iPhone and iPod touch apps to take on the camping trip

Anyone who loves nature knows that camping can be both a fine art and a subtle science. When you do it right, it can be an amazing experience. Doing it wrong can make for a nightmarish evening in the woods. These applications can help make for a memorable and entertaining trip: Campwhere from Big Nerd Ranch, Firefly Night from Joseph Walters, and 100 Horror Stories, Sounds and Scares from Vroom LLC.

Campwhere

Seller: Big Nerd Ranch
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch
Requirements: OS 3.0 or higher
File Size: 1 MB
Price: $3.99
Age Rating: 4+

Anytime you camp, you need to find a camp site. No doubt if you are an outdoor lover you have some favorite sites, but visiting those places over and over again defeats the exploration spirit that drew you out to begin with. Campwhere can help you to expand your options easily.

The interface is an easy to use map that allows you to zoom in and out with a pinch. The listings are color coded so you can tell if you are looking at a National Park, city or county park, state park or army corp of engineers site.

It also has a handy array of secondary features that let you search parks, find the closest to your location, and save easy access to a few favorites. The new version covers Canada as well as the U.S.

Firefly Night

Seller: Joseph Walters
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch
Requirements: 3.0 or higher
File Size: 20.2MB
Price: $0.99
Age Rating: 4+

As things get dark, you may be in search of summer’s iconic bug: the firefly. If you can’t find any, this game can help you to get the experience.

The game mode lets you sort different color flies into jars as a speed trial. Numbers mode is all about unlocking achievements by creating sequences of numbers in jars.

100 Horror Stories, Sounds and Scares

Seller: Vroom LLC
Compatibility: iPhone or iPod Touch
Requirements: iPhone OS 3.0 or higher
File Size: 29.9MB
Price: $0.99
Age Rating: 12+

When things get good and dark, the time has come for ghost stories. If your imagination is light or if you simply enjoy classic tales of terror, then this application is for you. It houses more than 100 stories and has classics such as The Fall of The House of Usher, The Phantom of the Opera and The Monkey’s Paw, as well as a lot of newer, but compelling tales. Stories have two modes, scroll for continuous movement and page for people who want a book-like flipping experience.

This application also houses a large library of sounds that will add appropriate atmosphere. If you find them distracting, you can always shut them down with the pause button. Choosing your sounds is simple enough…just be sure to check out the ones labeled ??? for some extra fun.