Blog
Field guides for the people who use it.
Tactical, data-forward writing. No marketing fluff. Every post written by someone who's used the data in the field.
Field guides
Fishing · River Flows
Best Winter Steelhead Rivers in Oregon: Coast, Valley, and South
Oregon's best winter steelhead rivers, from the Wilson and Nestucca to the Siletz, Clackamas, North Umpqua, and Rogue: run timing, gauges, and the rules to check.
By Baseline Maps Team · October 19, 2026
Fishing · River Flows
Best Winter Steelhead Rivers in Washington: A River-by-River Guide
Where to fish for winter steelhead in Washington: the Olympic Peninsula, Grays Harbor, and SW Washington rivers, their run timing, gauges, and the rules to check.
By Baseline Maps Team · October 19, 2026
Foraging
Chanterelle Season in Washington and Oregon: When and Where to Look
When chanterelle season starts in Washington and Oregon, the forests they fruit in, how the coast differs from the Cascades, and the look-alikes to rule out first.
By Baseline Maps Team · October 19, 2026
Hunting · Tactics
Cougar Hunting Season in Washington and Oregon: Caps, Zones, Rules
Washington and Oregon cougar seasons explained: WA hunt-unit caps and Thursday closures, ODFW zone quotas, tags, the hound ban, and check-in deadlines.
By Baseline Maps Team · October 19, 2026
Fishing · Coastal
Crabbing in Washington and Oregon: Seasons, Limits, Best Tides
Washington crab seasons by marine area, the Puget Sound catch record card, Oregon crabbing limits and license cost, bay vs. ocean rules, and why slack tide wins.
By Baseline Maps Team · October 19, 2026
Foraging
Mushroom Foraging Permits in Washington and Oregon: Who Needs One
Do you need a permit to pick mushrooms in Washington or Oregon? Personal-use limits by national forest, state parks, state forests, and DNR, plus matsutake rules.
By Baseline Maps Team · October 19, 2026
Fishing · Coastal
Razor Clam Digging in Washington and Oregon: Dates, Tides, Rules
When the next razor clam dig opens in Washington, how Oregon's season works, which beaches to dig, the 15-clam limit, licenses, and how to time a minus tide.
By Baseline Maps Team · October 19, 2026
Hunting · Mapping
Weyerhaeuser Hunting Permits: How Timber Access Works in WA and OR
Can you hunt on Weyerhaeuser land? How the permits, walk-in options, and free Open Lands work in Washington and Oregon, plus Green Diamond, Rayonier, and Manulife.
By Baseline Maps Team · October 19, 2026
Fishing · River Flows
Bonneville Dam Fish Counts, Explained: Reading the Run Like a Pro
What Bonneville Dam fish counts actually measure, how the counting works, and how anglers use the daily numbers and 10-year averages to time salmon and steelhead trips.
By Baseline Maps Team · July 25, 2026
Fishing · Coastal
Crossing the Columbia River Bar: Ebb, Swell, and the Reports
How to judge Columbia River bar conditions before you launch — why the ebb is the danger, how wave period changes everything, and which reports to trust.
By Baseline Maps Team · July 25, 2026
Tutorials
How to Import & Migrate Your Waypoints Into Baseline Maps
Bringing your waypoints from onX, Gaia, or any GPS app into Baseline Maps takes about a minute. Export a GPX file, import it, preview, and you're done — nothing lost.
By Baseline Maps Team · June 30, 2026
Tutorials
The Baseline Maps River Gauge Widget for iPhone: Setup & Tips
Put live river flow on your iPhone home and lock screen. Here's how to add the Baseline Maps River Gauge widget, cycle between rivers, and switch flow and stage.
By Baseline Maps Team · June 30, 2026
Tutorials
Using Siri With Baseline Maps: Hands-Free River Checks & Waypoints
Baseline Maps works with Siri on iPhone. Ask what a river is running, get a rundown of all your rivers, or drop a waypoint — hands-free, even on a locked phone.
By Baseline Maps Team · June 30, 2026
Foraging
The Morel Soil Temperature Trigger: When and Where Morels Pop
Morels emerge on a soil-temperature trigger, not a calendar date. Here's the temperature range, the burn-scar bonus, and how to track soil temps where you forage.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Hunting · Mapping
What Is a GMU? A Hunter's Guide to Game Management Units
GMU — Game Management Unit — is how states divide hunting territory. Here's what they are, how seasons and tags map to them, and how to find the right unit for you.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Fishing · River Flows
What Is CFS in Fishing? A Plain-English Guide to Reading River Flow
CFS — cubic feet per second — is how rivers are measured. Here's what it means for anglers, what range is fishable, and how to read a USGS hydrograph at a glance.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Maps & Tech
What Is Hillshade on a Map? A Plain-English Guide for Outdoor Use
Hillshade is the soft 3D shading that makes terrain feel real on a flat map. Here's how it works, how to read it for hunting and hiking, and where it misleads you.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
The app behind the guides
Live river flows, tides, hunting units, land ownership, and forage maps for Washington, Oregon, and Idaho in one app.
