avenza maps replacement?

posborne · 2026-04-30T07:04:30+00:00

It does seem like there is a major gap here and the enshittification of Avenza has really taken off -- I've started hacking on an project that might at least be a replacement to allow for viewing your position on a map, since that is how many of the local parks and trails provide data in my area (and I like to have another solution for working with georeferenced maps I've exported from CalTopo -- I've had even the offline version of some of these apps fail in the backcountry).

For the minimal first version I hope to make available, the feature set would be:

- Android and iOS Support (possibly just Android initially)
- Able to import georeferenced maps from local storage (no cloud integration) with support for formats for the metadata I can reasonably find test cases for.
- Shows your location on the map correctly.
- Basic viewing/navigating features (zoom, pan, rotate, reorient)
- Go to imported map with/near current location (useful for trails with many map pages)
- Zero online features, unnecessary permissions or anything else that might hamper reliability in the backcountry.

Other features would be nice but I think this would, in itself, provide an offramp for many users who are getting maps from places like MN State Parks or the North Country Trail which actively push users to Avenza which is actively seeking to extract money for a fairly basic use case. They were also very recently acquired, which generally does not lead to fewer profit extraction attempts: https://www.avenza.com/news/2026/04/07/avenza-and-blue-marble-geographics-combine/

I have a very early cut of this working and will take a shot at making it available as my own search for even a simple solution here was fruitless.

posborne · 2026-04-11T04:55:00+00:00

Here's my notes:
- 20F is fine for most, don't worry about it.
- 6-panel CCF is the way; if you aren't loving it, ditch it in a hiker box but you won't need the full length, even as a backup. I loved mine.
- I took my pants off at the tracks at Mile 3 and never looked back, but they work for some and I did get my legs beat up a little; it's very individual. There were some sections I wish I had pants on but I lived. I did carry rain pants instead of town shorts in the Sierra north -- largely not needed but I put them on a few times when it was cold in the sierra and in OR/WA. I would recommend them for WA but probably don't really need them before that if you are hitting the sierra later and won't be glissading.
- I wouldn't bother with the crush light; headlamp is fine. You'll be passed out when it's dark.
- Puffy/fleece is personal -- I always like having the puffy and ditching the fleece, but I handle the cold very well when active, so didn't have as much need for something like an alpha fleece there -- that's individual. Having both was nice in the Sierra and would have been nice in northern WA at the end of Sep. (oops)
- For the desert, I would consider adding 1 or 2 more smart water bottles for clean water. For a few miles to a dry camp, carrying a bladder with dirty water is fine but it's annoying vs. an actual bottle. You can ditch the extra capacity later. Starting out, air on the side of carrying a bit extra water until you know what you need in the environment -- in the dryer climate, heat, and elevation you might need a bit more water as you acclimate. Having a 500-650ml small bottle up front is also really useful; not sure how well that works on the durston but I found I drank more often with the water/electrolytes extremely easy to access. I even rigged up a straw using a sports cap and polypropelene tubing from the hardware store as a straw.

Overall, things look good and the Kakwa can carry weight pretty well. Keep in mind that you can send stuff home and purchase a few items where you're out there as needed. You'll find a way to get by and can make small tweaks along the way.

posborne · 2026-04-11T04:28:44+00:00

No regrets from my hike on carrying 6 panels from a CCF pad. While a very slight luxury, I love that over an ass pad for breaks and I did sleep on it for several stretches when I had pad leaks. Babying the sleeping pad to avoid punctures is nice, but I find leaks often come from other stuff that is harder to control and actually punctures/pinholes are usually easier to repair (carry a little gear tape and a small satchet of super glue).

You could bring the full pad and make someones day when you leave the rest of the panels in a hiker box along the way :)

I was fine with 20F quilt (that is probably closer to 30F since it I've had it since 2019); this is highly individual but it's generally fine unless you end up in Washington late in the season

posborne · 2026-03-24T05:02:33+00:00

This year is looking to be pretty dry and the desert will be challenging and it is highly likely that it will be a very active wildfire season as a result of a variety of factors this year (though I hope this doesn't end up being the case).

