Social Distancing without Getting Lost: On X

As we are social distancing and still enjoying the outdoors, make sure you know where you are in the wilderness.

​I have a terrible sense of direction. Absolutely terrible.

By way of example, as a teenager in the mid-west, I spent a lot of time in shopping malls. My friend and I would make a lap around the mall and visit as many stores as we could. My sense of direction was so bad that I would leave Abercrombie & Fitch with an Orange Julius in my hand, and have no idea which way I had come from.

As an adult, I moved to the Rocky Mountains. I started hiking, mountain biking, and hunting in a National Forest with over 1 million acres. Lacking a sense of direction was a very dangerous situation. For years, I was afraid to hike or mountain bike alone. The possibility of being stranded in the wilderness (without enough food) was paralyzing.
That is, until I discovered the app called On X. What a game changer. This app can be downloaded easily. On X touts its product as “[t]he best tool for every hunter, our maps show clearly marked property boundaries, public and private landowner names and more - giving you everything you need to stay legal and ethical.” But it is so much more than that.

The app provides a map with information about who owns the land, whether it is private or public, and existing and historic trails. This is critical for hunters, but also for hikers, mountain bikers, back country skiers, and campers. Where I live, it is a dangerous proposition to be on someone’s land without their permission, and not know it.

The app also allows you to explore the area you’re in, without hiking in vein. If you find yourself hiking an especially grueling path, but happen to know the person that owns the next property over, you may be able to get permission to cut through and save yourself hours of hiking. That is exactly what happened during my husband’s elk hunt in November. We were hiking for hours over huge boulders. The thought of returning to the truck via the route we came almost pushed me over the edge, so we checked On X to see where we were and what options we might have.  We realized that our friend had leased the land that would directly lead us back to our truck. The direct route saved us hours of hiking, and likely my willingness to continue hunting.

This app allows you to download the map before leaving for your trip, so you are not dependent on data to load the map. It also allows you to drop “pins,” which are GPS markers. This is very helpful if you are trying to meet someone because you can text them the pin. You can also drop a pin if you shoot an animal and need to come back the next day to get it off the mountain.

On X also lets you mark important spots on the trail. In my case, we could have marked a hard area that we wanted to avoid on our way back to the truck. It is also great when you are stalking animals during a hunt because you can drop a pin where there is water, signs of animals, or a potential good spot to see the animals. This is helpful to remember certain locations if you plan to return the next day (or year).

On X offers a free trial period, and then you can purchase regular access to the app. For a single state, the cost is $29, and to obtain all 50 states it is only $99 a year; which, when you consider the alternatives of being shot for being on the wrong land, being lost without a map, or hiking for hours when you could have cut through your friend’s land, it is absolutely worth it.
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I have come a long way since my laps around the shopping mall, and On X is one tool I use to keep me on track (both figuratively and literally).  guiding me.