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Where to Download GPX Routes/Courses for Hiking?

Shaner41
over 2 years ago

Hey all: I've done quite a few hikes with my F7X and sometimes I've made my own course using the Explore app or the Garmin website. When I was doing that I thought: no doubt someone has GPX'd this very trail before...wonder if I could borrow that person's GPX file for my hike?  

Question: is there a good website to get pre-made GPX file routes of trails?

Thanks!

  • +1 over 2 years ago

    The Hiking Project (https://www.hikingproject.com/) is one, but there are many others.  I'm sure others will chip in with their favorites.

  • +1 over 2 years ago

    Alltrails.com is good, there's plenty including Strava.com which can create custom routes for you intelligently.

    The easiest and not very obvious way to get gpx routes on your watch is to import them using Garmin connect and importing the gpx through 'courses' under 'training'.

    Takes about 20 seconds to download a gpx and get it imported, then click the star icon next to it and a single quick sync later it's on your watch and you're ready to go.

    It's also a quick and easy way to share a route with others on the hike who also have a Garmin by just clicking the share icon.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to henleybailey

    Thanks much to both of you. I should've known, but yes, thanks for the pointers. And yes, Henley, the "easiest and not very obvious" way is through the connect website. Found my trail in about 3 minutes, downloaded it, and sent it to a friend who is hiking it with me. Cool!

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    I use Alltrails when I want to download a specific trail that somebody has already mapped out, and don't want to bother customizing it in any way.

    Otherwise, I use Plotaroute when I want to generate my own custom trail course.

    Often, I actually do both - I'll find a trail I like on Alltrails, but then recreate it myself in Plotaroute and add in my own custom waypoint and turn-by-turn directions and such.

    One nice feature of plotaroute (that I'm sure some others do as well) is that you can send the route you made directly to Garmin Connect, and it'll send it to your watch during your next sync. So it's very seamless and quick; no need to manually save/download the track and copy it onto the watch (though, you could also do it that way if you wanted)

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to C.sco

    Thanks! So the Plotaroute premium membership is worth it in your opinion?

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Shaner41

    For sure, I think it's a bargain at $25 a year to get all the additional map layer options, 50k points per route (versus 2.5k), and direct send to Garmin. Plus it kills off the ads.

    I wish they had a mobile app though, sadly they don't yet. But the mobile version of their website does work pretty well (but you can only edit routes on mobile with a premium account)

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    In Spain is very popular www.wikiloc.com with tracks all over the world, Also try www.komoot.com with a lot of tracks mainly in Europe, and www.outdooractive.com also has a lot of routes to download.