What's in Your Pocket? Apps on the Trail

Or rather, what's in mine? 

In the grand tradition of EDC (every day carry), I want to share my favorite trail apps (at the moment).

While I'm a certified MN Master Naturalist volunteer, that doesn't mean I know ALL.THE.THINGS. It just means that I am willing to be a life-long learner in the natural world. Part of that learning goes on while I am on the trails during my various hiking adventures each week. As the seasons turn and various flora and fauna go through their life cycles and nesting cycles, my eyes and ears are attuned to what I'm seeing.

A typical scene when I am on my hikes
 id'ing stuff with my iphone
Image - Lloyd Lorenz

The challenge for me, as well as for many of us, is figuring out exactly what I am seeing and hearing. You would think I would know every natural thing I see (and have seen) by now. But I don't.  I'm STILL learning.

I always carry my trusty iphone, a favored piece of hiking EDC gear, to help me identify or verify what I see/hear. I never leave home without it!

Each season, I re-acquaint myself with what I encounter. The further into the season I go, the more I remember - although hiking companions hear me muttering identifications as I practice on every hike. And, for what I don't know, my apps and photos help me make the identification.

Here's what I use: 

iPhone 13 Pro Max photo app

This iphone version has a really excellent camera system and editing options that allow you to crop and straighten pictures. It also has a pretty good identification feature that gives you a first ID of flowers and fauna on the trails. I click on the bug or plant icon and I get a quick result that I can then add to the notes field.

This is a great "out-in-field" way to capture what flowers I am seeing while I am hiking. I also use it to record what I am seeing from trail-to-trail and day-to-day. 

Since I do weekly or bi-weekly phenology journal, it also helps me easily refer back to what I've been encountering.

I like to cross reference the ID with other apps I use once I'm back home to make sure the phone has the correct ID. Then I type the verified identification in the photo notes line. Pretty sweet!

Seek by iNaturalist

This app is a pretty huge delight on the trail. You just aim your camera at the plant, insect, fungi, amphibian, mammal, mollusk, reptile, bird, arachnid, fish (or other species). The app will often identify it on the spot. It then pops it into your observations which includes the date observed, its taxonomy, seasonal observations based on other users, range map of observations near year, similar plants and a short snippet from wikipedia (be sure to donate to them). If the identification isn't returned, you can forward the photo to the iNaturalist community for an ID. 

My only hesitations on this app is that the camera doesn't do great close-ups and it's hard to move photos from the iphone into this app. So it can be futzy on the trail. But for instant ID, it rocks.

PictureThis

I actually pay for this flower identification app for alot of its features. It is pretty darn good at flower identification accuracy. It is easily used to check IDs from my phone photos after the hike (or even on it, if I have cell service). I appreciate that feature because it two quick clicks from the photo to my confirmed id.

The identification includes a range of names for the flower including its scientific name. It has a FAQ area that often includes interesting tidbits that I can use when I am doing interpretive hike programs. They include characteristics of the plant, sometimes poems and symbolism, its taxonomy, range, where it is native, cultivated, considered invasive, garden use, and care guide.

It also saves my observations in "My Garden" so I can refer back when I am about to guide a hike. that I have scouted for flower and plant IDs. I can do my prep quickly and easily! All this info really helps me learn the plant better so the cost is worth it to me.

Merlin

Of course, you all yell! 

I have learned more bird song/call identification from this app than ever before. Created by the magical folks at Cornell Lab of Ornithology, this is most hikers' favorite app.

I really appreciate the sound ID, since birds often escape my eyeballs (except when I am with MN Master Naturalist friends and bird gurus Janet Malotky and Steve Dietz when all birds appear before my eye and binoculars). *

With Merlin, you can track not just what you are hearing, but locate the bird by following its sound to actually see them. Plus the app let's you hear recordings of birds to help you attune your hearing to the birds you are likely to hear at various times of the year.

AllTrails

Finally, you only have to hike with me for 4.5 minutes before you discover my sense of direction is absolutely nonsensical. If it's not a loop or an out-and-back, you may find me wandering 5 years later. It's why I heavily scout hikes I lead. I want to make sure no one follows me into the land of the lost!

For me the AllTrails app works swell. Like all crowd-sourced apps, you have to be on your toes - one person's hike doesn't always match another's or has weird names that don't really quite match the trails you are on. You can pre-download the map you want to use as the guide as long as you are aware you may want to hike that trail or trail system slightly differently.

On the good side though, you can just set the app to navigate and it will often display the trails you are on with names. While it sucks up battery while on the trail tracking your whereabouts, it has kept me on the straight and narrow every time I have used it.

I appreciate that it tracks mileage and elevation and that you can save your hike if you choose to. I use the app alot not just on the trail but for the blog to remind me of information. You can choose to review your hike after you are done or just look at the info and delete it.

What are YOUR go-to apps that help you stay on the trail, identify or make your hikes easier while you're hiking. Feel free to let me know in the comments or the next time you see me on the trails!  

*P.S. I really recommend going on one - or more - of their bird hikes at MN's Frontenac State Park. You will be gobsmacked and feel amazing at what you see thanks to their guiding.

Checking that ID
Image - Kris Lawson