Wyoming
Soak in a New Mexico hot spring, spot wintering bighorn sheep in the Winds, hike to a lost California oasis, and more.
Your region's go-now spring guide: Scramble to Salado Indian cliff dwellings in Arizona, spot bighorn sheep in Wyoming, and more.
Our trail scouts' top local hikes
Hike to life-list hot spots without waiting in life-list lines. These under-the-radar trails deliver everything but the crowds.
Circle a glacial lake, see a waterfall, and explore a forgotten trail.
Sleep in a lake-dotted basin and scale an 11,000-foot peak.
Take a grand tour of the Tetons on a six-day trek past pinnacled peaks, wildflower meadows, and secluded lakes.
Our map scouts scaled 13,000-foot peaks, trekked to hidden lakes, and explored glacier-carved canyons to bring you our 21 favorite routes in America's most vertiginous range.
Empty White Mountain summits. Tourist-free Yellowstone geysers. Rarely hiked Yosemite ridges. Rangers, guidebook writers, outfitters, and ultra-hikers dish their favorite routes for the first time.
Park your tent in one of these 10 spots, and you'll be happy in the morning. Guaranteed.
More than 150 of you entered our contest to become a BACKPACKER field scout. Meet the winners.
Backpack to a local ranger's favorite mountain getaway.
Scramble on red rock, camp at alpine lakes, cross a high pass, explore a trailless moonscape, and bushwhack to a peak.
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.
We've picked the top 10 miles of North America's 10 most memorable hikes. Find your way to wilderness nirvana with these map and planning guides.
Discover a pocket of wildlife beyond Yellowstone's borders.
Wade through wildflowers, listen to wolves, and escape the crowded trade routes in this secluded corner of the park.
Go ahead, look again. And again. These images are worth a third, fourth, and then a tenth gaze.
A forgotten explorer's route leads to off-trail, high-peak adventure and bona fide solitude.
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.
Hike these long trails in Montana, Idaho, Arizona, and Colorado, and raft an eight-mile section of the Arkansas River.
The only thing better than enjoying the life-list scenery in the country's premier national parks? Getting that same scenery, minus the crowds. Find it in these 10 backcountry hotspots, along with no-hassle permits, choice campsites aplenty, and solitude to match the world-class terrain.
The undisputed local experts—you—chose the top parks, trails, campsites, and weekend getaways from Alaska to Alabama.
Your favorite parks, weekend getaways, peak ascents, campsites, and more in the Rockies.
Your favorite Rockies hikes—from dayhikes to weekenders to multiday trips.
We traveled to Fjordland and discovered that nothing compares to skiing glacier-clad mountains above deep-water fjords. Plus: 20 winter adventures, from California to New York.
Go high and wide in Wyoming's untamed range.
Watch a waterfall cascade from the sky.
We've covered 245,591 miles of trails in our 37-year history. Here are our 20 all-time favorite trips, plus—shocking!—20 routes we never covered.
Traverse the nation's most photogenic range on the Teton Crest Trail.
The best hikes near Laramie, WY.
The best local hikes in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Montana.
Marvel at America's first national monument.
Visit the world's largest aspen colony, the Plains' highest skyscraper, and a raptor super-flyaway.
Experience the rugged side of Yellowstone on this two-day, 23.1-mile backpack. You'll track past steaming creeks and old-growth lodgepole on
the way to a campsite near Heart Lake's rocky shoreline. On day two, rise early for the 2,800-foot climb to Mt. Sheridan's 10,308-foot crown.
Free Print & Go PDFs give you turn-by-turn trail instructions and photos embedded on a usable topo map. Also: Gear checklists, driving directions, and geo-references for finding the nearest campground, restaurant, gas station, and grocery store.
See snaggly summits and hook trout galore on a high-alpine trek.
What crowds? Lose yourself in the Lamar Valley on this weeklong hike.
Rise above the crowds and earn solo views of elk, wildflowers, and summit sunsets.
The perfect dozen: Embark on one of these 12 treks, and turn America's most iconic preserves into your own private paradise.
Discover the world's tallest geyser, North America's smallest bird, and the country's best shade tree on these three treks.
Spot a grizzly, basecamp amid Fourteeners, and relax in secluded hot springs. (Click linked trips for GPS waypoints, photos, and more.)
Our army of reader-reader scouts mapped 59 local hikes from South Carolina to Northern California. See their favorites, then learn how to download tracklogs and waypoints.
Disappear into Yellowstone's forgotten peaks. Bag Colorado's most exciting Fourteener. Hike Utah's unknown long trail Our field editors pick 24 epics for your Rockies life list.
Hike to the heart of the Winds.
Find solitude with this surf-and-turf trip.
Who ever said out of sight, out of mind was certainly not referring to the wealth of wildlife that are making some big noise in Thorofare Valley.
From camping with wolves to fly-fishing smarts this insider's guide has you covered.
Disappear into Yellowstone's secret northern fringe, where you'll find a rejuvenated landscape and total solitude (except for the bison and grizzlies).
Pack up your brood for a day in the outdoors with these kid-friendly trails.
