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New England Hiker App: White Mountain Hiking Trails and GPS for Your Phone

If you hike in New Hampshire’s White Mountain National Forest, you should get yourself a copy of Guthook’s New England Hiker App (iPhone and Android) which has maps for most of the trails listed in the Appalachian Mountain Club’s White Mountain Guide. It’s fully GPS-enabled so you can see where you are on a trail, how close you are to the nearest water source or campsite, track your progress, and draw new routes.

I’ve been using it this past year to follow obscure White Mountain trails and it’s saved my bacon more than once. While it doesn’t make the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Waterproof Map Set obsolete (batteries do die), it also includes lots of information that’s not on their maps. I always bring carry the New England Hiker App on my phone when I hike in the Whites, it’s really that useful.

All the WMNF Trails in each module are loaded onto your phone and updated automatically
All the WMNF Trails in each map set are loaded onto your phone and updated automatically

It’s called the New England Hiker App, because Guthook sells different maps sets that can be used with the app, including different regions of the White Mountains, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and Massachusetts, with new map sets being added all the time.

List of all the trailheads in the White Mountains makes it easy to get trailhead directions using your Phone's GPS
List of all the trailheads in the White Mountains makes it easy to get trailhead directions using your Phone’s GPS

If you’ve ever tried to upload GPS tracks of the White Mountain Trail System from the very antiquated AMC’s White Mountain Guide Online to a dedicated GPS device or a different phone-based mapping app, it’s a pain in the ass and a real hassle to do anytime you want to go hiking. Having all the trails on your phone all the time is so much more convenient and there’s no prep work involved. Plus, since they’re on your phone, you have instant access to trailhead driving directions, something noticeably absent in the AMC’s White Mountain Guide, which was assembled before car GPS units became mainstream.

The blue arrow corresponds to your current location
The blue arrow corresponds to your current location

When hiking, finding your current location is equally easy. Just hit the GPS button on the screen and a blue triangle will show your position. The tip of the arrow points in the direction you’re facing. For example, here’s a hike I took last weekend. The blue arrow shows my current location on the red trail. The other symbols along the red line indicate a water source and a second seasonal/unreliable water source indicated by the 1/2 filled-in drip. All of the trails in each map set are annotated with all kinds of useful waypoint information not shown on most paper maps, all represented using the standard icon set shown below.

All of the trails are annotated with an intuitive set of icons
All of the trails are annotated with an intuitive set of icons

Where did all this information come from? Guthook and a few of his friends mapped the entire White Mountain Trail System by hiking it and recording all these details. The maps in the New England Hiker App are even more current than those published by the AMC in their White Mountain Guide Online. Let that sink in. The Appalachian Mountain Club has a lot of strengths, but online application development and maintenance isn’t one of them.

Creating a route is easy with your fingertip
Creating a route is easy with your fingertip

What about tracking your hike and planning new routes? That’s in the New England Hiker App as well. You can track your route even when you’re not connected to a cellphone network. Drawing new routes is easy too and the route editor automatically calculates the route length, total ascent and total descent. It will even draw a profile diagram of the route so you can see what you have in store for yourself!

The new route editor can also compute a profile so you can see how much elevation gain or descent you have in store!
The route editor can also compute a profile so you can see how much elevation gain or descent you have in store!

What’s it Cost?

The base New England Hiker App and the following maps sets are FREE:

  • Base app
  • Mt Abraham (ME)
  • Camel’s Hump (VT)
  • Gulf Hagas (ME)
  • Killington & Pico (VT)
  • Mt Mansfield (VT)
  • Moat & Attitash (NH)
  • Monadnock (NH)
  • Pillsbury State Park (NH)
  • Stratton Mountain & Pond (VT)
  • Mt Sunapee (NH)
  • Tumbledown (ME)

The following White Mountain National Forest region maps sets are FREE until Memorial Day 2017. After that they’ll cost $6.99-8.99 each. This is a one time fee and includes all future map data updates. All map set purchases are made within the base app.

