Have you ever wondered which animal made the trail you see along a path or which bird makes the call you hear? While you don’t want to stick your travel to your phone or make it too dependent on it, there is a quick look at an app to answer these questions and enhance your Utah travel experience. Apps can help you do everything from identifying wildlife, learning the night sky, planning your trip, or even just listening to a favorite song around the campfire.
Not every area has cellular service, and devices can be lost, broken, or simply run out of batteries. Make sure you can safely navigate and find the information you need without relying on an app. But used in moderation, these apps can help make your trip to Utah even more memorable.
This is just a place to start. You can find a variety of other apps on most of these topics, including a selection of free and paid versions with a range of options and features.
(Jeremiah Watt) Apps function as digital field guides to help alert visitors spot wildlife and their tracks and know how to behave around animals.
Enhance your outdoor experience:
Digital field guides
You don’t have to lug 10 nature guides in your backpack when you can use an app to identify elements of the world around you. iTrack Wildlife helps users identify the footprints animals leave. It serves as a digital field guide and contains hundreds of route photos, detailed information and the possibility to use it completely offline. With a range of free and paid options, it’s a go-to place for people curious about the critters they share the path with. Many animals are nocturnal in the desert, so tracking is one of the best ways to find out what creatures are out there. vtree is a tree identification app from Virginia Tech that contains images, descriptions, and distribution maps for more than 900 North American species of woody plants. Getting to know the plants and animals can help people learn more about the ecosystem and how each plant or animal contributes to the wild and natural places of Utah.
(Marc Piscotty) While the Education Center at the Bear River Migratory Bird Sanctuary alerts you of your visit, bird watchers can use apps to track their sightings and learn more about how to protect the habitats that birds depend on.
Bird watching resources
The Audubon Bird Guide app is a free field guide with more than 800 North American birds. It helps identify birds, learns about birds, shares pictures of birds, and keeps a list of the birds you’ve seen. It also provides a bird alert feature when people spot birds that you have been looking for near you. The Merlin Bird ID App features more than 4,500 birds from North and South America, Asia, Europe and Australia. By answering three questions about a bird you see, the app gives you a list of possible species and helps identify them. It also helps you classify photos by species and contains over 15,000 audio recordings. HawkWatch International’s Raptor ID app helps people identify birds of prey.
Citizen Science
Participate in the world of Citizen Science with the wealth of apps available. Record data to share with others, share knowledge and contribute to the scientific information available by recording your findings and observations with these apps. iNaturists is a popular app for naturalists and citizen sciences and one of the most popular apps of its kind as a project of the California Academy of Sciences and National Geographic. People can record observations, share them with others, and discuss what they find. The data is used by scientists and provides resources to gather information and learn from others. It also has a function of keeping a life list of the living beings that you have seen. eBird is a very popular civic bird watching app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that enables people to identify birds they see, share their sightings, and keep track of their own personal birding lists. It’s free, available in 27 languages, and offers offline data collection.
Citizen scientists record more than 100 million bird sightings each year that scientists can use in their research. These are just two of the many citizen science apps available. Scientists use citizen science data in their research projects so you do more than just interact with a fun app on your phone. They help provide real data that enhance the collective knowledge base and help preserve and protect Utah’s treasured places for generations to come. cash SciStarter website to find the right project (and app) for you.
(Jeremiah Watt) Apps not only enable the identification of the plants and animals around you, but also enable Citizen Science, in which users record data, share knowledge and contribute to research.
Watch the stars
A number of Apps Help people learn about heaven. the Night sky app refers to itself as an “AR Personal Planetarium” with options to explore various objects, explore the night sky, and receive notifications of celestial events. SkyView Lite is the free version of a popular sky observation app available for Apple and Android. NASAs App enables people to explore the world of space from one device, including tracking satellites, viewing images, observing NASA events in real time, and viewing a live high-definition earth viewing experiment using the shows the earth from the International Space Station.
(Jeremiah Watt) When it’s time to relax, use dedicated apps to provide campfire songs and safety information.
Campfire songs and security
If you want to brush up on campfire songs, check out the Apple campfire songs App with more than 200 songs. The Google Play Store has one too Scout campfire songs App. Make sure to follow Smokey Bears Safety instructions for campfires.
Knot tying
Columbia Sportswear What to do? App focuses on the art of tying knots. Learn to knot for fishing, camping, climbing or just for all-round service. The free app covers more than 90 knots, from a Flemish bend to a Seaguar knot. There are a number of other knotting apps for Android and Apple. The ability to tie a few knots can be especially useful when camping, sailing, or doing many different outdoor sports.
Find a campsite
If you are looking for a campsite, there is an app for that. In fact, there are quite a few apps out there to help you find and book a great campsite, which is important as popular Utah destinations fill up quickly, especially on weekends. Recovery.gov provides a mobile app that allows users to search, compare, view recommendations, photos and maps, and book online through thousands of websites. Reserve America allows users to search for campsites in the US and book through the app. It includes state, state, and private campsites, plus cabins, RV sites, yurts, and campsites. Another app option is The Dyrt for Apple and Androidthat connects users to more than 500,000 camping options (along with reviews) including cabins, RV sites, and campsites including state, state, local, and private websites.
(Jeremiah Watt) While apps can improve travel, it’s important to take the time to focus on a destination. Limit phone usage and don’t rely on technology, especially in remote areas with no cellular network.
weather
Since weather conditions can change so quickly, make sure you have a good weather app available to keep up to date with the conditions. A number of apps are available to provide predictions as well as current conditions and important warnings. Some popular weather apps are available at The weather channel, AccuWeather and The underground weather.
UDOT traffic
When you’re out on the streets of Utah, UDOT traffic app can keep you up to date on everything, from the current traffic situation to accident warnings, hazards and construction work to road closures. The app also provides images from traffic cameras, the location of snow plows and other information to help you get to your destination safely.
cards
Complete your paper cards and Travel guide for Utah with one or two apps. Of course, when driving a car, use your common sense and know that apps aren’t foolproof. From time to time news reports describe someone following a GPS into a lake, trapped in a blizzard on a closed road, or stranded on a dirt road many miles from civilization for following a device. If a route looks unsafe or impractical, try a different route. And always be aware of current (and sometimes rapidly changing) road conditions. Many smartphones have integrated map apps, others are available for download. Google Maps is popular and available for Android and Apple. Roadtripper also offers an app to help travelers find interesting stops along the way.
