS

Giving Thanks Through Gaining Perspective

by Abby Levene
written by Abby Levene

Reimagining the map with world-renowned cartographers and non-profit Native Land Digital

In 2015, Victor Temprano protested a pipeline project in British Columbia. Standing alongside Indigenous peoples who steward that land, Temprano asked himself whose lands these projects would impact. He started mapping the pipeline paths, oil spills, and protests across Canada.

Temprano’s quest to close the loop on that question opened the floodgates. His work of mapping Indigenous relations to land expanded, leading him to create Native Land Digital in 2018. While Temprano is a settler from Okanagan territory with no previous experience in map making, Native Land Digital has blossomed into an Indigenous led, not-for-profit organization with a digital map depicting Indigenous territories, treaties, and languages mapped on a global scale. In fact, Native Land Digital’s maps serve as the de facto resource for understanding Indigenous relationships to land. 

“It’s an educational tool for people to know that there’s a history in a place that is thousands and thousands of years older than European history,” says Christine McRae, Executive Director of Native Land Digital. McRae identifies as Omàmìwininì Madaoueskarini Anishinaabekwe and belongs to the Crane Clan of the Madawaska River Algonquin people with mixed settler ancestry.

Instead of a jigsaw puzzle, you see a watercolor painting.

The interactive map contains a trove of crowdsourced information about Indigenous peoples all over the world, including Indigenous territories, languages, and treaties across every continent. Native-Land.ca receives over 700,000 visits on holidays like Thanksgiving, National Indigenous People’s Day, and Canada Day – and it inspires complicated discussions across the globe.

Through prioritizing Indigenous knowledge and connections to land on its digital maps, Native-Land.ca invites us to ask: what does it mean to attach a name to a landscape? While that answer remains relatively straightforward from a Western colonizer perspective, Temprano learned that’s not the case from an Indigenous one.

Starting from Scratch

Native-Land.ca Territories map.
The Territories map on Native-Land.ca shows an (incomplete) understanding of Indigenous lands.

When you open the Native Land map on the website, on gaiagps.com, or in the Gaia GPS app, it’s immediately obvious that it looks very little like ubiquitous Western maps. The same land masses swim transfixed in the sea, but they’re covered in overlapping shapes rather than rigid country and state lines.

You can choose from three maps: Indigenous territories, languages, and treaties. While you can turn Western boundary markers on, that’s not the default setting. Instead of a jigsaw puzzle, you see a watercolor painting.

“We don’t include those [Western] boundaries on the map on purpose so that we can understand that the colonial way of understanding the world is not the only way,” McRae says. “There is a much older understanding of land, territories, waterways and so on.” 

Maps are such engrained fixtures of Western culture, it’s easy to think of them as immutable objects of truth. But in truth, maps come closer to paintings than photographs.

Maps are such engrained fixtures of Western culture, it’s easy to think of them as immutable objects of truth. But in truth, maps come closer to paintings than photographs. Field measurements contain errors in accuracy and precision. Aerial photographs and satellite images only show certain portions of the light spectrum, as filtered through the atmosphere and detection instruments. No map can depict all physical, biological, and cultural features for even the smallest area.

Beyond inaccuracies, maps represent one viewpoint — that of the map maker, or their patron. A map can display only a few selected features, usually portrayed in highly symbolic styles according to some kind of classification scheme. All maps are estimations, generalizations, and interpretations of true geographic conditions. What a cartographer chooses to include or leave out, even boundary lines themselves, reflect deeply rooted norms and a subjective valuation of both what is important and what is reality.

Christine McRae, photo courtesy of Native Land Digital

Maps show power, and they confer power. They reflect and reify the way those in power understand the world around them. This truth becomes evident when we consider a map of the United States, with its familiar rectilinear boundaries to the north and south and patchwork of state borders spanning the landmass. This map represents one viewpoint: that of the colonizer. And in doing so, it suppresses the viewpoints and lived realities of the thousands of tribes who lived across this continent first and continue to call this land home.

The Native Land map subverts the colonist map, taking those same geographic images of landmasses with which we are so familiar and painting them with entirely different colors — quite literally.

