You Can Virtually Hike the Appalachian Trail and Get Your Steps in With This App

From House Beautiful

While many gyms are offering free virtual workouts to keep folks active from home, those can get old pretty quick. As someone who does not have a designated at-home workout area, I attempted a jumping jack and, well, I’m pretty sure the chandelier almost came crashing down. As for now, I’ll just stick to walking when inside places that aren't the gym. Luckily, I can motivate myself and turn my indoor/backyard quarantine strolls into a virtual hike.

Walk the Distance is an app that allows you to virtually hike the Appalachian Trail, as it tracks your distance walking at home (or wherever you walk) and translates those steps into distance on the Appalachian Trail. It works by syncing to your iPhone's Health app— so as you walk in real time, you'll virtually travel on the trail map. Along the way, you can tap on signposts to learn more about where you are on the trail. You can also add friends on the app and locate them on the trail map.

While some of the trails on the app cost $0.99 to walk (the free trail promotion is over), Part 1 of the Appalachian Trail, which is 70.6 miles and goes through Georgia, is completely free. Once you allow the app to collect data from your Health app, you’ll be able to virtually start this trail and watch yourself travel on the map as you walk around your kitchen endlessly or take your dog out for a stroll. Note: you must have your phone on you for this app to track distance, although the app does not need to be open.

While it’s neat that you can see yourself on the trail map, if you want to really enhance the hiking experience and get a feel for the scenery, you can launch the Backpacker Magazine's Appalachian Trail 3D Explorer from the National Parks website. This program gives you a closer look at the trail, as well as information on some of the landmarks you’ll pass.

While the Walk the Distance app was designed more as a resource for those planning to hike the Appalachian Trail, as it familiarizes users with the trail, it might just turn into our next quarantine activity. After all, some folks are really into simulating exercise experiences at home, like this person who allegedly ran a 26.2 mile marathon from the driveway. Hey, whatever works!

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