Top Trending Digital Products for Outdoor Enthusiasts

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March 2, 2025

A realistic scene of modern hikers using digital tools on a scenic trail. A group of hikers is pausing at a viewpoint with a breathtaking mountain landscape in the background. One hiker is checking a smartphone mapping app (like AllTrails or Gaia GPS) for navigation, another is wearing a smartwatch tracking their route, and a third is using an AR app on their phone to identify nearby peaks. They have a mix of traditional and tech gear—backpacks, trekking poles, and GPS devices. The scene captures the blend of outdoor adventure and digital convenience. — Our wearables are getting wearables.

Outdoor enthusiasts increasingly rely on digital tools like smartphone mapping apps to enhance their hiking and backpacking experiences.

Modern hikers, backpackers, and nature lovers are embracing a range of digital products to plan adventures, navigate trails, learn new skills, and even explore the outdoors virtually. Below we break down the top trending categories – from navigation apps and e-guides to online courses and AR tools – highlighting what’s popular now and emerging trends.

Digital Maps & Navigation Apps

A group of hikers walking through a dense forest at dusk, using their smartphones to navigate with a maps app and lighting the path ahead with the flashlight function. The forest is dimly lit with the last traces of sunlight filtering through the trees, casting long shadows. The hikers wear outdoor gear, backpacks, and sturdy boots, appearing focused as they check their phones for directions. The glow from the phone screens and flashlights illuminates their faces and the nearby foliage. The atmosphere is calm yet adventurous, with a sense of determination in their expressions. — "I was totally hitting like on this camp spot before anyone else."

Smartphone GPS mapping apps have become indispensable for hikers and backpackers, often replacing paper maps. Some of the most popular options include:

AllTrails – A hugely popular trail discovery app with a global community. It features 400,000+ trail guides and has over 3.5 million downloads, making it one of the top hike-planning apps worldwide (source: atlasandboots.com). Users contribute reviews, photos, and trail updates, and a paid tier offers offline maps and custom route planning.
Gaia GPS – A favorite for backcountry enthusiasts, offering an extensive catalog of topo maps, satellite imagery, and trail overlays (source: atlasandboots.com). Hikers value Gaia for its reliable offline navigation, detailed elevation data, and route tracking features – many consider it a go-to tool for wilderness trips.
onX Backcountry & CalTopo – These newer “full-service” mapping platforms are rising in popularity for more advanced planning (source: thetrek.co). They provide nationwide topo maps, route-building tools, and layers like public land boundaries. onX (an offshoot of hunting maps) and CalTopo (a web-based planner) cater to serious backpackers plotting off-trail routes and have seen growing adoption among guides and experienced hikers (source: thetrek.co).
Komoot – A fast-growing app that “claims to be Europe’s number one outdoor app”, known for its robust route planning and turn-by-turn navigation for hiking, biking, and trail running (source: atlasandboots.com). Komoot includes offline maps and community trip reports, excelling in social sharing and helping users discover new trails – it’s especially popular among international adventurers.

In addition to these, many hikers also use country-specific apps (for example, OS Maps in the UK for official topo charts (source: thegreatoutdoorsmag.com) and niche tools like PeakFinder/PeakVisor (which use your camera to identify mountain summits via AR). Overall, navigation apps are a cornerstone of the outdoor digital toolkit – they’re continually improving with features like real-time route conditions, user-generated waypoints, and integration with wearable GPS devices.

E-Books & Digital Guidebooks

A highly realistic close-up image of a hiker’s face snuggled inside a warm sleeping bag, reading from a tablet or Kindle e-reader at night. The soft glow from the screen illuminates their focused expression, highlighting details like their slightly wind-chapped skin and relaxed eyes. The background is blurred but hints at the inside of a tent with faint glimpses of camping gear. The atmosphere is cozy and peaceful, capturing the solitude and warmth of the moment. — It's actually really nice in the down time to be able to read something interesting.

Outdoor enthusiasts are increasingly consuming their trail literature and guidebooks in digital formats (e-books and PDFs) for convenience. This includes both inspirational adventure narratives and practical how-to guides:

Adventure Memoirs: Beloved books like Cheryl Strayed’s “Wild” remain incredibly popular among hikers (it’s “one of the most popular hiking books to come out in the past decade” (source: hikewithryan.com). Such memoirs inspire readers with real-life trail stories and personal journeys, and many are downloaded on Kindles or listened to on audiobook during long treks. Other classics like Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild/Into Thin Air or Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods continue to trend in outdoor circles, available in e-book form for a new generation of readers.
Practical Guides: Backpackers also stock up on digital guidebooks that teach wilderness skills. For example, Wilderness Navigation by Burns & Burns is a best-selling navigation manual that’s even used as a textbook in outdoor courses (source: hikewithryan.com). It covers map, compass, and GPS techniques and is frequently carried in electronic form for on-trip reference. Similarly, comprehensive handbooks like The Backpacker’s Field Manual or Andrew Skurka’s The Ultimate Hiker’s Gear Guide are often bought as e-books – allowing hikers to refer to gear checklists, safety tips, and planning advice on their phones or e-readers.