“We understand that we can’t own land,” McRae says of Indigenous peoples. “We are in relation with the land. I’m not just seeing my yard as a yard, but rather the trees that are in this shared space are relations. The soil under my feet, the plants that grow here, they are also my relations.”

Yet McRae acknowledges that she also lives in the Western world. “We either have to rent or own if we are so privileged to do so,” McRae says. “We must balance these two juxtaposed understandings.”

This contestation manifests in the Native Land map. Western cartography blends with nebulous regions where tribes both lived and live, where languages were spoken and are spoken, and where Indigenous peoples and colonizers formed treaties. While most Western maps represent a point in time, the Native Land maps represent all points in time. While Western maps provide strict boundaries of ownership, the Native Land maps give fluid, overlapping regions for places where tribes have and do call home.

How Native Land Digital Created a Community-Based Map

Native-Land.ca Treaties map.
The Treaties map on Native-Land.ca. Note how treaties illustrate boundaries. Visit Native-Land.ca to see how these borders relate to territory and language regions.

As a settler born in traditional Katzie territory and raised in the Okanagan, Temprano wanted to create an invitation to other settlers to learn about whose land they occupy, and to start a deeper intellectual and emotional connection in the process. The purpose of the project has since evolved to providing an empowering place for Indigenous peoples to affirm and share their home territories, history, present, and future.

While Temprano continues to spearhead the technological work, Native Land Digital is Indigenous-led. Indigenous people from around the world comprise the board of directors. An advisory board of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous cartographers also supports the project, along with volunteers who constantly refine the map as they gain more information.

Most Native-Land.ca work takes place on the unceeded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm1 (Musqueam), səl̓ ílwətaʔɬ2 (Tsleil-waututh) and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh3 (Squamish) Nations. The Coast Salish people, to which these nations belong, have lived for over ten thousand years along the northwest coast of North America. You can learn more about their history by finding them on the map.

“This map is a platform for Indigenous people to tell stories. It goes back to being community-based. If a community has a story it wants to share that will help us represent them on their own terms in the map, we’re happy to follow the lead of the community.”

Victor Temprano, photo courtesy of Native Land Digital

Initially, Temprano relied heavily on colonial knowledge to fill in the map. Just as the purpose of the project metamorphosed, the sources of information have, too. Now, Native Land Digital leans heavily on knowledge gathered from Indigenous communities themselves, in the form of both direct communication and archival sources.

Building community and being in community with Indigenous peoples sits at the heart of making this map. McRae says that involves conversations with communities, guided by elders, who help to work through each individual situation.

“This map is a platform for Indigenous people to tell stories,” McRae says. “It goes back to being community-based. If a community has a story it wants to share that will help us represent them on their own terms in the map, we’re happy to follow the lead of the community.”

Filling in each inch of the map requires gaining local knowledge from each place, in addition to contending with a stream of other considerations such as Indigenous data sovereignty.

“Some knowledge is sacred,” McRae says. “It doesn’t go out into the general world. There are stories that remain within community only. It all depends on community and permissions to share and so on. We just provide the platform for those who want to share their stories with the world.”

Native Land Digital deals with each situation uniquely and with as much care and empathy as required.

“The deeper history and understandings of Turtle Island and other parts of the world differ greatly depending on which region of the world you’re from,” McRae explains. “And so we look to regional expertise and we promote that knowledge rather than our own projected understandings of what that colonial history or that Indigenous history might be in other places, particularly those places where we’re not from.”

Why These Maps Remain Eternally Incomplete

Native-Land.ca Languages map.
The Languages map on Native-Land.ca. Note how the map remains incomplete, and the locations of languages spoken delineate boundaries.

Just as the map itself doesn’t represent one point in history, Native-Land.ca constantly gets refined over time. Native Land Digital doesn’t currently offer a print version of the map to ensure they can continue to update the map as needed.

In fact, evolution sits at the heart of this project, as reflected in the disclaimer that pops up when you open the map:

This map does not represent or intend to represent official or legal boundaries of any Indigenous nations. To learn about definitive boundaries, contact the nations in question.

Also, this map is not perfect – it is a work in progress with tons of contributions from the community. Please send us fixes if you find errors.

Embracing imperfection drives this form of story-telling. Gathering information for the map is a volunteer-led, crowd-sourced process. It’s not bound by rigorous academic requirements. Think of it as an Indigenous Wikipedia of sorts, where the information is communicated visually through the map. This allows Native-Land.ca to be updated efficiently, but McRae says that Native Land Digital is extremely hesitant to ever declare that the map is entirely accurate.

The map remains eternally incomplete. Currently, Native Land Digital does not contain information for some areas of the world. This is not because Indigenous peoples, territories, languages, and treaties do not exist on these lands. Rather, there is still work to be done. The “work in progress” moniker also signifies that Native Land Digital will update information as needed. Native Land Digital sometimes uses colonial naming practices or flattens the complexity of nations and peoples’ Indigeneity and self-determination. The board makes hard decisions regarding who belongs on the map and where, which inherently involves rejecting inaccurate or insufficient sources. Ultimately, this is a human process and mistakes get made, which have real-life consequences of hurting people.

The question of who gets to say who belongs on the map remains an open question.

“We make a very conscious effort to not dictate someone’s existence,” McRae says. “Maps have been used as a colonial tool to erase people off of land. We want to do the exact opposite. That ties back into why this project is community-based. If anything’s missing or if anything needs to be changed, we listen to a community and what their needs are so that they can represent themselves on the map.”

Reciprocity sits at the heart of Native Land Digital. Collecting information for mapping relies on community, and as an open-source platform anyone can use the map’s information as long as they do so responsibly and ethically. In fact, McRae hopes that in the future the non-profit can support Indigenous communities in their own mapping projects.

Moving Beyond Land Acknowledgements

The Native Land map in Gaia GPS shows whose land you’re on while out in the field.

The Native Land maps invite Indigenous peoples to share their stories, and settlers to learn them. For adventurers, looking up and acknowledging whose land you’re on can be a logical first step to pay respect and learn about a new place. McRae emphasizes that this step is only the first of a life-long journey in gaining a deeper understanding and connection to the land. The next step, she says, is for map users to build a relationship with the Nations on whose land they stand.

“Our hope is that the map is a starting point for conversation and to build relationships,” McRae says.

This intention is embedded into the map itself. Examine the three maps to see how they relate to each other and how they seemingly don’t. Hone in on a particular area to get a clearer view of the tribes represented there. Click on a place, and you can find links to the Indigenous nations who call that land home. There, you can learn a little of the local language, dive into the history, and nurture that seed of consciousness that the map plants in your mind.

In addition to learning about Indigenous peoples and their land, the Native Land map invites us to learn from the land itself. The Native Land Digital Teacher’s Guide asks us to consider the land as pedagogy, a form of learning:

Looking at the land from an Indigenous perspective means understanding that the land is a living being. This understanding both gives us insight into and increases our awareness of how we treat and interact with the land. Indigenous people hold the land up as both a living being and as a teacher. ‘Living lightly’ on the land has always been emphasized as a means of minimizing environmental impact and ensuring a continued quality of life for future generations to come.

For McRae, viewing the land as a relation provides a north star as we adventure through places both new and familiar. She asks, “How must you behave to be in good relation to the land and also to the people whose land that you are on?”

This article was written and edited on the lands of the Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho peoples.

Gaia GPS is working towards a more inclusive product. We welcome your ideas regarding how we can provide more perspectives in our maps.

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A motor boat in Svalbard
Gaia GPSHikesOffroading

Our 2023 Travel Bucket List

by Abby Levene
written by Abby Levene

Happiness experts say that it’s better to receive an experience than something material. So we rounded up the trips we’re dreaming of taking to gift your loved ones this holiday season.

Outside editors have ambitious travel bucket lists and are always on the move. When asked what trips they’d most like to receive as gifts this year, our colleagues knew exactly what to say.

1. Svalbard

Sightseeing in Svalbard
Sightseeing in Svalbard (Photo: Jonathan Nackstrand/Getty)

I can’t think of a more festive holiday gift than a trip to Svalbard, the northernmost settlement on the planet, just 650 miles from the North Pole. Although I’ve seen headlines about this arctic archipelago for years, when Outside columnist Emily Pennington wrote to me about her recent trip there this fall, I immediately added it to my bucket list. (Of course, I’d postpone my trip until summer when temperatures hover around 40 degrees.)

