PHONE PROVIDERS AND GPS
THE BEST PHONE PROVIDERS AND GPS FOR INTERNATIONAL THRU-HIKERS
If you are someone who wishes to have a raw wilderness experience and head out to the Southern Terminus with no electronic devices, and instead carry various paper-based section maps, this article is not for you.
And yes, there are hikers who I met out there, in 2022, with no phone, no GPS, no nothing. I would have been bored out of my mind without music and podcasts, but I certainly understand the desire for nature and nature alone. But FarOut (Guthook) was my most used app of 2022.
If you are going to carry a phone or some form of communication device and are not from America, read on, friend.
Phone Providers
In the USA there is a duopoly on functional mobile service providers: Verizon and AT&T. I say functional because there are other, smaller, providers like T-Mobile and Sprint, but if you select one of these, don’t expect to have service outside of towns, if that.
If having service in the wilderness is important to you, you will want to go with Verizon or AT&T. They are not the most economic choice, but they offer the best service on trail.
I had someone at home I wanted to be in contact with fairly frequently, and didn’t want to only rely on the stalled messaging capacity of the Garmin Inreach. After tearing around Reddit and every random blog I could find about phone service in the backcountry along the PCT, I went with Verizon. The service I had certainly surpassed the smaller providers and was probably on par with the AT&T coverage my British mate had.
When I landed in LAX, and after I processed the shock of being outside of my small, sleepy coastal town for the first time since the pandemic, I marched myself through the throngs of people and went straight to the Verizon store. I bought the cheapest plan, which was not very cheap, and got a small amount of data and an American number. Huzzah!
The thing to watch out for as an international hiker is an annoying issue with the Verizon online payment system (and many others). I couldn’t use my Australian credit card because Verizon’s online payment system, both on the website and the app, required a U.S. billing ZIP code and my VISA card is attached to my Australian postcode. So even when I tried to invent an American ZIP code, my credit card was declined because it did not match my billing address details. This made me a little crazy because it meant that I couldn’t set up an auto payment, get loyalty discounts, or have phone credit be a ‘set and forget’ kind of thing for five months.
The solution? A little annoying, but doable. I went to Target and purchased five $30 Verizon prepaid refill cards. I could pay for those in store with my VISA card, take photos of the PIN on the back of the card and use them up trail each month when I needed to top up my account. While bigger trail towns might have Verizon prepaid cards, many smaller ones don’t, so I am glad that I bought them in advance.
Just make sure you have the Verizon app, go to the ‘Add funds’ section and when prompted to select how you would like to add funds, select ‘Verizon Refill Card’, whack in the PIN and you’re sorted. Just don’t accidentally delete the photos of the PIN numbers.
My pre-purchased Verizon recharge cards. I sincerely hope they eventually fix this glitch, but in the interim, you’ll need these.
Service on the Pacific Crest Trail
- The Desert – I genuinely had service almost every day. Good service. And again, if it’s important to you, you could pretty much plan your campsites based on where you have service in the desert. Just read ahead in the comments on FarOut. Those diligent thru-hikers who comment on campsites and water sources deserve a god damn medal.
- The Sierra – I could not find one single lick of service from Kennedy Meadows South until you crest Kearsage Pass, and then none again until I got to the bus stop at Mammoth, and then none again until I could log onto the Wi-Fi at Kennedy Meadows North. The Sierra is truly a dead zone. If you need to be in contact with people, have a Garmin, which is a fairly essential safety device as well as way to contact hikers up or down trail (Garmin to Garmin messages are free) and family and friends at home. There were some really hectic fires in my year, and Garmins were really helpful for communicating with friends who were out of service and in the path of fires.
- NorCal – Not as good as the desert but I probably had service at least every second day. And if you’re really searching for it, you could probably find some each day.
- Oregon – A rung down from NorCal with some longer stretches with no service.
- Washington – the least reliable section after the Sierra. Those big mountains get in the way. Count on having many days in a row with no service. And do not count on stable Wi-Fi at the gas station resupply of White Pass. It was good at transmitting gastro, WiFi not so much.
Garmin Inreach/Emergency Beacons
I did, in an abstract sense, understand the decision to not hike with a phone. I see the desire to unplug, and intentionally create a more immersive experience in nature for yourself. I did not, however, understand the decision to not take an emergency beacon. This is an essential piece of safety equipment, particularly for sections where you might hike solo or traverse more dangerous conditions, especially in the Sierra on the Pacific Crest Trail and through Colorado on the Continental Divide Trail.
Thru-hiking is not a joke. And to take a detour into the serious for a moment, thru-hikers die every year. A 23-year-old woman died crossing Forester Pass the day before I crossed. A number of people died on Mt Whitney. I watched car loads of Search and Rescue volunteers running up Sonora Pass to rescue hikers stuck in high winds.
Your safety is your responsibility. Your choices affect others, including the people that might have to come looking for you. Make good, informed choices. Carry an emergency beacon.