Backpacker.com assistant editor Ted Alvarez hits the west side of the Tetons in this photo gallery report.
You won't find bottlenecks on these untrammeled peaks.
Ten perfect summits for your next group hike
From dawn-to-dusk epics in Utah canyons to lazy-picnic blueberry strolls in Maine–plus hikes to peaks, redwoods, hot springs, beaches, and more–here are 100 ways to spend a perfect day on the trail.
A stunning new hike—plus two thrilling classics—in the Rockies' top spot for big backpacking adventures.
First, check out our tips for healthy hiking on steep terrain in the May 2009 issue then, put them to the test on one of our favorite high-angle trails from California to North Carolina.
Locals get to enjoy what out-of-towners dream about–mountain-ringed horizons, alpine lakes, and bluebird skies that make these Rocky Mountain states the pinnacle of outdoor recreation.
Superheated water sprays from Yellowstone ground.
Pack snowshoes for these nine epic treks to snowy solitude in the Pacific Northwest, Rockies, and Northeast.
A staged photo op in the Tetons results in a near-crushing.
The most remote spot in the Lower 48 is inside Yellowstone National Park. It's also the goal of our correspondent. What he encounters–and what it says about the solitude backpackers treasure–will surprise you. PLUS: See more of his photos and read a Q&A.
As conservationists and energy developers fight over Wyoming's Red Desert, one thing is certain: There's no time like the present to hike through its unreal geography.
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.
Explore big skies and pristine lakes in the Medicine Bows.
Nine ways to get your cascade fix from Tennessee to Montana.
In "Destination Nowhere" (September 2008), Mark Jenkins explores the most remote wilderness location in the continental United States–a top-secret spot in Yellowstone. See his trip photos and read an interview with Jenkins where he discusses the assignment.
Head to one of the last truly wild places in the Lower 48: Wyoming's Red Desert. Read the story, follow our author on the trail in our video report, see more photos of the journey in a gallery of outtakes, and download the GPS Track.
From the West Coast to the Rocky Mountains to New England, we've got nine epic ridgewalks just for you.
You won't waste a minute with our only-the-highlights hiking and climbing guide to the West's archetypal range. From the loftiest summits to the loneliest cross-country routes, this seven-day sampler visits every type of Tetons treasure-and then some.
Trek the best spring blooms from the Ozarks to the Olympics with these two, three, and four day treks.
We sent 209 readers out to GPS the Continental Divide Trail, the biggest, baddest, long-distance path of them all. They brought back the makings of the first authoritative map of this American classic. Here, read the Backpacker Blog on the project, and view three exclusive on-the-trail video.
Want to hike visit Yellowstone in winter? Follow our guide to get all the winter highlights.
Hit the wilderness in search of beasts big and small.
From Florida to Wyoming, track wild horses for four hours or 10 days.
Whether you are after fishing holes or skinny-dipping, Backpacker tracked down the best campsites in the country
Hiker Gerald Holzer recounts a 2005 grizzly attack in Yellowstone.
Pick your poison with three epic adventures in Yellowstone: camping, canoeing, and ski touring
Hike a historic long path through Yellowstone--if you're lucky enough to find it.
Classic hike-in spots in Wyoming, South Carolina, and Oregon let you ditch the trail mix for pan-fried fish.
Push yourself on any of these challenging hikes
The longest and wildest approach in the bunch
Delve into the Shoshone National Forest on the North Fork Trail
Use your backpacking skills at the best surfing, climbing, trail running, and even paragliding spots
This summit offers the finest view anywhere of the Grand and surrouding peaks.
Deep in Wyoming's Wind River Range, an accident with a sliding boulder makes a hiker confront his life, his fate, and his faith in God.
Haystack Mountain offers a sweet climb in Wyoming's remote Wind River Range.
This spire deep in Wyoming's Wind River Range serves as the climbing pinnacle of the Cirque of the Towers.
Our comprehensive guide to the best backpacking you can find in Wyoming.
It's the easiest hiking on Earth, and you get to sleep with buffalo, listen to coyotes sing, and bask in quiet so deep you can hear the grasslands growing. Welcome to the prairie.
If you think the last truly wild, unexplored land is in Canada or Alaska, you haven't been to Wyoming's Absaroka range.
Some people head to Wyoming to summit the Tetons. But outdoor legend Paul Petzoldt had a better idea: Create a route for foot travelers along the spine of the great range.
Wyoming's Medicine Bow National Forest is just what the hiker ordered.
Why huff and puff to get to an isolated campsite? Simply grab a paddle, then let the current carry you to a secluded riverside trailhead.
Montana and Wyoming's incredibly wild and beautiful Absaroka needs your help.
In the Wind Rivers range, you can hike for days without seeing another soul, which is why it brings a pair of brothers back again and again.
At a campsite along the Snake River, the bugling goes on night and day.
If you think autumn is simply a time to rake leaves, then you need to read our guide to the best of the fall season.
Twelve trails that'll chew you up, spit you out, and have you begging for more.
Here's how to find the best of Wyoming's expansive Bighorn range.
