Decatur Trail Featured in Mobile Hiking App for Southern Appalachians

Decatur has been included in Great Hikes of the Southern Appalachians, a new iPhone and Android app for hikers. The app lists more than 300 hikes in the mountains of western North Carolina, north Georgia, and Upstate South Carolina, including the 1.5-mile route at Clyde Shepherd Nature Preserve near Decatur.

The detailed hike description includes a map and driving directions to the trailhead, turn-by-turn hiking directions, elevation gain, distance, trail highlights, and trail map. The app uses the phone’s GPS function to show the hiker’s exact location on the trail or en route to the trailhead.

Once the hike is purchased and downloaded, the maps and directions are fully functional with no data or wi-fi connection required. Each hike costs 99 cents.

The new app is a product of Milestone Press, publisher of print outdoor adventure guidebooks since 1992. “For years, hikers have been asking us if Milestone Press would offer e-book versions of our guides,” says founder Jim Parham, “but the idea of taking an e-book on the trail has never made sense to us. This new app allows you to carry essential trail information on your smartphone. All the routes in Great Hikes of the Southern Appalachians are adapted from Milestone Press hiking guides.”

In the app, hikes can be sorted according to category—for example, day hike, waterfall hike, or overnight hike; state (Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina); or region (Great Smoky Mountains, Blue Ridge Parkway, Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests, etc.). The user can also simply tap “hikes near me” for a list of the closest hiking options.

Great Hikes of the Southern Appalachians is available now at the Apple iTunes app store and the Google Play store. Or follow links to the app at milestonepress.com.