Gaia GPS

Battery drain stinks, and often hits the hardest at the most inconvenient times. Countless factors can threaten the life of your phone battery, like cold or blazing hot temperatures, or even how many apps you’ve recently used. Whether you’re out for a 3-night backpacking trip, casual day hike, or a few hours on the slopes, there’s no escaping the inevitable drain. Whatever your adventure looks like, these tricks will help you save the juice in your phone and keep Gaia GPS up and running longer.

It’s not too late to catch one of the most striking meteor showers of the year. Whether you’re looking for a romantic date night, an opportunity to really wow a first-time camper, or a quiet night to yourself, the Perseids are not to be missed. Find the dark skies near you and catch the meteor shower with these tips.

Find 4×4 roads and points of interest quicker than ever with Gaia Topo’s latest updates. Gaia Topo now displays color-coded points of interest, more 4×4 roads when the map is zoomed out, and larger labels, badges, and contour markers when the map is zoomed in.

Find water sources, identify river crossings, and get a better picture of any landscape with the new US Hydrography map. This new layer points out more rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands than any other map on Gaia GPS. Level up your favorite maps by pairing them with the US Hydrography layer for more precise and expanded coverage of bodies of water across the United States.

Tune into the Out and Back podcast today as backcountry navigation expert and guide Andrew Skurka weighs in how to stay found in the wilderness. Known for laying down first tracks on three enormous hiking routes in the U.S, Skurka has become an authority on map and compass navigation. Tune in to hear Skurka’s story about his path from “living on crumbs” as a full-time adventurer to becoming a guide, gear reviewer, and author on all things backpacking. Also, don’t miss his discussion about the value of carrying both paper maps and digital maps, what’s in his navigation kit, and the one simple thing that will keep you from getting lost in the backcountry. Spoiler: it’s not triangulation.

Veterans have turned to wilderness therapy programs to ease the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other combat-related injuries for many years. But with parks closed and many states ordering residents to stay at home, these therapeutic adventures have been put on hold. Program directors nationwide weigh in on how these programs might resume later this summer and advise veterans to seek fresh air close to home while they wait out quarantine.