| NATIONAL PARKS QUICKLINKS |
Backpacker Magazine – October 2009
The perfect metro-area trail: close, wild, uncrowded. Here are 10 major city options.
Phoenix | San Diego | San Francisco | Boston | New York | Philadelphia | Chicago | Seattle | Los Angeles | Austin
San Diego, CA
See SoCal the way it was.
Think this city by the sea is all beach? Think again. According to the Trust for Public Land, it has one of the highest park-land-per-capita rates in the country (36.2 acres per 1,000 residents). It's easy to find your slice. In town: Balboa Park's Trail #5 makes a 6.6-mile loop that passes through Palm Canyon, an oasis fed by an underground stream (balboapark.org). Close to town: Climb San Diego's 1,591-foot high point on the Cowles Mountain Trail (three miles round-trip). It's in Mission Trails Park, eight miles northeast of town. mtrp.org

Editors' Choice 2013
Boost Your Apps
Carry the Best Maps
FREE Rocky Mountain Trip Planner
Survival Skills 101 • Eat Better
READERS COMMENTS
I think you forgot Portland.
that's the very area i like to hike when i'm in nyc after some appalachian tr hiking. get to nyc a day before your departure flight, the hostel's only a half mile from the park. a few blocks from the subway. perfect.
ADD A COMMENT