Professional Edition $34.99 / year, first week free · or $7.99 / mo · cancel anytime
Behind the build
How Baseline gets made
Building
Keeping Baseline Alive: Why the Free Edition Is Ending
The last month brought more people to Baseline Maps than I expected. Here is what it costs to run, why the Free Edition is ending, and what members get.
By Casey Chamberlin · October 13, 2026
Community
From Beta to Launch: The 669 Founding Members Who Carried Us
From private beta in January 2026 to public launch in June, 669 founding members shaped Baseline Maps through the in-app feedback box. This is what they taught us.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Philosophy
An Outdoor App Without Leaderboards: Why We Don't Gamify
Streaks, badges, leaderboards, kudos: the standard engagement toolkit of fitness and social apps. We chose to leave all of it out of Baseline Maps. Here's why.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Building
Why We Built for iOS and Android from the First Day
Most indie outdoor apps launch iOS-only and add Android later. We did it both ways from day one. Here's why — and what it cost us.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Marketing
App Store Optimization for a Niche Outdoor App
What actually moved installs for Baseline Maps — and what didn't. ASO advice that's specific to outdoor apps, not generic SaaS marketing playbooks.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Philosophy
The Calm App Philosophy: Software You Don't Want to Open
Most consumer apps are designed to be irresistible. Baseline Maps is the opposite — useful, then invisible. The case for software that gets out of your way.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Philosophy
The Case for a Feedback Box Over a Roadmap Committee
Most companies decide what to ship through quarterly roadmap meetings. We decide through an in-app feedback box. Here's why a box beats a committee.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Community
The First 100 Users Came From One Instagram DM
Before paid acquisition, before any press, the early growth of Baseline Maps started with personal Instagram outreach and a single DM that snowballed.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Marketing
We Tried Google Ads for an Outdoor App. It Didn't Work.
A modest paid-ads experiment over a few months underperformed for our niche outdoor mapping app — here's what we learned, and why we turned it off.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Marketing
The Honest CAC Math for an Indie Outdoor App at $34.99 a Year
What it actually costs to acquire a subscriber for a $34.99-a-year outdoor app, and the LTV math that pushes a niche product toward community-first growth.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Building
How We Built Baseline Maps from a Frustrated Fishing Weekend
The origin story of Baseline Maps — what we couldn't find in any existing outdoor app, what we shipped first, and how a fishing tool became a three-mode platform.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Philosophy
How We Decide What to Ship Next (The Actual Process)
Not the slide-deck version — the real one. How a feature request becomes a shipped feature at Baseline Maps, including the ones we say no to.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Building
How We Keep Hunting and Fishing Regulations Current
State agencies publish 200-500 page rule books and change them mid-season. Here's how we keep every river and GMU in Baseline Maps tied to the right rules.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Philosophy
Why We Sell One Paid Edition (And Why Most Outdoor Apps Sell Three)
Most outdoor apps split features across Premium / Elite tiers. Baseline Maps sells one Professional Edition for every mode and state, with the first week free.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Community
What We Learned Reading a Week of In-App Feedback
We read every in-app feedback submission as one document instead of a stream — the patterns in what users actually ask for, and where the surprises lived.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Marketing
How a Reddit Post Outperformed Our Paid Ads
One unpaid Reddit comment in r/flyfishing brought in more genuine signups than our paid-ad experiment ever did. Why community trust beats broadcast for outdoor apps.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Building
Voice Memo to Production: How We Ship Features in Under Two Weeks
From a 45-second voice memo on a riverbank to a shipped feature in users' hands — the exact process that turns user requests into code in days, not quarters.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Community
Why We Credit Users by Name in the Development Queue
When a feature ships, we credit the user who asked for it by name. It feels like a small decision. It's actually the entire community model.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Marketing
Why We Don't Have a Marketing Team (And What We Do Instead)
Most app companies have a marketing team. We have a feedback box and an Instagram inbox. Here's why — and how we grow without one.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Building
Why We Obsess Over Offline Maps
Most outdoor apps treat offline maps as a tier feature. We treat them as the default. Here's why — and what it changes about how the app is built.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026
Community
How a Yakima Steelhead Guide Became Our Most Active Feature Requester
One Yakima guide turned into our most prolific feature requester. Many of his ideas shipped, some didn't, and the relationship taught us how to build software in public.
By Baseline Maps Team · May 25, 2026