I’d spend at least a couple nights in a tent at Longyearbyen Camping (from $17)—you can rent camping gear right on site!—taking polar plunges in the Advent Fjord and exploring glaciers by hiking Sarkofagen Mountain. A trip to Svalbard wouldn’’t be complete without a dog sledding adventure; Green Dog offers tours by sled and wheels, along the snow and sea, depending on when you visit (from $95). After a few days of roughing it, I’d book a stay at the Funken Lodge (from $200), complete with a sauna, champagne tasting, and an old mining-cafeteria-turned-restaurant.

Key gear: I wouldn’t make this trip without my Women’s Intraknit Merino Fleece hoodie ($240), a cozy, wool zip-up with ample airflow that makes it perform for hiking, but cute enough that it’ll blend in around town. — Abigail Wise, digital managing director

2. Japan

The snow-capped Mount Yotei, a dormant volcano in Niseko, Japan
The snow-capped Mount Yotei, a dormant volcano in Niseko, Japan (Photo: Stefan Irvine/Getty)

I recently got married, and in lieu of a traditional gift registry, we asked for guests to contribute to our dream, once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon trip to Japan in February. We’ll start out in Tokyo, where we plan to visit multiple vintage clothing stores and cookware shops. (I hope to procure a nice, Japanese-made chef’s knife at the latter.) After that, it’s a bullet train to Kyoto to visit some temples and shrines and enjoy the (relative) tranquility of the city after bustling Tokyo. Lastly, we’ll be flying to Niseko, where we hope to catch one of the country’s famous snow festivals and—of course—ski the famous Japanese powder at Niseko United.

We’ll be eating and drinking our way through the country, making sure to block out plenty of time for tasting sake, regional dishes, and konbini snacks in each city.

You don’t need a newly minted marriage license to enjoy this trip, though: Gift it to yourself by buying two tickets to Tokyo (around $1,200 from Denver), four nights at the Hoshino Resorts OMO5 Tokyo Otsuka hotel (around $130/night), four nights at Ace Hotel Kyoto (around $170/night), three nights at The Green Leaf Niseko Village (around $130/night) and two, $105 two-day passes at Niseko United (or you can use your Ikon pass, as we plan on doing). — Kelsey Lindsey, senior editor

3. Salmon River, Idaho

Whitewater rafting, Middle Fork of the Salmon River, Idaho, United States
Whitewater rafting, Middle Fork of the Salmon River, Idaho, United States (Photo: Merrill Images/Getty)

I want to go on a rafting trip on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho with the outfitter Oars (from $3399) and its expert guides so that I don’t have to worry about a thing. I’ve been craving being out in stunning wilderness on water, to get a breather from the relentless grind of Slack, social media, and bad news.

The Middle Fork is a classic trip. I’ve seen photos from friends’ outings on it over the years and can’t believe how serene and gorgeous it looks. You need to get yourself to Stanley, Idaho, and from there you take a bush flight with Oars to the put-in on the river. There are Class III to IV rapids, gorgeous riverside sandy beaches to camp on, hiking, hot springs, and historic stops along the way.

Key Gear: I’d definitely pack a pair of sunglasses that will protect my eyes from the sun and water’s glare, like the Costa Caletas. — Mary Turner, deputy editor

4. Coastal Maine

The rocky shores of Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine
The rocky shores of Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine (Photo: John Greim/Getty)

The trip I’d most like to be given in 2023 is a journey home. I spent my formative years on the coast of Maine, and developed a love for the outdoors in the Pine Tree State’s woods and waterways. I haven’t spent time on those trails, rivers and bays for over twenty years. I miss the crash of waves against the shore, the smell of fresh, salty air, and the rugged beauty of the rocky shores.

I’d cover my airfare to Portland, and the rental car to drive up the coast, if someone will gift me my lodging and equipment rentals. I’d love two nights at Camden’s Grand Harbor Inn (from $200 a night), where I’d run the trails of Camden Hills State Park and rent a kayak ($60 an hour from Maine Sport Outfitters) to explore the harbor and islands in the afternoon. Then on to my youthful home town of Bucksport, where I’d run the rolling, wooded 10-mile loop of Verona Island where I first learned my love of going long, before driving on to Mount Desert Island.

