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PSA: Stop trusting AllTrails mileage for off-trail sections
I hiked a route in the Wind River Range last summer that AllTrails said was 14 miles but it was actually 18 because the gpx file cut through a boulder field with zero switchbacks. Anyone else notice how these apps round down when the terrain gets rough?
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fiona_kim9714d ago
Is it just me or did AllTrails also tell me a "moderate" 8 mile hike was flat when it was actually 3 miles of talus slogging? I learned that lesson the hard way last fall when I showed up in trail runners thinking I was gonna breeze through it. My ankles are still mad at me for trusting that app. Now I always double check with Caltopo or Gaia before I go anywhere with "off trail" in the description. Its wild how much those GPX files lie about the real effort.
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amy_martin14d ago
4200ft of elevation gain in seven miles taught me that one the hard way.
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Actually that's a solid point about AllTrails, but I gotta push back a little on the GPX file thing. The files themselves are usually just recording where someone walked, it's the user ratings and descriptions that lie about difficulty. GPX just shows you the track, the elevation data is what it is. Still, totally agree on double checking with other apps - I caught a "moderate" trail once that was basically a cliff scramble cause I checked Caltopo first.
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