Backpacker Magazine – February 2008

Backpacker's Readers' Choice Awards 2008

America's 100 Best Hikes–chosen by you.

by: The Backpacker Readers

Tags:
• Mount Rainier
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• Continental Divide Trail
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• Appalachian Trail
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• San Francisco
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• Portland
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• Grand Canyon
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• Adventures
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• Skills
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• Nature
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You've found the best wildlife in ...
Yellowstone 40%
Denali 14%
Rocky Mountain 11%
Glacier 7%
Yosemite 6%
Isle Royale 5%
Everglades 4%

Come winter, you don't hang up your boots, you get out even more. Here's where: OUTER BEND LOOP, BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK, TX BLACK MOUNTAIN CREST TRAIL, NC BEAR VALLEY TRAIL, POINT REYES NATIONAL SEASHORE, CA TURTLE MOUNTAIN STATE PARK, BOTTINEAU, ND VIRGIN FALLS POCKET WILDERNESS, MI

California

Top Contributor
Dave Miller
Newark, CA
Age: 44
Miles hiked per year: 120
Killer trip report: Pescadero Creek Loop, Portola Redwoods State Park, California. "This is only a half-hour away from where I live, but really far removed from the noisy Bay Area. The peace and seclusion among the giants is incredible–it's just like The Twilight Zone." Bonus: You might see a huge, trippy-yellow banana slug like Dave did (there's photographic proof in his online report).
Favorite multiday hike: The Lost Coast. "It's the type of trip that beats you up, but you look back and say, 'Wow, that was great!'"
Crazy encounter: "While hiking in the Sunol Wilderness, I was stalked and harassed by a cow for about a half-mile."
Dream trip: "Hike the entire John Muir Trail with my son."

Top 5 Downloads
California
1. Sierra High Route, CA What's better than the standard John Muir Trail? A greatest hits tour of the Sierra– like the JMT, only off-trail and mostly above treeline. For nearly 200 miles, that's exactly what the SHR delivers.
2. Pacific Crest Trail, Mexico to Canada
3. High Sierra Trail, Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks
4. Susie Lake via the PCT
5. PCT, Mt. Whitney to Sonora Pass

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