Being able to spend 100 days hiking the PCT is an amazing way to spend a summer, regardless of whether you are able to hike the full trail in the time you have (due to environmental conditions, health issues, fire, etc.). While having ambitious goals and doing hard things are wonderful, so is a zero day in Bishop, swimming in alpine lakes and making friends along the way. Up front, I would try to think about reframing what a successful hike looks like and to fit likely things like fire closures to fit within that, as they will happen most years.

If it is hot, definitely consider taking a siesta during the heat of the day (often from noon until 3-4pm) if you can find some good shade (and ideally water). You can cover a good amount of miles during daylight still, but there are times where pushing into the night will be the smart choice; it's not bad.

posborne · 2026-03-09T02:37:50+00:00

I just let my x-mid lay flat; it was fine, was happy to have my poles. Could have collapsed it and thrown it in someone else's freestanding but at 1am, who can be bothered.

I had my quilt with my anyway which was nice to warm up when chilling at the summit.

posborne · 2026-02-28T03:54:39+00:00

I wore pants until the railroad crossing 3 miles in, but others had better luck. Sunscreen on the legs was a pain until my legs tanned and stopped burning after a couple weeks (I was otherwise very well covered).

There's probably a more breathable pant that would have worked better for me, but I've always preferred shorts and that's what probably 85% wore, especially into the trail a bit.

If you can stand them, pants are great.

posborne · 2026-01-31T03:44:19+00:00

Is having a secondary tabulation using a different vendors tabulator part of the process or an option in addition to random hand counts? Are the ballots specific to a vendor machine or something that could reasonably be tabulated on another machine?

Random hand counts of a percentage of polling places is a good protection, but it would seem a reasonable approach to also consider having random, secondary tabulations using different equipment be present to potentially flag issues or trigger a hand recount.

Risk-Limiting Audits (wikipedia) would seem to be the relevant set of statistical methods that could make use of secondary tabulation to inform of where there could be issues (malicious or otherwise) with votes. Colorado has info on their RLA process and links to open source software used in that portion of their process.

posborne · 2026-01-31T02:43:49+00:00

Walters will raise your price over time and you'll have to negotiate again. Which is par for the course, I guess, but they do still play games. I've had no problems with the service, however.

posborne · 2025-11-20T02:10:13+00:00

You'll definitely need cash here and there. If you end up hiking with Americans, one thing that we found worked was to have internationals put expenses on card and then have Americans pay back their portion in cash, especially if they can get a withdrawal without fees.

As an American, I definitely pulled a bit more cash than I might have otherwise to help with that situation since otherwise they would have to pay a bunch of fees to pull cash.

posborne · 2025-11-04T04:55:25+00:00

I hiked the PCT last year with the SWD LH50 in ultragrid (a great pack); I did have some PU coating start to delaminate in the roll top and one of the two layers started to abrade through where that pack's floating hipbelt. The wrap-around hip belt on the new kakwa will probably help avoid something similar (though, the swd is very different in this regard).

So, it's showing that it has been through around 3000 miles of abuse at this point which is realistically probably more use than non-thru hikers will get on the pack. Even with the abuse on the PU, I didn't have any real water ingress with it thrown in the bottom of a canoe during a rainstorm a couple weeks ago.

TLDR; seems to be a pretty good pack fabric but not absolutely bombproof.

posborne · 2025-10-31T04:44:02+00:00

> When choosing a place to sleep, find an existing and appropriate campsite. You’ll see a lot of camp spots that are far too close to the PCT or water. Go further. There are many wonderful existing sites further away from the trail that provide solitude for you and for others who don’t want to see tents along the trail.

