How-To Find Epic Trip Locations

Road trip guides

May 23

Whenever we get into a discussion with someone about trip planning and location scouting, they are always surprised and curious about the way we go about it. This article gives detailed instructions on how to use Google Maps to find and organize potential trip locations and what you can start doing today!

Note: This article is specific and limited to the research and saving of the destinations you plan to visit on your trip.

INTRO
- Overview of Our Process
THE TOOL WE USE
- Google Maps
FIND INTERESTING LOCATIONS
- Scan the Map With Layers
- Search for Points of Interest
USE LISTS TO ORGANIZE
- Create a List
- Turn Off Certain Lists
- View Only One List at a Time
DROP PINS ON THE MAP
- Drop a Pin on a Known Location
- Drop a Pin on an Unknown Location
SUMMARY
- What You’re Left With
- Next Steps

1. INTRO

Our process when it comes to trip planning and research is twofold.

First, regarding the discovery of a new location, you may learn about one by reading an article online from one of your favorite travel magazines, a blog post, or maybe even word of mouth from a friend or family member.

Many of our locations are discovered simply by scanning and searching within Google Maps for points of interest. Regardless, learning about a new location can come in many forms.

Second, and most importantly, is what to do with that new knowledge so that it can be saved and recalled for future reference when it’s time to plan a specific trip.

In this article, we’ll talk about the tools we use for saving and researching locations from the time you first hear about them, to the time you’re ready to start making your detailed plans.

2. THE TOOL WE USE

For trip research and route planning, we use Google Maps. We love the visual element that this tool lends to the trip planning process. It is free to use and incredibly powerful when used as part of the process we’ve put together in the following sections.

Google Maps allows you to view the globe with various layers from traffic and transit to topographic and satellite imagery.

It also allows you to click into a countless number of locations and view pictures, read reviews, learn detailed information, and much more.

We like the visual aspect of Google Maps over other tools such as Gaia (which we do use for off-road route planning), and the ability to view the images taken by others who have visited in the past, especially during the initial research and planning phases of a trip. This all gives you a good sense of what to expect once you arrive at your destination.

The most important feature within Google Maps is the ability to drop pins at each location you plan to visit and then organize these pins into various lists. This makes it incredibly easy to save your locations of interest over time and put together a solid trip plan when the time comes.

3. FIND INTERESTING LOCATIONS

Ever wondered how people find neat and interesting locations or plan trips that don’t include all the popular tourist destinations?

It’s become increasingly common to rely heavily on others to provide the exact location of where to go when trip planning. Rather than putting in the effort to research and plan their own specific trip, millions of people read the same ten articles then go on to visit the same top ten destinations. This has led to overcrowding, overuse, destruction of public lands, and for those of you planning your own trips, a less than peaceful or enjoyable experience. That’s why we want to provide you with the necessary tools and knowledge to plan a trip unique to your own interests. 

That’s not to say you can’t read a blog post or two to gather some ideas, but there’s more to trip planning than just that.

Doing your own research can add so much to your trip, so here are some ways to find trip destinations on your own.

SCAN THE MAP WITH LAYERS

Like we mentioned above, Google Maps houses a ton of information and most people aren’t using this to their advantage. Scroll around the map and click on the various points of interest to check them out. Here you can see images, reviews, details on hours, fees, and so much more! If you stumble upon something that looks interesting to you, save it for future reference (more on how to do that below).

 Viewing an area using satellite imagery also allows you to see the terrain in the area you are visiting. You can scan the map for general features like mountains, lakes, and beaches. Or, zoom in to see more details like a clearing on a hillside for that epic view, a hidden waterfall up a creek, or a secluded roadside pull-off for a peaceful lunch break.  The more you use this feature, the easier it is to spot unique locations and and know exactly what to expect once you get there!

SEARCH FOR POINTS OF INTEREST

Another useful feature in Google Maps is of course the ability to search for a location. However, you can do so much more with the search feature than you may think.

Rather than rely on a blog post to tell you the five best waterfalls in an area, search ‘waterfall’ in Google Maps. This will likely bring up dozens more than any curated list would’ve contained, and because nature and personal preference is so unique and subjective, you can then utilize the photos uploaded by other users to find one that is most interesting to you!

This can be applied to anything, not just waterfalls. If you don’t see a location already populated with tons of user images, it’s a good indication that you’ll have that place entirely to yourself!

This feature is great to use when researching and planning for an upcoming trip or in real time if you need ideas of what to see in the areas you may be visiting.

Now that you are familiar with the different ways you can find locations, let’s talk about how to save and organize them.

4. USE LISTS IN GOOGLE MAPS

Dropping pins and adding them to a custom list is hands down the most powerful function within Google Maps that we utilize when researching and planning every one of our trips.

Before we get into it, you’ll want to download the Google Maps app to your phone or tablet or visit on the web and create an account. It’s important that you create an account instead of visiting as a guest so you can save your future lists and pins over time.

CREATE A LIST

Once you’ve logged into your account, open up the app. On iPhone or similar devices, tap “Saved” at the bottom of the screen. On iPad and others, expand the menu and tap on “Your Places”.
By default, you’ll see a few lists setup already, you can certainly use those if they apply to your travels, but we’re going to create our own to fit our specific needs.
Next, tap the plus icon to create a new list.
This brings up the options for your new lists.
Name them whatever you like, and expect to have a lot.

We have a separate list for just about every point of interest you can think of. Hikes, waterfalls, city things, cool bars/restaurants, etc.

Your lists can be as general as “National Parks” or as specific as a particular waterfall or viewpoint on a hike within that National Park.