Digital guidebooks have in many cases supplanted physical ones. For popular trails, hikers download official guides or apps (for instance, guides to national parks or long trails in PDF/app format) rather than carrying paper. The convenience of having an entire library of nature books, field guides (flora/fauna identification ebooks), and manuals on a single device is a trend that continues to grow. Many thru-hikers now trade paperbacks for e-readers to save weight, without giving up nighttime reading in the tent.

Online Courses & Virtual Learning

A realistic scene of a person watching an outdoor survival training video on a tablet device in their living room. The tablet screen displays the image of a survival instructor demonstrating fire-making techniques in a forest. The person is sitting on a couch, holding the tablet with both hands, with a cozy living room setting in the background, including a coffee table, books, and a warm lamp. The atmosphere contrasts the rugged outdoor training with the comfort of home, showing modern learning through technology. — Fireception

Another trend is the rise of online courses and e-learning resources tailored to outdoor skills. Enthusiasts are turning to the internet to learn backpacking techniques, navigation, survival skills, and more from experts:

Skill Courses for Hikers: Established outdoor media and organizations are offering structured online classes. For example, Backpacker Magazine created a “Thru-Hiking 101” online course to help people plan their first long-distance hike (source: backpacker.com). It’s a multi-week class led by seasoned thru-hiker Liz “Snorkel” Thomas, condensing her 15,000 miles of trail experience into lessons on gear, food, safety, and planning a long trek (source: backpacker.com). The popularity of this course (launched 2024) shows that many aspirants are eager to educate themselves virtually before hitting the trail.
Specialized Webinars: Niche communities like Backpacking Light have developed extensive webinar libraries and self-paced classes for more advanced topics. They offer “comprehensive online education for hikers and other backcountry travelers,” covering everything from ultralight gear strategies to backcountry first aid and avalanche safety (source: backpackinglight.com). Users can purchase individual courses or get membership access to a whole catalog of video lessons. The growth of these platforms indicates a demand for continuous learning among outdoor adventurers, allowing even experienced hikers to refine skills (e.g. glacier travel techniques or lightweight winter camping) through online study.

Beyond formal courses, outdoor enthusiasts also flock to instructional YouTube channels, podcasts, and forums for knowledge – but the emergence of structured e-learning (sometimes with certifications or community support) is a notable trend. It enables people to gain confidence and skills at their own pace, bridging the gap between indoor preparation and real-world adventure.

Augmented Reality & Virtual Guides

A futuristic, sci-fi-inspired landscape showcasing a high-tech digital navigation interface projected in mid-air. A rugged hiker, equipped with advanced wearable technology, interacts with a holographic GPS map displaying topographical details, trail routes, and real-time waypoints. The setting is a stunning alien-like wilderness with towering, bioluminescent trees and distant mountains under a twilight sky. The scene blends hyper-realistic details with a sleek, cybernetic aesthetic, emphasizing the fusion of outdoor adventure and cutting-edge digital mapping technology. — Tree #369 in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest has 5k likes & 2.6k check-ins.

Cutting-edge technology like augmented reality (AR) and rich 3D mapping is beginning to make inroads into the outdoor experience. These “virtual guide” tools enhance how hikers interact with the environment and plan their trips:

Peak Identification & AR Navigation: Apps such as PeakVisor and PeakFinder offer a seemingly magical use of AR on the trail – just by holding up your phone’s camera, the app will instantly label the mountain peaks in your view (source: atlasandboots.com). PeakVisor even provides high-precision 3D maps of the terrain, so you can preview summits, passes, and trails in three dimensions before or during a hike (source: atlasandboots.com). This technology gives hikers extra context about their surroundings (e.g. names of far-off mountains, or an AR overlay of the trail path ahead). Similarly, some stargazing apps now overlay constellations on the night sky when camping. While still a niche, these AR-assisted tools are growing in popularity for the enriched experience and real-time information they provide. In fact, augmented reality apps are offering new ways to explore trails, providing live navigation guidance and even ecological or historical insights as you hike (source: perseverancesurvival.com).
Virtual Trail Guides: Hikers tackling long-distance trails are increasingly relying on digital guide apps as their “virtual guides.” A prime example is FarOut (formerly Guthook Guides), a smartphone app that contains dedicated guides for major routes like the Appalachian Trail, PCT, CDT, and hundreds of other trails worldwide (source: thetrek.co). FarOut combines the features of a classic guidebook (detailed waypoint info, town resupply notes) with GPS navigation and crowd-sourced updates from other hikers. It has become “virtually ubiquitous among smartphone-wielding hikers” on these trails (source: thetrek.co) – in other words, almost everyone attempting a thru-hike now carries this digital guide. The app shows your precise location on the trail, distance to upcoming water sources or shelters, and allows hikers to leave comments (for example, noting if a water source is dry). This trend illustrates how virtual guides have replaced paper guidebooks for many; they offer real-time interactivity and up-to-date info that static books cannot.
Virtual Explorations: Outside of actual hiking, virtual reality is also emerging as a way to experience nature. During recent years, projects have created 360° virtual tours of national parks and famous trails, allowing people to “hike” remotely through VR headsets or interactive websites. While not a replacement for the real thing, these virtual hikes gained attention (especially when travel was restricted) and demonstrated an appetite for immersive digital nature experiences. Looking ahead, tech advancements like AR glasses or improved mobile AR could further blur the line – imagine wearing smart glasses that overlay navigation prompts or plant identification on the landscape as you hike. This is an area to watch, as companies continue to experiment with bringing augmented reality into the outdoors.

Safety & Trip Planning Tools

A wide scenic view of a group of outdoor adventurers using digital technology in a rugged wilderness setting. One hiker is checking a safety app on their smartphone, displaying a map with cell coverage zones. Another adventurer is using a tablet to book a campsite through an app. In the background, a lone hiker receives an automatic trip notification on their smartwatch while looking at distant mountain peaks. A group is gathered around, discussing weather forecasts on a mobile device. The environment includes mountains, forests, and a clear blue sky, capturing the balance of nature and modern technology. — It makes you wonder how we ever survived.

Outdoor adventurers have also gravitated toward digital solutions for safety, logistics, and community, making trips safer and easier to organize:

Safety Apps: Specialized apps like Cairn are considered essential by many hikers, particularly those going solo. Cairn has been called “the ultimate hiking safety app” and is now a standard part of many hikers’ safety kits (source: atlasandboots.com). What does it do? It crowdsources information about where cell phone coverage exists (or not) along trails and maps out those spots offline. If you’re in the mountains and need to find a signal to check in, Cairn can show where others have gotten reception on your route (source: atlasandboots.com). It also allows you to send automatic trip notifications to chosen contacts – for instance, the app will alert your family if you don’t come back or check in by a scheduled time. This kind of technology addresses real wilderness concerns and has quickly grown in use. In addition, hikers commonly download first aid reference apps (like the Red Cross’s app with offline emergency instructions and quizzes) to have medical guidance at their fingertips (source: atlasandboots.com). Many also use advanced weather apps tailored for outdoor use, which provide hyper-local forecasts, storm alerts, and even radar imagery for remote areas. Being prepared with digital tools for weather and emergencies is now part of trip planning.
Permits & Planning: The logistics of adventures have shifted online as well. These days, scoring a campsite or backcountry permit often requires using websites and apps. A prime example is the Recreation.gov app, which has become a crucial tool for U.S. outdoor travelers. Recreation.gov (the official platform for federal lands) lets users find and reserve campsites, permits, and even enter lotteries for popular hikes right from their phone (source: atlasandboots.com). The app covers over 100,000 recreation sites across national parks, forests, and other public lands, and it’s continuously adding new camps and tours (source: atlasandboots.com). Features like digital tickets and scan-and-pay kiosks at campgrounds are streamlining formerly paper or in-person processes (source: atlasandboots.com). This trend means savvy adventurers are using digital tools not just on the trail but before the trip – securing their spot, planning itineraries, and organizing logistics through apps. Additionally, online communities and social platforms play a role: hikers browse forums or social media groups for the latest trail conditions and join challenges or “tick lists” (Backpacker magazine, for instance, publishes yearly hiking goal lists (source: backpacker.com) that people track). The social aspect of outdoor tech is significant – whether through sharing your recorded hike on Strava or reviewing a trail on AllTrails, digital products are bringing like-minded adventurers together and fostering a sharing of information that enhances safety and trip quality for everyone.

