California road trips cover a remarkable range of terrain, from the curves of Highway 1 to the desert roads of Death Valley and the mountain passes around Lake Tahoe. The scenery is the reason to go, but the gadgets you pack decide whether you can navigate, stay charged, and bring the views home with you. So what tech should you pack for a California road trip?

Pack offline maps, a car charger and power bank, a dash cam, a camera with spare memory cards, and a paper map. Many parks, including Death Valley, have little or no cell service.

The right kit depends on your route, though. A coastal drive between cities asks for different gear than a loop through the desert or the Sierra Nevada, and a few items that seem optional at home become essential once you’re hours from the nearest town.

Download Offline Maps Before You Leave

Cell coverage across rural California is patchy, and in some of its most famous places it’s close to nonexistent. The National Park Service warns that cell phones do not work in most areas of Death Valley and stretches of Big Sur, the eastern Sierra and the desert parks can be similarly unreliable.

Before setting off, download offline maps for your entire route in Google Maps or Apple Maps, and save park information in the free NPS app, which can store content for offline use. A paper road map is worth keeping in the glove box as well. GPS can occasionally route drivers onto unsuitable roads in remote areas, and a paper map never runs out of battery.

Keep Everything Charged on the Road

Long days of navigation, photos, and music drain phones quickly. A car charger with at least two USB-C ports keeps phones topped up while driving, and a portable power bank covers hikes, beach stops and evenings at campsites without power.

If you’re traveling with a laptop or camera that charges over USB-C, a higher-wattage car charger or power bank lets you charge everything from one place. Packing a spare cable or two is cheap insurance against the one that inevitably gets lost under a seat.

Add a Dash Cam for Long Highway Days

A dash cam is one of the most underrated road trip gadgets. It records the drive continuously, which provides a record if there’s a fender bender in an unfamiliar city, and it doubles as an effortless way to capture scenic stretches like the Pacific Coast Highway without anyone holding a phone.

Most dash cams record to microSD cards and loop over old footage when the card is full. According to Nextbase, a 32GB card holds roughly 280 minutes of 1080p footage from a front camera, so if a stretch of road is worth keeping, save the clip at the end of the day before it’s overwritten.

Bring Spare Memory Cards for Cameras

Action cameras, travel cameras and dash cams all depend on memory cards, and a road trip can fill them faster than expected. A few spare cards let you swap in a fresh one each day and keep the full ones safely in your bag, so a lost camera doesn’t mean a lost trip.

It’s worth buying cards before you leave, since options in small towns and park gift shops can be limited. Picking up a multi-pack or bulk set of 32GB microSD cards from a specialist storage retailer ensures you have fresh cards for your dash cam, action camera, and travel companions. For 4K video, look for cards rated U3 or V30.

If you’re bringing a drone, check the rules carefully. Launching or landing drones is prohibited in national parks, including Yosemite, Death Valley and Joshua Tree, so save aerial shots for locations where flying is permitted.

Mount Your Phone and Check Road Conditions

California law requires drivers to use their phones hands-free, so a sturdy phone mount is essential if your phone is doing the navigating. Choose one that sits low on the dashboard or windshield where it won’t block your view of the road, and set your route before you pull away.

Road conditions change quickly in the mountains. Winter storms can bring chain controls on routes through the Sierra Nevada, including roads around Lake Tahoe and Yosemite, while summer can bring wildfire-related closures. Caltrans’s QuickMap app and website show current closures, chain controls and traffic, and they’re worth checking each morning before you set off. Many state and national park websites also post road and weather alerts, which matter most on remote routes where there’s no signal to check once you’re underway.

Protect Your Gear From the Heat

California’s inland heat is serious, especially in summer. The National Park Service advises Death Valley visitors to stay close to air conditioning and avoid low-elevation hiking after 10 a.m. in hot weather, and the same caution applies to electronics.

Phones, cameras, power banks and memory cards can all overheat if left in a parked car in direct sun. Store gear in a shaded bag or a cooler without ice, keep devices out of the windshield area when parked, and let overheated phones cool down before charging them.

Load Up the Night Before

The night before you set off, download your offline maps, charge every device and power bank, and format fresh memory cards in the cameras you’ll be using. Starting the drive fully prepared means the only thing you need to think about is the road ahead.