  • WMNF: Presidential Range
  • WMNF: Wild River Region
  • WMNF: Sandwich Range Region
  • WMNF: Pemigewasset Region
  • WMNF: Moosilauke-Kinsman Region

The following additional maps sets are also available now (2017 prices):

  • Acadia National Park ($7.99)
  • Bigelow Preserve, ME ($4.99)
  • Camden Hills State Park, ME ($2.99)
  • Cutler Coast, ME ($3.99)
  • Donnell Pond Public Reserve Land, ME ($3.99)
  • Glastenbury Mountain & Bald Mountain, VT ($3.99)
  • Grafton Loop Trail, ME ($4.99)
  • Katahdin ($3.99)
  • Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway, NH ($4.99)
  • Tully Trail, MA ($3.99)
  • Worcester Range, VT ($2.99)

About Guthook’s Guides

Who is Guthook and why is that name familiar? Guthook Guides has published the most popular long distance hiking GPS apps available today for the Appalachian Trail, The Pacific Crest Trail, The Continental Divide Trail, The Colorado Trail and many others. But Guthook is from New England, Maine to be exact, which is why he’s so smitten with New England hiking. Guthooks Guides

I can remember sitting in my kitchen talking to Guthook when he was learning how to program his first GPS mapping iPhone app for the Appalachian Trail. He’s built an astonishing business since then, but is still a down-to-earth humble guy. I’m honored to be his friend.

Disclosure: The author was given a free app for testing and review and has been providing expert feedback back to Guthook’s Guides on app functionality for several years. 

Written 2017.

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25 comments

  1. Philip thanks for the info this is great!

  2. I use it and really like it. I hope he adds the rest of the WMNF trails soon. I was on the Three Ponds hike with Arlette when she mapped it…that was quite an adventure!

  3. I love these apps. I use the Acadia and Maine AT apps a lot. Is there a Baxter app in the set anywhere?

    • I know Guthook wants to include all of Baxter and not just Katahdin. You should contact him for exact release dates.

      • That reminds me… I have all of the info mapped out for Baxter State Park except for the Katahdin Lake area and SFMA. Sssshhhhhh… don’t tell anyone ;-)

        I’ve been planning on getting in touch with BSP or Friends of Baxter before I do anything with the data, though. And other projects over the past several months have been distracting me from getting in touch with them. Maybe I should do that now…

      • Guthook – Kilkenny Ridge, as well as Rangeley-Stratton are on my “to-do” list for this summer. Any idea for the timing on production for these areas? Great app – simple to use!

  4. Phillip,
    What wireless service do you use that gives you a GPS signal with this app? The only time I get a signal is above treeline.

  5. How fast does using a gps app like that drain an iPhone battery ? Roughly…

  6. Thanks for the info. I hiked the JMT last year and I was a fool for not downloading his app for the JMT . Didn’t realize I had gps on the iPhone 5. Most hikers had the app. I’m hiking it again this August and have already downloaded the app. Will be using the app for training hikes in the Whites in July. They are great apps. Everyone should have it. I also have it for the NJ AT, works great. I put the phone in airplane mode to save the battery.

  7. Hi Phil, Curious to know if you were to move to the Whites, what area do you favor the most? Your reviews of all the trails are great. Thanks for your detailed review of the app.

    • I effectively live there 50% of time now. But I don’t really have any preference in terms of closeness to hiking trails since I make a point to hike all of the regions every year. When I sleep under a roof, I stay at my ski club, which is in Bartlett. Amazingly good value for the annual membership fee.

      If I were buying property, I’d choose Bartlett or Jackson, since they have very low property taxes.

  8. Just downloaded this app on the i-Phone. My wife and I enjoy dayhiking in Acadia. I backpack some in the Whites, I enjoy the huts (she prefers the high thread count overnights!)
    I checked out the Presidential Range map, nice!
    I will buy the Acadia map for $7.99 when I plan on going next.
    Lots of nice freebies though.
    Guthook may owe you “free maps for life” I’m sure will get lots of new customers!
    Thanks for a great site, you rock!

  9. Awesome! I am making my first trip to the Whites for Memorial Day weekend to do the Presidential Range traverse. This will be a great addition to my map tool kit.

  10. Anthony Ingeneri

    Is there some sort of tutorial? I am not having an easy time getting started on this app. I am sure it is great, but I can’t figure too much out based on the functionality it seems to be giving me. If I can get someplace I am sure I will love to buy it . Is there a video or some sort of instructions?

  11. I am looking to buy the Whites maps set on this app but I was wondering – are campsites which are not listed on AMC maps listed on these maps?

  12. I’m very excited about getting back into hiking and using this app. Does this mean I can ditch my expensive PITA-to-use, heavy Garmin 62s?

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