The stuff I'd tell you riding shotgun.
Narrated audio guides to off-road regions. The land, the wildlife, the history, the trails and the towns, told by TrailRecon. Download a region once and it plays with no signal.
One region, eleven chapters
Know the country you're driving through.
onX tells you where the trail goes. The Field Guide tells you what you're looking at: why the hills are shaped like that, who camped at that spring two hundred years ago, and which wash will swallow a stock rig.
Every region gets the same eleven chapters in the same order, about eighty minutes of audio. Play them in order on the drive in, one at a time around the fire, or on the couch while you plan the trip.
- WelcomeWhere you are and the ground rules
- The LandHow the place got its shape
- What Lives HerePlants, animals, what to watch for
- Seasons & WeatherWhen to go, and what will hurt you
- Whose LandWho manages it, and the rules
- First PeopleThe nations who were here first, and still are
- Who Came NextExplorers, soldiers, settlers and their roads
- Boom & BustWhat brought the money in, and what's left
- The TrailsTerrain, rigs, routes and named obstacles
- Towns & BasecampsWhere to fuel up, eat and sleep
- Legends & OdditiesLost gold, ghosts and the plain strange
Welcome to Anza-Borrego
Chapter 0 of the first region. A minute and a quarter.
Regions
Twelve regions out now. Twenty-two more on the way.
Anza-Borrego
Old seafloor, slot canyons, the Pinyon Mountain drop-off and Pegleg’s lost gold. 11 chapters, about 80 minutes.
East Mojave
Kelso Dunes, the Mojave Road, Cima Dome and the lava tube. 11 chapters, about 80 minutes.
Big Bear
John Bull, Gold Mountain, the Holcomb Valley gold rush and the Rim of the World. 11 chapters, about 80 minutes.
Death Valley
The Racetrack, Titus Canyon, Lippincott, the twenty-mule teams and Scotty’s Castle. 11 chapters, about 80 minutes.
Moab
Hell’s Revenge, Poison Spider, the White Rim, the uranium rush and the Easter Jeep Safari. 11 chapters, about 80 minutes.
Ouray & Silverton
The Alpine Loop, Black Bear, Imogene, Animas Forks, the Ute homeland and the Camp Bird gold. 11 chapters, about 85 minutes.
Rubicon & Lake Tahoe
Little Sluice, Cadillac Hill, Rubicon Springs, the Washoe homeland and the lake itself. 11 chapters, about 85 minutes.
Eastern Sierra
The Alabama Hills, the Owens Valley water wars, Manzanar, Bodie, Mono Lake and the bristlecones. 11 chapters, about 85 minutes.
Sedona & Central Arizona
Broken Arrow, Schnebly Hill, Jerome's copper boom, Montezuma Well and Crown King. 11 chapters, about 85 minutes.
Johnson Valley & Joshua Tree
Home of King of the Hammers, a WWII bombing range, Giant Rock and the Joshua Tree backroads. 11 chapters, about 80 minutes.
San Rafael Swell
The Wedge, Temple Mountain's uranium boom, Barrier Canyon rock art, Black Dragon Canyon and outlaw country. 11 chapters, about 80 minutes.
Palo Duro Canyon & Merus
The Lighthouse, Merus Adventure Park's rock trails, Goodnight's JA Ranch, the Red River War and the Texas state bison herd. 11 chapters, about 80 minutes.
Next up: Hatfield-McCoy, the Black Hills, St. George and Sand Hollow, Kanab and Coral Pink, then the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest and the East Coast. Open the app’s Browse map to see every region on the way.
Region photos: NPS, BLM, USDA Forest Service and Wikimedia Commons contributors (public domain and Creative Commons), credited in the app.
How it works
Built for the dirt.
Download once, play anywhere
Tap download before you leave home. After that, every chapter plays with no cell signal, which is where you'll want it.
Knows when you're there
Open the app inside a region and it offers the Welcome. Your location stays on your phone.
Drive mode
Dark screen, giant buttons, nothing to read. Back fifteen seconds when the trail took your attention.
Pairs with onX
One tap opens the region in onX Offroad for routes and turn-by-turn. The Field Guide is the story, onX is the map.
Jump to the good part
Every chapter has markers, so you can skip straight to Font's Point or the Mojave Road when you get there.
Know before you go
Closures, fees, fuel and phone numbers live in a text tab that gets updated, so the audio never goes stale.
Get the app
Put it on your phone in thirty seconds.
iPhone
- Open the Field Guide in Safari.
- Tap the Share button.
- Tap Add to Home Screen.
- Open it from the new icon and download a region.
Android
- Open the Field Guide in Chrome.
- Tap the three-dot menu.
- Tap Install app or Add to Home screen.
- Open it and download a region.
On a computer? Point your phone's camera here.
This is the test version. App Store and Google Play versions come after the test.
Questions
Before you ask.
What does it cost?
Nothing while we test it. Pricing comes later, and anyone who helps us test will hear about it first.
Does it really work with no signal?
Yes, once you download the region. Do it on Wi-Fi before you leave. Each region is about 36 MB.
Is this a navigation app?
No. It doesn't give turn-by-turn directions or tell you where you are on a trail. It tells you what you're driving through. For routes, the Trails tab opens the region in onX Offroad.
Who's talking?
Brad Kowitz of TrailRecon wrote and researched every chapter. The narration is Brad's voice, created with AI voice technology so we can cover more regions, faster.
Will you cover my favorite area?
That's the plan. Tell us where you want to go next on the TrailRecon channel.