Trail Mapping Websites

If you're looking for a great trail, you will find an incredible selection of trail-mapping websites available. Not only do these sites allow you to map your own bike ride, trail run, or hike, they also allow you to access trail information provided by other users.

Following is a briefly annotated list of trail mapping websites:

• Ride with GPS - a site to help cyclists plan bike rides and find routes in their area
• Ride Dog- designed to help bicyclists find, map, & share cycling routes worldwide
• gpsies - allows outdoor recreationalists to create "tracks" and view those of others
• alltrails - Share your own trail information & explore over 40,000 trails & trail reviews
• fitgroups - Plan group rides & hikes in your neck of the woods.
• biketrippin - Use BikeTrippin to journal, track progress, & upload photos.
• trailpedia - a collection of trail descriptions that have been submitted by registered contributors.
• routebuddy - a UK-based developer of GPS-enabled mapping software
• sports-tracker - Turns your mobile device into a social sports computer.
• sportypal - Log & map your run, bike ride, walk, or inline skate experience.
• Everytrail - Create and view trail trips and trail guides.

Most of the above websites/apps can be used to monitor your own activity, share your trail experience, and view the trail activities of other users. Basically, they are interactive versions of such trail location sites as traillink, trailsnet, and Trails.com.

Trail Mapping Websites

Trail Notes = Stay Found

I often expound upon the safety virtues of trails, and it's true that they are usually very safe places to ride your bike, hike, ride your horse, inline skate, run...

But even trails have their potential hazards. Thundershowers happen; people get lost. The best laid plans of mice & men sometimes go awry.

I started thinking about all this as a result of a comment (Thanks Barry!) regarding a recent blog-post on the trailsnet blog. Within a minute after reading a comment about the importance of letting someone know where you're going on the trail, I came across a Twitter Feed for a website/company called TrailNote.com.

At Trails Note, their motto is "Get there. Get back. Be safe." It's succinct and to the point. And TrailNote has an online alert program to help you achieve your goal of trail safety. The program allows you to:

• Give your trip details.
• Set your trip time and date.
• Select your return time and your contact list.
• Mark your location.
• Go on your trip.

Okay, technically you don't need an online program for that last step. But TrailNote seems like a promising application to take trail safety to the next level. And best of all.... It's FREE!!

So visit TrailNote.com, login, and check them out. Because it's important to (Here comes another TrailNote motto.) "Protect your adventure today!"

Trail Notes = Stay Found