| NATIONAL PARKS QUICKLINKS |
Easy Epics: 17 Drive-up Campsites a Backpacker Will Love
Combine the best of car camping (spacious tents, comfy chairs, frosty margaritas!) and the best of backpacking (deep solitude, outrageous scenery, swimming holes!) with these 17 accessible hideaways.
America's Best Backcountry Ski Tours
Upgrade your winter fun at these 8 beginner-friendly, expert-ready spots.
Rip & Go: Stratton Loop - Lye Brook Wilderness, VT
Climb to an expansive view of green rollers that inspired two long trails.
Local Hikes: Northeast
Head out on one of these trails in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.
Right Place, Perfect Time
See Yosemite's river of ice, witness there-and-gone meteor showers in Hawaii, and mark your calendar for eight more fleeting natural wonders.
Get Higher: Best Firetower 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.
Right Place, Perfect Time: Showiest Fall Colors
Hit the leaf jackpot on these classic footpaths.
Local Hikes: Northeast
Paddle to Maryland's Assateague Island; pack an ice axe for the Presidentials.
Readers' Choice 2011: America's Best Hikes
The undisputed local experts—you—chose the top parks, trails, campsites, and weekend getaways from Alaska to Alabama.
Trip Finder: Northeast
Your favorite Northeast hikes—from dayhikes to weekenders to multiday trips.
Readers' Choice: Northeast
Your favorite parks, weekend getaways, peak ascents, campsites, and more in the Northeast.
Our Backyard: Green Mountains
Nine ways to see Vermont's Green Mountains
Long Trail Hikes
Traverse the first long trail in Vermont.
Best. Hikes. Ever.
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.
Local Hikes: Burlington, VT
The best hikes near Burlington.
Local Hikes: Northeast
The best hikes, as recommended by the best hiking clubs in the Northeast.
Local Hikes: New Hikes Near You
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.
Local Hikes: Northeast
Hike across a state, gain the country's best foliage view, and top alpine balds. (Click linked trips for GPS waypoints, photos, and more.)
Zones: Forests
Hike amongst the trees in these Washington, California, and Vermont hikes.
Forest: Monroe Skyline, VT
This 15-mile section of the Long Trail traces the spine of Vermont's Green Mountains.
America's Worst Trail: A Love Story
Is the reward always equal to the effort? Uh...maybe, says this bloodied, bruised, and bandaged reader.
Northeast Readers' Choice Hikes
A state high point, killer foliage, and a hike loaded with waterfalls
Print & Go Weekend Trip Planners
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.
Your Favorite Places: Readers' Choice Trips 2010
Who knows the secret trails and must-do classics in every corner of the country? Our teams of regional experts, recruited from the ranks of readers like you. Here are their top hikes from coast to coast.
Readers' Choice Northeast Hikes: Ricketts Glen State Park, PA
22 falls in a one day. Need we say more?
Readers' Choice Northeast Hikes: Panther Gorge and Mt. Marcy, Adirondack Park, NY
Bag New York's high point and two other big peaks.
Readers' Choice Northeast Hikes: Bernard Mountain, Acadia National Park, ME
Hike to a crowd-free view of the ocean.
Readers' Choice Northeast Hikes: Vermont's Green Mountains Foliage
Ogle fiery color in the Green Mountains.
Readers' Choice Northeast Hikes: Maine's 100-Mile Wilderness
Explore the Appalachian Trail's wildest stretch.
Readers' Choice Northeast Hikes: Burroughs Range Loop, Catskill Mountain Preserve, NY
Scramble to the Catskills' highest peaks.
America's Scariest Trails: Vanished
Lost? Murdered? When the wilderness swallows people without a trace, who's to say what happened?
Free Maps! Our Contributors Favorite Local Hikes
Online or via your cellphone these trips are ready to be downloaded and explored.
America's Best Dayhikes
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.
Best Damn Weekend Ever: Vermont's Bourn Pond-Stratton Pond Loop
Hike this burly wonder to find out what inspired the Appalachian and Long Trail's founders.
Master the Steeps: High-Angle Hiking Trails
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.
The Works: Hike Vermont's Long Trail
Sample the best section of the country's first thru-hike.
Top 3 Fire Tower Hikes
Want a backcountry room with a view? Climb these lookouts from Vermont to Washington.
Top 3: Ridge Hikes
Live life on the edge as your dayhike three vertiginous ridges in Arizona, Vermont, and Colorado.
Homeland Insecurity: Vermont's Long Trail
The Long Trail offers steep climbs and solitude-and a whiff of border intrigue.
Best Backpacking In Vermont
Our comprehensive guide to the best backpacking you can find in Vermont.
Vermont's Many-Faced Long Trail
If land has a personality, then Vermont's 270-mile Long Trail is one moody, unpredictable way to hike through New England.
Hiking Vermont's Long Trail
The challenge of Vermont's Long Trail will cure what ails you.
Splendor In Vermont's Green Mountains
Enjoy Vermont's autumn colors while you can -- they disappear all too quickly, and the Green Mountains recover their namesake hue in the spring.
Long Trail Haute Route
Burnt Rock Mountain provides great views along Vermont's Long Trail.
