HikeArizona.COM

Hello! First, love the HAZ site, it has helped me more than any other resource finding hikes in AZ and preparing for them. Big thanks to the community right up front!!!

I am getting ready to hike into Hells Canyon Wilderness west of Lake Pleasant. I am going to to hike up Red Picacho, then White Picacho, then hike down to where there is a reported spring and see if it is there and "springy" still. Camp overnight and then hike to the Buckhorn Mts high point NE of White Picacho, then back to my truck.

I downloaded the route scout application to my phone after paying the $25 fee. Tested it out close to my house yesterday, holy crap...I wish I had known about this app years ago!!! So much better than anything else!!!

Here's my current dilemma and I'm asking for help. Can the community weigh in and give me pointers on how to use the application? I have a Samsung Galaxy 10. I think I need to download maps to it so it works offline? I was trying to use the alltrails app in the past and it screwed up the tracking of my hikes in HCW every time. The RS app worked fine yesterday even with my phone in low battery mode and stashed away in my pocket. I'd really like to avoid any learning curve up front with the app if I can. Bringing along a small battery bank charger too. I'll post the trip report and all when I get back. Nice to meet everybody!

Dan

@soldeserthiker
Put your phone in airplane mode saves the battery. My friends use a a phone case that's a battery back up.

Dan, welcome to HAZ!

Importing routes in RS auto-loads off-line topo-maps. The last imported route auto sets as the follow-route, which has a pin-to option to warn if off-track. The last 5 imported routes retain off-line maps. If going on multiple hikes, preload all and manually set the follow-route at each hike ( RS>files>route>follow ).
While there are several ways to import, the most used are...
RS > Import > Search or ID
- Search covers all guides on HAZ w/an Official Route ( ie: Buckhorn Mts high point )
- ID is any GPS Route you find on HAZ but it's easier to tap Download > Send to Route Scout App than explain finding the ID

If there are no Official Routes to choose from on HAZ. Find 'em via HAZ>Plan>Map>Zoom to interest>Options>All Routes
When found, tap the route, look for the blue download, tap Download > Send to Route Scout App

Import > Route Cloud
Typically for people that pre-create routes in Route Editor ( HAZ>Plan>Map>Route Editor ). Essentially saving to Route Cloud on HAZ, then importing on RS.

A battery recharging option is always a wise lifesaver. That said I only drop to 50% in 6 hours running RS in Airplane mode on a six-month-old Android. Airplane mode is key when the internet is not needed as the device will burn serious power searching for cell towers in rural areas vs metro areas.

While RS is typically fine on S8's and up, in rare instances I've seen a faulty S10 and iPhone7. The S10 was never figured out, reinstalling the system on the iPhone7 miraculously cleared up months of pain. If you experience issues continuously tracking a route in Android, following instructions for the specific device on http://dontkillmyapp.com/ will typically resolve.

Wow, that is one incredible post!!! I'm going to go through the motions of creating my own route so I can be sure to get the topo maps for the area dl'd for offline use. Your answers are super helpful, thanks!