I’d need three to four nights at the Bar Harbor Inn (from $240/night for ocean view) to get in all the activities: biking Acadia National Park’s loop road above granite cliffs ($35/day from Bar Harbor Bicycle Shop), canoeing on Great Long Pond ($38/ 3 hours at National Park Canoe Rental), climbing Cadillac Mountain, and running the miles of groomed carriage roads around the park’s lakes and hills.

Key gear: Since my running surfaces on the trip will range from paved roads to gravel paths, with a few rocky trails, I’ll need to pack a versatile pair of shoes like the Reebok Floatride Energy 4 Adventure. — Jonathan Beverly, senior running gear editor

5. Marin County, California

Bodega Bay
Bodega Bay

There are SoCal beach-goers and then there are NorCal ones; my family falls into the latter group, happily. Which is why we’re gifting ourselves a trip to Marin County for a long weekend next fall, when the weather is glorious. We’ll split our time between residential Stinson Beach, where my husband can surf-cast while my teenage daughter and I relax and roam the wide, 3.5-mile-long beach or spend an afternoon hiking the lush Dipsea Trail, and Marshall, another scenic outpost just 30 minutes from the choice clamming grounds of Bodega Bay (a daily permit of $17.50 is required for fishing or clamming).

In Stinson, we’ll stay at the century-old Sandpiper Lodge (from $280 for three people); it’s steps from the shore, trailhead, and a neighboring café with hearty hot breakfasts. In Marshall, up the coast on Tomales Bay, I’ve been eyeing the recently renovated Nick’s Cove, with 12 cabins overlooking the water (from $375 per night) and a sweet little restaurant at the end of a pier featuring a seasonal menu that will have your mouth watering if you’re in the area for seafood (and who’s not?). Four days of sandy beaches, salty air, and shells and fog and seaweed never seem like enough—but they’re all solid reasons for many returns.

Key gear: Mud boots, for both surf-casting and clamming, are a must. My family likes Bogs—my husband for its simple lines and my daughter for the colorful patterns. — Tasha Zemke, associate managing editor

6. The Ozarks, Arkansas

The Boston Mountains in the Ozarks
The Boston Mountains in the Ozarks (Photo: Paul Knightly/Getty)

Covered with hardwood forests and split by sheer sandstone river bluffs and quiet valleys, Arkansas’ Ozarks are a world away from the Appalachians or the Sierra, but they’re every bit as compelling. I’ve dreamed about hiking the Ozark Highlands Trail ever since the first time I set foot in those woods. Parts of the trail are still roadwalks or bushwhacks, but if you have 10 to 14 days free, you can get a taste of the best the path has to offer on the 164-mile Boston Mountains segment, which covers the trail’s most rugged peaks.

Start at the trail’s western terminus at Lake Fort Smith (closest airport: Fort Smith, which has daily flights from Dallas-Fort Worth; $380-450 at the time of writing). From there, meander east through deep hollows and over forested peaks, tagging the 2,382-foot summit of Hare Mountain, the trail’s high point, along the way. Your journey ends with a bang by traversing Richland Creek Wilderness, home to more than 30 waterfalls, including the 78-foot-high Terry Keefe Falls.

Tip: Camping is easy—you can pitch a tent (I’d want to bring an ultralight model like the Zpacks Duplex, starting at $699, along with a quilt like the REI Co-op Magma Trail Quilt 30, $329 and a good old Therm-a-Rest Z-Lite Sol, $55) along most of the trail, as long as you’re 200 feet away from the treadpath or any water source—but resupplying is not. With few to no grocery stores within walking distance, your best bet is to mail food to post offices along the trail.

Key gear: Ask a friend or family member to send you resupply boxes. My gourmet wishlist includes a few nice meals from Stowaway Gourmet, $16 each, and vegan jerky from Beyond Meat, $4 for a 3 ounce bag. — Adam Roy, executive editor of Backpacker

7. Tuscany, Italy

Gravel biking in Tuscany (Photo: Zodebala/Getty)

Every spring, just as winter is loosening its grip, something magical happens in Central Italy. Emerging from hibernation, the pro cycling peloton winds through the olive groves and 1,000-year-old vineyards of Tuscany in a spectacular one-day race known as Strade Bianche. Surging up and down the eponymous “white roads” of the Bel Paese, the hilly course is a romantic’s dream—a throwback to the days when all races took place on gravel and ended with a heaping bowl of pasta, a hunk of crusty bread, and a bottle of Montepulciano or Chianti.

