Mountains
The Granite State's crown jewel is an epicenter for alpine adventure, from peakbagging to ridgewalking to hut camping. Where to start? In the heart of the Whites, with beta from our map team. Trek across windswept plateaus, tag a handful of the range's 48 peaks above 4,000 feet, and get a taste of high-altitude tundra.
What off season? Bundle up and reap the benefits of colder weather in these snowy playgrounds.
Leave it to our seasoned map contributors to find solitude in America's most-visited park. This exclusive trip planner serves up routes guaranteed to get you off the tourist trail and into deep wilderness.
Hike our quieter insider's variation on this classic route.
Follow fern-lined trails to scramble up a rocky pinnacle.
Pass waterfalls, cross empty peaks, and visit monster-size trees.
String together the Appalachian, Benton MacKaye, and Mountains-to-Sea Trails for a 48-mile instant classic that hits the park's best views and backcountry campsites.
Hike to life-list hot spots without waiting in life-list lines. These under-the-radar trails deliver everything but the crowds.
Upgrade your winter fun at these 8 beginner-friendly, expert-ready spots.
Ten trails. Ten unmatched miles each. Get maximum bang for each boot step on hikes that our most-traveled contributors call their all-time favorites.
Hike these long trails in North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, and Florida, and paddle three days in the Everglades backcountry.
For guaranteed solitude in the park's southwest reaches, explore this quiet loop during the off-season.
Can you ever really have too much of a good thing? Once you've seen the biggest tree, largest glacier, and deepest canyon, nothing else compares.
Watch your step on Utah' Highline Trail. The nonstop views and rampant wildlife are distractingly spectacular. Plus: Gaze away on 9 more elevated hikes.
For sheltered scenery high above the trees, there's no better place than a fire tower. Try one of these editor-approved hikes to backcountry rooms with a view.
Hit the leaf jackpot on these classic footpaths.
Hike from forest floor to a rocky ridge linking twin summits in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Your favorite parks, weekend getaways, peak ascents, campsites, and more in the Southwest.
Hike from a wildlife-choked river valley to soaring mountain views.
Your favorite parks, weekend getaways, peak ascents, campsites, and more in the Appalachians.
Nine ways to see Vermont's Green Mountains
The undisputed local experts—you—choose the top parks, trails, campsites, and weekend getaways in the Northwest.
Few places serve up fierce, unpredictable winter weather quite like Mt. Washington, the 6,288-foot capstone of New Hampshire's White Mountains. Battle hurricane-force winds--and 20-plus feet of annual snowfall--while tackling the East's best mountaineering, or choose from hundreds of miles of snowy trails for a lower elevation romp.
See the Rockies' most iconic mountains.
Brave thick forest to reach rugged twin summits.
Tag a team of the East's most challenging peaks in the White Mountains.
Climb from sublime desert to pine forests and peaks with 100-mile views.
The perfect dozen: Embark on one of these 12 treks, and turn America's most iconic preserves into your own private paradise.
Find your hike on the country's highest footpath.
We've collected the best hikes, most amazing photos, and mind-blowing videos for the ultimate National Park planning center. Get inspired and get hiking now!
Smelling the flowers doesn't require slowing down your trek (though you might want to) through the explosion of wildflowers that cover the Great Smoky Mountains each year.
From the deep wooded hollows to the lofty Appalachian summits
prepare for rain (Clingmans Dome, the park's high point, averages 85 inches each year), humidity, rapidly varying weather conditions, and lots of creek crossings.
Here's what you'll need.
Pick the gear I can carry on a trip to determine how low one man can go.
You know that the big-name parks draw big-time crowds. But each of those outdoor icons has a lesser-known replacement that offers some of the same classic features and epic scenery–and you get it all to yourself.
With alpine views, hot springs, wildflowers and wildlife, these hikes in Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana offer the best of the Rockies.
Forget flying south. Learn the secrets of cold-weather survival from three well-adapted birds.
Got guts? Good. Now learn what skills you'll need to bag America's Little Everest—a traverse of New Hampshire's Presidential Range in Winter.
The system was rigged, says a former ranger. Here's how to beat it.
Hike with grizzlies in this remote northern corner of Alaska's greatest park.
America's first national park is a playground for grizzlies, wolves, moose, and hikers (not in that order).
Explore two ecosystems in this hinterland of moss-draped forests, ancient trees, and snowcapped peaks.
Trees, trees are everywhere, but sometimes there isn't a dry twig in sight.
Graze blueberry patches, explore swimming holes, and tag the South's high points on this sultry hike.
Send him out on a work trip. Let wilderness do the rest.
Drop into America's belly on a little-known hike that dips in and out of four different canyons, each blessed with gurgling spring water.
Climb classic Sierra passes, ogle granite monoliths, and camp above treeline in John Muir's second home.
Scramble up class III peaks and cross late summer snowfields on this strenuous but straightforward trip through Montana's big-mountain country.
The ultimate vacation in one of America's iconic parks requires the ultimate hiking plan: classic scenery, no crowds, and secret campsites. Here's how to spend a perfect week in Glacier, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Olympic, Denali, and the Great Smoky Mountains.
3-D hike videos, complete trip planner pdfs, our interactive ParkFinder tool, and more.
Our map team has been hard at work plotting the coolest hikes. Check out May's selections here.
Cozy huts, five-course meals, and world-class foliage highlight one family's fall trek.
Get ready to feel puny--and profoundly grateful--on three hikes through ancient forests.
Write your own ticket to new adventures with these 10 territory-expanding skills.
Push yourself on any of these challenging hikes
A downright goofy dome marks this highpoint.
Mellow temperatures, low water and autumn colors make for a perfect time in the Smokies
Vibrant colors and a ridge walk you'll never forget
Here is your chance to tag six summits in only 3 days.
Scenic ridges and some high White Mountain peaks abound on this great hike.
Can a place that sees 9 million visitors a year really have any surprises? You bet. We found three hikes full of unexpected history, scenery, and solitude.
With strong legs and an ambitious plan, you can see more wild country in 12 hours than some backpackers see in a week, and still make it home in time for dinner.
Our comprehensive guide to the best backpacking you can find in Tennessee.
Our comprehensive guide to the best backpacking you can find in New Hampshire.
Lines at backcountry outhouses. Hikers competing for tent sites. Is there any solitude left in New Hampshire's White Mountains? Lots of it, if you know where to go.
If land has a personality, then Vermont's 270-mile Long Trail is one moody, unpredictable way to hike through New England.
Sometimes walking "backward" is the only way to go in New Hampshire's White Mountains.
You can spend days exploring the Dry River Valley forest without seeing another soul, even if it sounds like you're being chased by a well-armed militia.
Guy Waterman died near the summit of Mount Lafayette, a peak in the White Mountains in northern New Hampshire, on February 6.
In mountains most hikers don't even know exist, the 150-mile Cohos Trail just waiting to carry you far from the crowds and on to Canada.
A hike up New Hampshire's Carter Dome has it all -- mountains, forests, water, views, solitude, and even a little challenge.
When the White Mountains' hot spots get too hot, there's always the Pilot Range.
Baldface Range's icy swimming holes and heights will get any hiker worked up.
Thrills and views by the minute on the Kinsman Ridge Trail.
