Backpacker Magazine – January 2011

Trip Finder: Southwest

Your favorite Southwest hikes—from dayhikes to weekenders to multiday trips.

by: Annette McGivney

Tags:
• Destinations
|
• Utah
|
• Arizona
|
• New mexico
|
• Texas
|

---

SLOT Peek-a-boo and Spooky Loop, UT
This four-mile Grand Staircase-Escalante scramble squeezes through redrock slots so narrow that “you have to take off your pack and turn sideways,” says Ryan Malavolta (right). Start at Dry Fork Wash trailhead and go up Peek-a-boo and down Spooky. ut.blm.gov/monument

PEAK Humphreys Trail, AZ
Hike through ponderosa pines to open ridges as you rise to the 12,633-foot summit of Humphreys Peak, an extinct volcano and highest point in Arizona. From the Snowbowl ski area, climb 4.5 miles (one way) to views of the Grand Canyon and Painted Desert.mass.gov/dcr/parks

CANYON Lighthouse Trail, TX
Palo Duro Canyon lies smack in the middle of the Lone Star State’s panhandle. The “Grand Canyon of Texas” is a 20-mile-wide, 800-foot-deep chasm cut by the Red River. Trek three miles (one way) to the giant stone pinnacle called the Lighthouse.

Subscribe to Backpacker magazine
Sign up for our free weekly e-newsletter