In my version of the dream, I join a guided 7-day tour with InGamba, a boutique operator founded and staffed by former pros who love fine food and conversation almost as much as they adore two-wheeled adventures. I’d draft behind Tour de France legend (and lead guide) Eros Poli as our small group of 8-10 riders rolled out of Florence, threading our way day-by-day through small villages and ancient ruins on cypress-lined roads.

Supported by a team of mechanics who tune and wash InGamba’s top-of-the-line fleet of Pinarello Grevils every morning, I’d dine on local delicacies each night, laughing with riders from all over the world around rustic tables in small, family-operated restaurants. And of course I’d show off the coating of fine white dust that’s the best souvenir of a Strade Bianche experience.

InGamba trips aren’t cheap—$6,950 for this one—but they’re worth every penny for the team’s local knowledge, impeccable attention to detail, and first-class food, drink, and lodging. Each rider receives a custom kit (which is washed and returned to you every night), but since a bike is provided there’s little gear to worry about.

Key gear: A broken-in pair of quality gravel shoes like the Specialized S-Works Recon Vent Evo. Oh, and a bottle of ibuprofen for the morning after all that Chianti. — Jon Dorn, VP of strategy at Outside, Inc.

This article was originally published on Outside Online.

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Gaia GPSNew Features

OpenSnow Weather Now Available at-a-Tap on the Map

by Abby Levene
written by Abby Levene

There’s no such thing as bad weather, just poor planning. The problem is, you need to know what the weather will be so you can plan accordingly. Predicting the weather grows particularly challenging as the days grow shorter, colder, and wetter. 

We have a solution.

While we can’t supply a crystal ball, we can supply the weather for exactly where you’re going, exactly where you need it—right on the map. We partnered with OpenSnow, the leading resource for backcountry weather, to bring you hyper-localized weather forecasts that you can access at a tap.

Just tap anywhere on the map, anywhere in the world, and get the current weather plus the forecast right in Gaia GPS. Read on to get the full weather-at-a-tap lowdown.

Forecasts from a Trusted Source

We worked hard with our friends over at OpenSnow to bring you the best global weather data for your adventures. Founded by meteorologist and skier Joel Gratz, OpenSnow delivers high-quality weather forecasts worldwide. 

As its name suggests, OpenSnow started as a ski-focused forecasting and snow-reporting website. Its scope has expanded over the past decade to provide high-quality backcountry weather forecasts for all seasons. Now, millions trust OpenSnow for weather forecasting year-round. 

Weather At-A-Tap on the Map

Equally important to forecast quality is accessibility. That’s why we put the forecast right on the map. No more guesstimating the zip codes of your next backcountry skiing zone, four-wheeled desert escape, or ridge line traverse. Get the forecast as you plan your adventures on the map.

Just tap the map in the app or on gaiagps.com, and the weather appears at the top of the tap drawer just under the location coordinates. Notice how the forecast changes as you tap around the map. Get a sense of how the temperature plummets as you move up the mountain, and rises as you descend into canyons.

All the Forecasts You Need, in One Place

Tap anywhere on the map to get all the current weather information you need, including the temperature, cloud cover, chance of precipitation, and wind.

Whether you’re hitting the slopes or setting out on a cross-country cruise, you need more than the current weather. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Click the arrow next to the current weather to get the expanded three-day forecast, as well as a link to the 10-day forecast.

Get Even More Weather Data by Upgrading to Premium with Outside+

Weather at-a-tap is available to all Gaia GPS users. Get even more weather data, including our suite of precipitation and snow forecast maps, by upgrading to Gaia GPS Premium with Outside+.

Premium gives you access to the entire map catalog, including all the maps you need for winter, such as the Avalanche Forecast, Snow Depth, weather reports from snow stations around the west, and ski resort reports. Plus, with Premium you can take your maps offline so you can navigate without cell service. 

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