Emerging Trends to Watch

A futuristic outdoor hiking scene in 2025 with minimal hikers and technology. A lone hiker uses augmented reality (AR) glasses displaying live navigation overlays with arrows and trail markers. The hiker checks real-time ecological information on their AR glasses. A smart GPS watch shows elevation and weather updates. The environment is scenic with mountains, lush forests, and a well-marked digital hiking trail. The scene is peaceful, focusing on the seamless integration of technology with nature, with fewer distractions. — "Woh, bro, you've got that live ecogation?? Jealous."

Looking forward, several emerging tech trends are poised to shape the outdoor digital landscape in 2025 and beyond:

Augmented & Virtual Reality: Expect AR to become more commonplace in outdoor gear. Developers are working on features like live AR overlays for navigation (imagine arrows or markers on the trail via your phone/glasses) and real-time ecological info as you pass points of interest (source: perseverancesurvival.com). Fully immersive virtual reality may enable more interactive training (virtual rescue simulations, for example) or let people experience big hikes remotely. This trend is about making digital guidance more seamless and integrated with the real-world hiking experience.
Wearable Tech Integration: Smart wearables have already gone mainstream, and they will only get smarter. GPS watches and fitness trackers are now “essential tools for hikers,” providing live data on pace, distance, elevation and even weather updates on your wrist (source: perseverancesurvival.com). The next wave of wearables might include devices that integrate satellite messaging (for emergency SOS) or AR displays. As battery technology and mapping apps improve, more hikers are using watches not just to log miles but to follow routes and receive alerts (e.g., if they stray off trail). The blending of wearables with traditional apps means you can plan a route on your computer, sync it to your watch, and navigate hands-free on the hike – a convenience trend gaining momentum.
All-in-One Platforms: The outdoor industry is seeing consolidation of digital services into unified platforms. A notable development was fitness social network Strava’s acquisition of FATMAP, a 3D mapping app, in 2023. Strava is integrating FATMAP’s high-detail 3D outdoor maps and curated trail info to “empower active individuals to holistically discover and plan outdoor experiences” within its app (source: press.strava.com). This indicates a trend where tracking, navigation, and community converge. In the near future, large apps may serve as one-stop hubs: you’ll be able to find a trail, see it in 3D, get the GPX, record your hike, share it socially, and compete on segments all in one place. Likewise, look for more AI-driven recommendations (apps suggesting hikes based on your skill and weather) and personalization as data from users accumulates.
Continuous Innovation in Content: Lastly, the content itself – maps, guides, courses – will keep evolving. Maps are updating faster with crowd-sourced data; guidebooks are turning into subscription-based apps with updates (for instance, guide apps that update trail conditions in real time). Online courses might incorporate virtual coaching or AI tutors for outdoor skills. And digital community challenges (like virtual thru-hikes where participants collectively hike miles equal to the Appalachian Trail) are rising in popularity, blending gamification with outdoor recreation. All these innovations are aimed at enriching the outdoor experience while catering to a tech-savvy generation of hikers.

A realistic depiction of two hikers from different time periods standing side by side in a scenic outdoor setting. One hiker is from 1900, wearing wool clothing, leather boots, and carrying a heavy canvas backpack with metal buckles and a wooden walking stick. The other hiker is from 2020, dressed in modern moisture-wicking hiking gear, lightweight synthetic clothing, high-tech backpack, trekking poles, and wearing a GPS watch. The background features a blend of nature, symbolizing the evolution of hiking gear over time. — Note: Airplanes were not invented until December 17th, 1903 by the Wright brothers.

In summary, the outdoor world is undergoing a digital transformation. Navigation and mapping apps have firmly established themselves as must-haves, e-books and online media keep adventurers informed and inspired, virtual courses make outdoor education accessible, and new AR/VR tools are beginning to add an extra layer of engagement with nature. Importantly, all these digital products remain focused on what outdoors enthusiasts value: enhancing safety, improving skills, discovering great places, and sharing the joy of adventure. As technology and wilderness continue to converge, outdoor adventurers can look forward to even more innovative (and at times game-changing) digital companions on the trail. The key emerging trend is that these tools are becoming more integrated, community-driven, and immersive – all while encouraging people to get outside and explore the natural world with greater confidence and knowledge.

Sources: Outdoor and hiking-focused publications and platforms were used to identify current favorites and trends, including The Great Outdoors Magazine (for app reviews), Backpacker and The Trek (for backpacker-specific insights), Atlas & Boots and other adventure blogs (for curated app lists), as well as industry trend reports (source: perseverancesurvival.com). These sources highlight how digital products – from the ubiquitous AllTrails app (source: atlasandboots.com) to innovative AR map tools– are shaping the modern outdoor experience. The convergence of technology with outdoor recreation is an exciting space, with new products constantly emerging to meet the needs of hikers, nature lovers, and explorers.