Below is a quick video clip showing how to create and share a list on a mobile device. Yours may look different depending on the device.

Tip: If you’re planning your trips with friends or family, now is a good time to make your list Shared. Creating a Shared List will let you send someone a custom link and allow them to view and edit your lists as well.

To do this, select the three dots on the right hand side of a list and select “Share List”. You can grant the recipient editing rights or read only access by toggling the switch in the popup message. Once you hit “Continue”, you can send the list via SMS, Email, Airdrop or any of the other share options you prefer.

TURN OFF CERTAIN LISTS

The benefit of creating specific lists is the ability to show or hide any combination of those lists and/or view one at a time. 

Let’s say you're planning a nature focused trip and you want to see all of your pins for waterfalls, hikes, camp spots, etc., but none of your pins for city things like bars and restaurants.

You can hide lists from the options menu of each list.

Bring up the list of You Places
Select the three dots and choosing “Hide on your map” to hide bars and restaurants, etc.

Screenshot taken on an iPad. Expand the menu to access the “Hide your map” option by tapping the three dots on the right.

VIEW ONLY ONE LIST AT A TIME

You can also choose to view one list at a time without the hassle of hiding every other list one-by-one.

So, say you’re only interested in viewing your saved waterfalls and nothing else.

Simply tap or click on that list. It will bring up details for all of the pins that list contains. If you swipe down (on mobile) it will show the pins on the map.

Here is a video clip of how to view one list at a time:

5. DROP PINS ON THE MAP

Now that your lists are set up, you’re ready to start pinning locations!

Our website, blog, and social pages all revolve around this concept. Simply put, dropping location pins has revolutionized the way we research and plan our trips.

Read an interesting article about a unique or challenging hike? Pin it!

See a beautiful picture of a waterfall? Pin it!

Friend tell you about a great restaurant with a view? Pin it!

Pinning locations you find while going about your day will eventually become a habit. We all have a smartphone in our hand, so take advantage of this tool and start logging all the places you plan to go!

DROP A PIN ON A KNOWN LOCATION

A great feature of Google Maps is that most locations have already been identified and are marked on the map with photos, reviews, and other useful information. You can easily search for these locations and save them to your custom lists.

Drop a pin on a popular location that is already identified in Google Maps by searching for the location in the search box
Select the location to bring up more details like images, reviews, and information
Tap “Save” in the details of the location and choose an appropriate list

Screenshot taken on an iPad. Once you select a location on the map, the details will show across the bottom as pictured.

DROP A PIN ON AN UNKNOWN LOCATION

Hear about a unique viewpoint off trail or have a camping spot no one else knows about? Then chances are good you won’t be able to search for it in order to drop a pin.

Luckily, it’s just as easy to drop a pin on a location that Google Maps doesn’t recognize.

You can do this by manually finding the spot on the map then long pressing the screen (on mobile) which will bring up the same option to save to a list as you saw before.
You can also enter the GPS coordinates and save from that menu as well.

The only difference here is that your pin location will not have a name. In this instance, you will want to scroll down slightly after saving to a list and then add your own details in the “Add a note” section so that you can recall what it is at a later date.

Screenshot taken on an iPad. To get to this menu, tap into any one of your lists by navigating to “Your places”.

6. SUMMARY

That includes most of our pre-trip research and planning steps up until the point where we’re ready to begin planning a specific trip in more detail.

Hopefully, you’ve seen the benefits to our method and will consider dropping pins and saving them to lists for your future travel plans.

Taking it slow and adding pins over time is a great way to build up a potential route through an area you may not have considered before. Everything else is just a matter of deciding when to go!

WHAT YOU’RE LEFT WITH

Continue to drop your pins day after day, week after week, and month after month. Eventually, you’ll open Maps and see something that looks similar to the image below - a map so densely covered in dropped pins that you would struggle to travel through an area without having one of your saved locations of interest nearby to visit!

All of our pins to date, with the satellite layer on.

You may be thinking, however, that all of those pins on the map are overwhelming and you’re never going to be able to decide on a vacation destination. Let’s take a closer look at a particular region in the Northeast to put it all into perspective.

Note: We’re planning a driving route with this example, but the same principle can apply to walking directions through a major city as well.

If we zoom into this section of our map you may be able to see that we already have a general route beginning to form for us.

Take a look at this next image with our proposed route shown in red.

Planning our route through this area just became so much easier!

This eliminates the opportunity to become overwhelmed from hours of scanning the internet for possible destinations that you then have to piece together. Conversely, being underwhelmed by looking at an empty map and wondering where to go.

By doing this work ahead of time, we already have our top destinations picked out and a general route coming together for us. Hours of work already put in without even realizing!

NEXT STEPS

From here it’s just a matter of deciding when you want to set off on your trip and for how long.

Continue the process with us in our blog How-To Plan the Perfect Road Trip Route, where we walk through the creation of exact routes, determining time and mileage between stops, and adding additional detail to a slide deck to reference offline while on the road.

We hope you’ve learned a thing or two and we look forward to seeing you in the next one!

That’s it for now!

Catch ya next time!

Taylor and Seth

Coming Soon:

How-To Plan the Perfect Road Trip Route

If you’ve planned a road trip of any length, you’ve likely asked yourself the question, “Where do I even start?” We have some suggestions and guidance on exactly that in this article on planning the perfect road trip route.

Hi, we’re Seth and Taylor and we love sharing all things related to outdoor adventure!

We love anything that gets us outside — hiking, biking, backpack, road tripping, and so much more! We love sharing our adventures and hope it helps YOU get out to see more.

About Us