accadacca
06-11-2018, 08:12 AM
Is this good thing or bad thing? The app sounds really cool.
—-
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180611/12d217300e5d0cf9c0e7fca67c54f4f5.jpeg
MOAB — If you’ve been to one of Utah’s Mighty Five lately, you know our national parks are bursting at the seams with visitors.
Over the Memorial Day weekend, Arches National Park turned away some visitors during its peak hours. Others waited over an hour and a half for busses to bring them inside Zion National Park.
"For the past five years I’ve heard people saying, ‘I’ve been to Arches. I’ve been to Canyonlands and it was a zoo!" said Pitt Grewe.
Grewe is the marketing director of Bivy, a free website and phone app that highlights great places to hike, bike, camp, paddle, climb and other outdoor activities by taking users to hidden gems all over Utah and the country just as spectacular as the national parks but away from the crowds.
"Currently, we have over 40,000 adventures logged in Bivy," explained Grewe. "We have one of the largest databases in the country."
Bivy was launched by Vance Cook, an avid Utah mountaineer and outdoorsman who got fed up with confusing directions he kept getting from guides.
"If anyone has used rock climbing guides, there’s a lot of 'OK, you go up the trail about 400 yards then you’ll see a log,'" Grewe mused. "'Go left. Hop over the log then at the boulder take right and then you’ll find the wall.' Well, in the mountains there are hundreds of logs and hundreds of boulders, you know."
Bivy’s information comes from several sources from guide books and online databases to conversations with local outfitters and contributions by users. Bivy also has its team of cartographers it sends out to verify details with GPS and cameras.
"Bivy gives you the head start to help you find the right places you need to be in, and helps get you there safe," Grewe said.
Let’s say you want to go for a hike with your kids in the Salt Lake area. Start by going to the area on the map, and filter just the hikes. Maybe choose one that’s easy to moderate in difficulty. If you want a hike with a waterfall, you can select that from the "Features" tab and voila — you have several choices like Ghost Falls Trail or Neffs Canyon.
Bivy gives details like distance, elevation gain, estimated time, fees and warnings for stuff like forced swims or flash flood risk. It can also keep you out of trouble by letting you download your adventure for offline use, when you’re out of cell phone range.
"If you take a left instead of a right, it’s going to buzz your phone and say, 'Hey, you’re off trail. Take a look at where you’re going!'" explained Grewe. "You can easily take a look at the app and say, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve veered off to the left’ and it’ll take you right back on the trail.
The Bivy app, for both Android and iPhone, also allows you to track your adventure. You can see how far you’ve gone, where you’ve gone, how far you’ve climbed, calories you’ve burned and you can share your location.
You can also leave comments on each of the adventures you take and you can also spot other nearby Bivy users who’re also sharing their location.
So, with the app in hand, your Utah adventure doesn’t have to mean the huge crowds the Mighty Five sees in their peak seasons.
“Nobody likes to go on a hike of solitude with 20,000 of their closest friends,” joked Grewe.
https://www.ksl.com/?sid=46338328&nid=1288
—-
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180611/12d217300e5d0cf9c0e7fca67c54f4f5.jpeg
MOAB — If you’ve been to one of Utah’s Mighty Five lately, you know our national parks are bursting at the seams with visitors.
Over the Memorial Day weekend, Arches National Park turned away some visitors during its peak hours. Others waited over an hour and a half for busses to bring them inside Zion National Park.
"For the past five years I’ve heard people saying, ‘I’ve been to Arches. I’ve been to Canyonlands and it was a zoo!" said Pitt Grewe.
Grewe is the marketing director of Bivy, a free website and phone app that highlights great places to hike, bike, camp, paddle, climb and other outdoor activities by taking users to hidden gems all over Utah and the country just as spectacular as the national parks but away from the crowds.
"Currently, we have over 40,000 adventures logged in Bivy," explained Grewe. "We have one of the largest databases in the country."
Bivy was launched by Vance Cook, an avid Utah mountaineer and outdoorsman who got fed up with confusing directions he kept getting from guides.
"If anyone has used rock climbing guides, there’s a lot of 'OK, you go up the trail about 400 yards then you’ll see a log,'" Grewe mused. "'Go left. Hop over the log then at the boulder take right and then you’ll find the wall.' Well, in the mountains there are hundreds of logs and hundreds of boulders, you know."
Bivy’s information comes from several sources from guide books and online databases to conversations with local outfitters and contributions by users. Bivy also has its team of cartographers it sends out to verify details with GPS and cameras.
"Bivy gives you the head start to help you find the right places you need to be in, and helps get you there safe," Grewe said.
Let’s say you want to go for a hike with your kids in the Salt Lake area. Start by going to the area on the map, and filter just the hikes. Maybe choose one that’s easy to moderate in difficulty. If you want a hike with a waterfall, you can select that from the "Features" tab and voila — you have several choices like Ghost Falls Trail or Neffs Canyon.
Bivy gives details like distance, elevation gain, estimated time, fees and warnings for stuff like forced swims or flash flood risk. It can also keep you out of trouble by letting you download your adventure for offline use, when you’re out of cell phone range.
"If you take a left instead of a right, it’s going to buzz your phone and say, 'Hey, you’re off trail. Take a look at where you’re going!'" explained Grewe. "You can easily take a look at the app and say, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve veered off to the left’ and it’ll take you right back on the trail.
The Bivy app, for both Android and iPhone, also allows you to track your adventure. You can see how far you’ve gone, where you’ve gone, how far you’ve climbed, calories you’ve burned and you can share your location.
You can also leave comments on each of the adventures you take and you can also spot other nearby Bivy users who’re also sharing their location.
So, with the app in hand, your Utah adventure doesn’t have to mean the huge crowds the Mighty Five sees in their peak seasons.
“Nobody likes to go on a hike of solitude with 20,000 of their closest friends,” joked Grewe.
https://www.ksl.com/?sid=46338328&nid=1288