@greenbriar I know you mentioned figuring out GAIA. That is a great app for navigating, especially the pro model, but the obvious downfall is the lack of information searching for trails n stuff. Do you ever look at trailsoffroad? That is a great site. A lot of times if going to a new area I check out their map in addition to alltrails.com and filtering on offroad stuff. I recall going to Ruidoso years ago and I couldn't believe how hard it was to find things in that area and how far it looked like I might have to drive to get to something at that time. I've been through that Red River area in northern NM before and didn't realize they had a couple trails up there. I need to remember that for the future.

 

I did some due diligence looking at tube for comparisons with GAIA and Xoff roads and just picked one kinda randomly. Will put eyes on the all trails. GAIA has a ton of information maybe overwhelming at the moment. I noticed there are a "zillion" trails in NM to get lost on. We favor the ones less traveled with ghost towns and the like but kinda wary of going solo. I reached out to NM 4Wheelers but no response to interest or anyone we could tag along so this should be an interesting trip.

 

I finally paid up for the pro version of GAIA. I have a friend that does serious backpacking and that group using GAIA off-grid, and that is where that app really shines.....when you have no service. I've tried to use AllTrials premium service in the past for the same off-grid/no-service areas and theirs is just....not good. When you have no service, that is when you really need something that is reliable, so from that angle the GAIA is really nice, as long as you know where you are heading and you download those map locations for use when off-grid. Finally admitted that if it was the best for backpackers.....it was probably just the best thing going period. I wish they had more review type features. That is one thing I like about AllTrails....just being able to read recent reviews for trail conditions. I think I looked at onX maps and that one didn't do it for me. In the end, it's a compilation for sources depending on where I'm headin'.