Walking The Distance is the kind of application that can inspire a specific kind or person of the couch and move. Instead of forcing you to run to escape zombies or to catch Pokemon it allows you to practically walk long distance routes such as those of the Appalachian Trail (AT) and Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) which is perfect for those who aren’t averse to our regular trails but want something more picturesque.

Every mile you walk at home, you are able to see a small image of your photo moving on a map, making it through iconic landmarks such as Springer Mountain in Georgia or Kennedy Meadows at the base of the Sierra Nevada. As you progress to specific locations, Walk The Distance will provide you with pictures and information about the places. It’s sort of similar to taking part in the game The Oregon Trail, except instead of sitting at an electronic device, you’re exercising. (It is important to note that there’s the officially licensed Oregon Trail app that does something similar to explore a more historic journey.)

When I’ve used it, I’ve had fun returning home after a hike and looking through it to check out which landmarks I’ve passed. The descriptions you get are brief and concise and provide information about the weather or the landscape of the area or explaining certain aspects of how to trek the trail however, for me, the photos makes them worthwhile to check out every time. I’ve also been gazing at the map in advance and calculating the distance my next hike is going to be. When I saw the descriptions of Hawk Mountain Shelter that says the next stop is approximately 7 miles from me, I consulted AllTrails (another excellent app) to find an 8-mile walk that is within.

In the end, my walks of a few minutes can add up to thousands of miles. And I’ll have completed the Walk The Distance’s take on the AT. The app also provides various shorter walks across various national parks and cities for those who want to begin with a less daunting objective.

Let me let this get over with quick , now that you’ve viewed an image This is my opinion: I don’t believe it’s Walk The Distance is a attractive app. Actually I find it to be slightly ugly. If you can get past that it’s functional good enough. You can view where you’re on the trail and in relation to other hikers who are also on it, look through your history of walking to determine how many miles you’ve covered every day, and go back to areas of interest that you’ve visited. There’s a lot of settings that allow you to personalize your experience in a variety of ways.

There’s even a social component to Walking The Distance, though I haven’t played with it too much. Alongside the users who broadcast their performance, you can invite friends to hike the trails with. Additionally, the app comes with an option that shows you where you and your buddies are along the trail. (If developers are seeking advice for free not in part of the “friends” part, but it is”tramily”) “tramily” segment, named after the combination of family and trail that’s popular in the community for thru-hiking. It’s a nice touch of theming that goes with the feature that lets you choose an “trail namesake” instead of the display name.)

I, too (and I don’t believe that I’m writing this I am awestruck by the structure of pricing for Walk The Distance. It allows you plenty of freedom in the way you’d like to purchase the app or whether you’d like to do so in any way. It is possible to do the initial portion or two of the major hikes for free , and pay to unlock the remainder. Unlocking the entire AT costs $4.99 and unlocking the PCT will cost $9.99. Certain cities and parks are free, while other walks costing $0.99 each.




If you’re not looking to purchase things in pieces but want to pay for everything in one go you can get an $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year subscription which allows you to complete all walks for no cost and allows you to connect using Fitbit and Garmin. Synchronizing using Apple Health as well as Google Fit is absolutely free (and since I use a different application to transfer my Fitbit data to Apple’s system and Walking The Distance picks that data immediately).

At this point, I’ve not yet reached the point at which I’m supposed to pay for the AT which is about 15 miles. If I decide to, however I’m hoping to buy at least the trail. REI is an outdoor products company, estimates that walking through the Appalachian Trail costs around $6,000 which means I’m actually winning with this hike for only five dollars.

Of course, the Walk The Distance’s method of motivation may not be suitable for everyone since there aren’t many who are a fan of hiking. If you’re one of the people can benefit from it however, getting to the next shelter could be the incentive we need to get up off the couch and get outside for a while. Personally, I’m excited to make substantial improvements in the virtual Appalachian Trail journey later this summer, when I’ll be walking a part on the Pacific Crest Trail because that’s exactly the kind of thing that I find incredibly humorous.

Walking The Distance can be downloaded no cost through the App Store as well as the Google Play Store.