2022-02-12, 10:22 PM
I use caltopo for my topo work, and in recent years I have become quite fond of its "slope angle shading" feature. Basically, it puts a color overlay on the topo to show you how steep the slopes are. I believe Gaia GPS has this also. My understanding is that this is based on much higher resolution data than simply measuring the distance between the contour lines on the topo map. it is certainly a way to choose the safest route and an important tool for off trail travel.