The official launch for the Trailforks app is today. This free app is a very cool thing for mountain bikers. 

Trailforks Online

A few years ago, Pinkbike started working on an online trail map site. Riders could capture tracks on their phones and GPS units, and then upload them to the Trailforks site. There’s nothing new there, as Strava, various incarnations of Garmin sites, MapMyRide and others were doing the same thing. The difference was that Pinkbike happens to be the most popular mountain biking website in the world. Using that presence as a springboard, PB quickly amassed a huge quantity of user-submitted trail data from across the world. The result is a database of over 30,000 trails in 67 countries, with more being added every day. Websites can tie into that data, like we do on the CMBA’s Trail Conditions page. Updates, ratings, conditions are all crowd-sourced, so you get a lot of varied opinions from fellow mountain bikers. The best part is that it’s FREE. There aren’t even ads!

The Trailforks App

The Trailforks app is a very nice extension of the Trailforks site. You can pre-load trail data at a regional level [e.g. Alberta], and the trails, their descriptions and ratings are available through the app, even when you’re not within cell or wifi range. I tested this out on Ridgeback, parts of which do not have any cell coverage:

It pinpointed my location on the map using the phone’s GPS, and displayed the nearby trails [Tom Snow, Special K and Bobcat in this case]. I could even pull up details on any of those trails without a data connection. That might not sound like a big deal, but it’s actually pretty cool in practice. It’s like having a guidebook with you all the time. Those of you who carried around a dog-eared copy of Backcountry Biking in the Canadian Rockies in your pocket or pack will know what I’m talking about.

There are some downsides to the app and Trailforks in general. If you’re not able to get a GPS connection, it can’t tell you where you are [quelle surprise]. If your phone runs out of power, it won’t be much use to you, but that’s not the app’s fault. Also, you have to think far enough ahead to download data for the region you’re riding in while you still have coverage [Alberta and BC total less than 10MB]. Most importantly, Trailforks doesn’t have all trails, at least not yet. In southern Alberta, it has almost all the popular stuff in West Bragg, Moose Mountain, Banff and Canmore. There is definitely stuff missing. Calgary is worse, with a big empty space where Nose Hill trails should be, and only partial coverage of Fish Creek. Still, if more people upload their GPS tracks, more trail info will be available for everyone.

Those few negatives aside, this app is worth a look, especially if you’re heading into K-Country and the Bow Valley. The Trailforks app is available FREE for iOS and Android. Get it here: