r/alltrails

Hi, every time I look at app it switches to “recording mode” automatically on a 4 day backpacking loop. Killed my iPhone battery . Only way to shut this off was to close the app. How to stop? It’s a dealbreaker - one day it took 50% of my iphone 15 in airplane mode. When not in recording mode it uses much less battery but it restarts automatically .

Friends using Gaia had no issues on same trip - what’s up All Trails support- where is the setting that used to be there?

The Nearby Trails are useful. However when I tap on one just to see where it is and where it goes, suddenly I'm on that trail and I don't want to be. I want to get off. There are other trails nearby but I can no longer see them because I'm on the one trail that I've clicked. How do I get off a Nearby Trail and see additional trails around me? I should mention that I started from free navigation and wanted to return to that. Something seems to be missing or I'm doing something wrong of course.

And of course if I wander off the trail, I get this warning yelling at me that I've gone off-track, which I never wanted to be on in the first place. I would really really love love a feature in the settings to turn off the warning about going off track. I understand it's a value to a lot of people but to me it's always a nuisance.

While hiking, I can see from the map where I am and where I need to go. From the elevation profile I can see where I am and what elevation changes are coming up.

But (recently?) there are popups that tell me something like "Slight left turn in .5 miles." I don't need that, because I can look at the map. There are popups that say something like "hill coming up in 1 mile." I don't need that because I can see the elevation profile.

Is there a way to opt out of these annoying popups that need to be closed?

If not, this is a feature of little use other than to show off the app. Please pass that on. Thanks.

Using phone app, signed in, on Android Samsung phone. The top image is the actual route, ~ 2.7 miles, and it's fairly accurate with just a little bit of switchback missing at the top point. So someone please explain to me how the route ends up looking like this at the end of my hike at over 4 miles? The smaller inset shows an expanded view of that "spaghetti" at the top right, where the trail had ONE switchback, and nothing else. What on Earth?????? There is not any "wandering" available on this trail, it's a groomed path, and it's totally uncomplex. At the bottom where the trail goes south, around a short curve and back up again, I DID cut across a median to the other side of the main road, although even this part has a bunch of added "spaghetti" that does NOT represent my walking in a straight line. I did NO other shortcuts, backtracking or wandering. Anyone have any ideas?

https://preview.redd.it/7hiuow4lnw9h1.png?width=538&format=png&auto=webp&s=d292ce274d1cf9a067240829f186bcb10568f058

I’m new to hiking… well, new-ish. It was something my dogs and I did a few years ago regularly when we lived in a different state, with different weather and terrain. But we were pretty adept at hiking longer distances- 4-10 miles- with some pretty challenging inclines.

Now, we’re all a few years older and a little out of practice, and I live in a desert state and not an Appalachian one, so I recognize the conditions here can create more extreme problems, especially considering heat and lack of shade on these trails.

That being said, the trail we went on yesterday far exceeded the challenge level listed on the app, and I found out after the fact that this trail that AllTrails has listed as moderate is considered an extreme trail by our local parks system. Not only that, but the length is wrong on the app too. It says 4 miles, but my watch said we travelled 6 miles yesterday.

The first half of the trail is super misleading. It’s mostly flat, wide and open, and has spots of shade where you can rest and regroup, give the pups water and reapply sunblock, etc.

The back half? Completely exposed, it’s taking you up a mountain through a very overgrown, narrow, rocky trail that has tons of side trails and is challenging to remain on the correct trail. My dog started showing signs of overheating right about here. I brought enough water for myself and my two dogs for a four mile trail, but this was about mile four and we still had so much trail left, and I realized we were in some trouble.

I actually took a minute to check the map, found a side trail that shortcut us from having to climb to the peak, and picked up and carried my 70lb pit bull as far as I could take him. My Malinois was really holding it down for us. But I was genuinely scared. He was very much so about to heat stroke, and I’m a smaller woman and could only carry him so far. Despite that, I managed to carry him almost the entire rest of the way, and luckily the trail ended at a creek where I could let him sit in it and cool off. Despite my better judgement, I even let him drink it. Giardia is easier to treat than a dead dog, in my opinion.

I learned a few things here: one, overpack. I won’t ever catch myself on a trail like this with no water ever again. Two, don’t trust AllTrails. If I’m interested in a trail, I’m going to research it through the county website first. Three, longer trails, or more technical trails are reserved for just me and my Malinois. My pittie is just gonna have to sit those out.

I know these things now, but I’m still replaying the way he looked in my head over and over again. His inability to maintain a walk, him falling over again and again, how wobbly he was. It was terrifying. I feel like AllTrails needs to warn people that their listings may not always be accurate. There were also no reviews on it indicating any of this. One review even said “the way up the mountain was tough but my 6 year old handled it with a little hand holding.” So everything I could see did NOT indicate this trail would be so technical and dangerous. I’m honestly really upset. Thank god we made it out of there. I thought he was gonna die.

Are there any other apps or sites that show every trail more extensively? I have a "management area" near me with quite an extensive trail system but a majority of the trails aren't mapped out on alltrails (it shows the dotted lines, so I've followed a ton; but it's nice to get a sense of difficulty/distance/elevation before going in).