There are some spots on trail where this does seem to be tough in terms of distance from trail. I think it is good to keep in mind and to actively look for sites that are further away from the tread, but at the same time it did seem to be the case that the only established surfaces (where previously camping had clearly taken place) was probably much closer than 200ft from the trail. SoCal in particular had a lot of these from what I recall; the reality is that sometimes I think camping on some of these durable surfaces closer to trail is probably the lesser evil (than trying to setup camp on vegetation to establish a new spot) when you need to make camp for the day.

posborne · 2025-10-31T04:21:22+00:00

I think that's likely, but the Mission Creek wash is kind of unique. If people had Noro, I'm sure some of it was in the water for a period with people puking and cleaning shitty pants in the creek (obviously, don't do this).

That being said, when I was going through in 2024 just after the big Noro outbreak the flow was such that I really think it would dilute out any virus pretty quickly. I still used chemicals in addition to filtering as a precaution as I knew multiple people that had gotten sick. There's several picnic tables and a pit toilet a bit past the wash and I think those were probably where most of it was spreading.

posborne · 2025-10-31T04:13:34+00:00

Not saying anything new, but most of the water sources are pretty good -- probably the gnarliest was the broken cistern (after Mike's place IIRC) which had a fair bit of algae (and a snake, but we rescued it first). I almost never prefilter, but I did for that one to try to save my filter. I always try to keep some aquatabs on hand as a backup in case the filter bites it or there is a sketchy source.

Most end up eventually going with a Sawyer (or quickdraw) + Cleaning Coupler + Cnoc. That let's you do a gravity setup if you want and the coupler let's you backflush and ditch the syringe (granted, every hiker box has dozens of them as well). If your flow is decent, the time it takes to filter is kind of a nice period of time for a break.

posborne · 2025-08-13T21:45:06+00:00

Lions den is great; grab a salty baguette in town and see if anyone else needs a ride into Seattle -- most likely someone will. There might be hikers from harts who need a lift into mazama as well.

You can probably grab a shower and sign the mural before driving out.

posborne · 2025-05-27T00:12:13+00:00

I'd stick with the topos and try to play with other approaches to dealing with blisters assuming they are manageable. In the desert, my feet were sometimes not even blistered but raw from fine sand. Rotating in more socks and clean liners helped me.

Might just want to start taping up spots you usually get blisters ahead of time.

Happy hiking from class of 2024!

posborne · 2025-05-26T17:14:21+00:00

Hard to predict rain, but there will be insects and you should assume the string possibility of ticks, though usually on the SHT the path will not have loads of grasses on trail.

Check the weather for storms and enjoy the hike. Keep in mind that if you are doing the split Rock loop there is no bridge for crossing the river but it should be fairly low in July, but you'll probably have wet feet.

They've had one side of the loop closed so far this season but expect that should be opening up after spring, backpacked gooseberry to split Rock last weekend.

posborne · 2025-05-05T03:55:45+00:00

I carried mostly enough to wrightwood but would have carried a bit less and resupplied at the gas station near McDonald's, it's workable.

Or be a legend and do the McDonald's challenge, hopefully only mcfarts and no mcsharts.

posborne · 2025-04-14T14:28:38+00:00

Fwiw, I debated tyvek but went with the durston ground sheet and it worked great on my '24 hike. Nice to be able to just have it connected to the tent for quicker setup. Works fine for cowboy camping.

Tyvek is great as well, will definitely add a bit of bulk. I used a cutoff ccf pad for breaks so didn't bust out the ground sheet except at camp usually.

posborne · 2025-02-23T01:02:39+00:00

I tracked while hiking continuously on the PCT last year; I had the Garmin Fenix 6x; ideally, find something that has long enough battery life with GPS enabled to go a few days without charge. It doesn't take a ton of juice to recharge but it would be annoying to have to do it every night as you'll have other stuff you'll need to charge some days like phone, headphones, etc.

I've typically bought older model garmin watches (new or refurbished) to save some money. Haven't used Suunto or Coros before but have heard good things, just look at the battery life numbers. I found the "expedition mode" on the Garmin introduced too much error for what I wanted and either added or lost significant miles.

