As you enjoy some late summer hiking, don’t forget to update your travel tools. Outdoor apps offer us a wealth of knowledge and information we can hold in our pockets, even for our time off the grid and in nature. Here are a few staff favorites to download and enjoy on vacation and even on a daily basis at home.

iNaturalist

iNaturalist is a fun way to interact with your surroundings, notice and log plants and animals, learn about what you see, and feed your discoveries to the hive mind. New species have been discovered this way, by non-scientists who enter data that can be collected and parsed by specialists.

On a road trip to Canada, Heritage Conservancy’s Community Engagement Program Manager Shannon Fredebaugh-Siller was stopped in customs traffic when she noticed — and promptly squashed — a spotted lantern fly in her car: “I immediately pulled out my phone and reported it on iNaturalist. My report was met with much hoopla, as no living spotted lantern flies had yet been reported in Canada. We joke that I ‘saved Canada’ at the time from this invasive insect, though the insect has since made its way north, but the power of the app was impressive. Within minutes, users were telling me how and where to report my findings!”

Seek

Seek is an app created by iNaturalist that offers a quick point-and-shoot camera option that helps users identify plants and animals on the go. It includes challenges and badges that gamify outdoor exploration in a way that can be particularly appealing for younger users. This is a nice starter app to take on your next hike.

Merlin

For all your birding needs, try Merlin. It can help you identify birds you encounter based on physical characteristics, behaviors, and geography. But it also has an audio tracker that recognizes bird calls. Offline functionality makes this this app excellent for the deep woods.

Sebastian Harris, one of Heritage Conservancy’s Conservation Easement Stewards, visited the desert southwest for the first time this past spring: “Needless to say, most of the birds out there were new to me, and unlike the naturalists of the past who only had field guides at their fingertips, I used my technological privilege and put the Merlin app to use. Quickly I was able to become familiar with various bird calls out there. The app picked up Gambel’s Quail, Gila Woodpeckers, Lesser Goldfinches, Curve-billed Thrashers, and many more. There are definitely limitations associated with relying on Merlin to learn bird calls, but I was really grateful to have it handy in such a brand new environment.”

Pl@ntNet

There are lots of ways to identify plants by sight with your phone, but not all of them are reliable. Pl@ntNet is! This app will help you quickly and accurately identify the plants you encounter on your hikes and outdoor adventures without a lot of distractions or excess information. This appealing to new nature app users and is highly rated.

National Parks App

This app is very useful for planning, logging, and enjoying visits to National Parks and Sites. As many parks do not get internet signal, the app’s excellent offline functionality makes it especially useful. Descriptions of various spots within sites and forests are easy to access and add so much to the journey.

On a recent visit to Muir Woods, an internet dead zone, I was able to use the app offline to read about the Bohemian Grove, where artists, actors, writers, and musicians from the Northern California met up for a large party in 1892, what the app calls a “forest frolic precursor to Burning Man.” The evocative writing and detailed park information added so much to the experience. The Virgo in me loves the list-making functionality, so I have a wish list and have logged all the parks and sites I have visited. — Andrea Szyper, Heritage Conservancy’s Communications Manager.

What are your favorite nature apps?