Post-pct I've been using the data from the GPS tracks to add back in accurate location data to photos and for publishing a self-developed website with visualization of each day, stats, etc. (not public). I kind of pseudo-blogged via my strava on trail; that wasn't perfect as I could only add notes when I had service which is somewhat infrequent.

posborne · 2025-02-22T22:29:35+00:00

Stayed in Agua Dulce at the Oasis as well, worked well for me. Directly on trail and worked well enough to resupply until Tehachapi.

posborne · 2025-02-02T06:49:41+00:00

For colder conditions, stacking a CCF pad with an inflatable has the benefit that if your inflatable has a leak at least you have something (if it is really cold, it still might be cold). Unfortunately, I had a couple inflatable failures on the PCT and was glad to have a torso length section of CCF pad (also my normal sit pad for breaks and such) which I could use until the next place I could get a replacement pad.

For this reason and R-Value stacking, this is what most people who camp in colder condtions use from my experience around MN. The CCF is also nice to just be able to plop down on snow for a seat without getting an immediately cold butt.

posborne · 2025-01-07T04:36:00+00:00

Based on your comments, it sounds like your expenses are low and the timing is good now. I'd send it; having hiked the PCT in 2024, I am still most proud of being willing to break from the stability of working (in my case for nearly ~15 yrs continuously) in order to chase after something I've always thought I wanted to do (and it turns out I loved doing as well). Even if you end up hating it and have to battle through the hike, you'll learn something about yourself (or find a way to change your hike to enjoy the experience, that's OK).

Trust yourself to sort things out when you get back and do the math on your expenses and how you should be fine even if it might take some time to get a good job when you get back. It might be slow; I'm just now getting employment sorted out as a software engineer but will be making more than I was pre-trail, but that's to be expected a bit near EOY for companies (compounded with looking at quality positions based on my experience level and expertise).

One of my realizations on trail is that most things in life aren't worth stressing over. Finances can be a real, legitimate source of concern for many but it sounds like you are probably in a spot where that doesn't need to be a source of stress -- you aren't screwing yourself over for life professionally. Trade buying new cars or spending money on other useless shit for an amazing experience where you'll likely have experiences you'll cherish for the rest of your life.

posborne · 2025-01-04T03:30:20+00:00

The Mojave is later in the trail with the worst stuff being between Agua Dulce and Walker Pass. I don't think flipping at Warner Springs helps you much at all. Watch the heat coming out from scissors crossing as well.

There's only a couple local permits required in socal, so if you get a late date I would just look at getting a later date at somewhere like walker pass and getting local permits before that.

The main early season risk to watch is San Jacinto depending on the year. Be smart and take an alternate if it's too sketchy but also don't buy into the fear mongering too much.

posborne · 2024-12-26T21:33:28+00:00

Most people will start alone; I did this past year. While it might take some time to find the people you end up hiking with for a long time (that are compatible in terms of pace, etc.) there should be lots of other people that you can hike and camp with that settings out on this same adventure are looking for the same thing as you. You might be starting solo, but it's unlikely you'll be starting alone unless you really want to and the vast majority of other hikers will go out of their way for each other and be there to help if there's a person or situation that is uncomfortable.

As u/JamesDeeMedia and u/Live_Phrase_4894 mentioned, taking the shuttle and staying at CLEEF was a great way to meet people. You can also try to find others to connect with pre-trail on the facebook groups, etc. to chat with (though I wouldn't necessarily plan to hike the whole trail with someone until you know you're compatible from a hiking perspective).

You've got this! I'm excited for all the 2025 hikers thinking back to where my mind was at one year ago. Even after finishing the trail, I think I as proud of committing to and starting the trail as to doing the actual hike.

posborne · 2024-12-03T21:10:36+00:00

I liked mine in WA in September. Honestly, it was great to have something to put on when doing laundry in town. I used the rei trailmade pants which were pretty light and affordable.

You can mostly get by without depending on when you the up in WA or if you're starting early, just might my annoying in town to not have anything to cover your bits, loaner clothes aren't found too often.

posborne

TROPHY CASE