Readers' Choice: Northeast
Your favorite parks, weekend getaways, peak ascents, campsites, and more in the Northeast.
Stories
Stories
Spend your life on the trail, and one thing’s for sure: You’ll come away with plenty of hiking stories. From survival stories to personal essays to stories to adventure tales from the Pacific Crest Trail and Appalachian Trail, this is where you’ll find backpacker’s favorite yarns.
Spend your life on the trail, and one thing’s for sure: You’ll come away with plenty of hiking stories. From survival stories to personal essays to stories to adventure tales from the Pacific Crest Trail and Appalachian Trail, this is where you’ll find backpacker’s favorite yarns.
Our Backyard: Chequamegon National Forest, WI
READERS' CHOICE GREAT LAKES HOME
Our Backyard: Green Mountains
Nine ways to see Vermont's Green Mountains
Readers' Choice: Rockies
Your favorite parks, weekend getaways, peak ascents, campsites, and more in the Rockies.
Trip Finder: Rockies
Your favorite Rockies hikes—from dayhikes to weekenders to multiday trips.
Our Backyard: Glacier National Park
Trek through grizzly terrain in Glacier National Park.
The Last Best Place
More than three decades ago, a tiny band of California hikers discovered a magical valley in the Sierra Nevada. They possessed a rough map, but told no one. Now, the truth comes out.
Readers' Choice: Northwest
The undisputed local experts—you—choose the top parks, trails, campsites, and weekend getaways in the Northwest.
Readers' Choice: Alaska
The undisputed local experts—you—choose the top parks, trails, campsites, and weekend getaways in Alaska.
Best Winter Trips: 10th Mountain Division Huts, Colorado
Get backcountry spoils--snorkel-deep pow on remote Rockies peaks--with frontcountry comforts (warm fire and hot toddies, anyone?) in this famed hut system. More than 350 miles of trails wind through prime winter terrain, connecting the 31 full-service cabins.
Hike New York’s Northville Placid Trail, 130 Miles Through The Adirondacks
Explore the Adirondack's valleys along New York's Northville Placid Trail, the most historic long-distance trail you've never heard of.
Best Hikes Ever: Willow Gulch, UT
Explore resurrected sandstone slots.
Best Hikes Ever: Olympic Traverse, WA
Go from rainforest to glaciers.
Best Hikes Ever: Redwood Creek Trail, CA
Feeling small among the world's tallest trees.
Wyoming Hikes
Go high and wide in Wyoming's untamed range.
Long Trail Hikes
Traverse the first long trail in Vermont.
Best Hikes Ever: Bucking Mule Falls Trail, WY
Watch a waterfall cascade from the sky.
Best Hikes Ever: Southern Traverse, AK
Tackle an epic adventure in the far north.
Best Hikes Ever: Wonderland Trail, WA
Circumnavigate the West's most majestic mountain.
Best Hikes Ever: North Vista Trail, CO
Aim upward for majestic views over an ancient canyon.
Best Hikes Ever: Ben Avery Trail, AZ
Trek a desert landscape under a purple sun.
Best Hikes Ever: Gospel Hump Loop Trail, ID
Find private valleys, mountain passes, and riverside campsites.
Best Hikes Ever: Duffer Peak Trail, NV
Ascend a remote summit pyramid far away from civilization.
Best Hikes Ever: Jenkins Mountain Trail, NY
Skirt lakes to soaring Â’Daks views.
Best Hikes Ever: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, AK
Find deep solitude where the continent crashes into a frigid ocean.
Best Hikes Ever: Falls Hollow Trail, VA
Hike through waterfall spray to a rarely summited grassy bald.
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.
Best Hikes Ever: Grand Island Loop, MI
Hike along bluffs and fern forests in total solitude on Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Best Hikes Ever: Zion Narrows, UT
Sluice through towering walls of sandstone in Utah's Zion National Park.
Best Hikes Ever: Mt. Cabot Loop, NH
Bag a little-known triple crown in New England's northern woods.
Best Hikes Ever: Prairie Trail, ND
Weave around grassy meadows and mirror lakes.
Best Hikes Ever: Turkey Trail, KS
Snag views of swaying prairie grass stretching to the horizon.
Best Hikes Ever: Burr Oak State Park, OH
Traverse rolling hills to star-gazing meadows.
Best Hikes Ever: The Needles Traverse, CO
Forge your own route through the Rockies' most rugged corner.
Best Hikes Ever: Denali, AK
Pick your pilgrimage through the backcountry Holy Land: Mt Eielson Loop or Kesugi Ridge.
Best Hikes Ever: Elk Trail, PA
Track through dense forests ringing with bugling.
Best Hikes Ever: Balsam Cap and Friday Mountain, NY
Brave thick forest to reach rugged twin summits.
Best Hikes Ever: Sandpiper Trail, SC
Emerge from crane-crossed coastal grasslands to pristine beaches.
Best Hikes Ever: Escalante Route, AZ
Plumb the wild depths of the Big Ditch.
Best Hikes Ever: Teton Crest Trail, WY
Traverse the nation's most photogenic range on the Teton Crest Trail.
Reader Leader Contest Winner!
After sifting through scores of submissions, we've chosen a reader who will be an official BACKPACKER field scout.
Prof. Hike: Don't Get Caught in the Dark
How to avoid an unplanned night hike and what to do if it happens anyway
The Peak: Mt. Marcy, Adirondacks, NY
Take the scenic--and sporting--route to New York's highest summit.
Natural Wonders: Hells Canyon, Bighorn Sheep, and Longleaf Pines
See North America's deepest river gorge, the west's most violent mating Display, and the Southeast's last longleaf pines.
Natural Wonders: Longleaf Pines, GA
Walk beneath trees that predate the Revolutionary War.
Natural Wonders: Sparring Bighorn Sheep
Witness bighorn rams' skull-bashing attempts to win a date.
Natural Wonders: Hells Canyon, OR/ID
Hike into North America's deepest river gorge--a canyon that could hold five stacked Sears Towers.
Top 3 Rainy Season Hikes: Neshannock Creek, PA
Cast a fly to land lunker brown trout.
Top 3 Rainy Season Hikes: Emerald Pools, UT
Explore Gushing, Rain-fed waterfalls.
Top 3 Rainy Season Hikes: Mill Creek, CA
Rains summon salmon and slugs.
Top 3: Rainy Season Hikes
Make the best of fall storms on trails that improve with soggy weather.
50-Mile Thru-Hikes: The Press Traverse, WA
Cross the Olympic Range on a forgotten explorers' path.
50-Mile Thru-Hikes: Middle Fork Trail, NM
Trek along–and in–the Gila River.
50-Mile Thru-Hikes: Foothills Trail, SC
See bears, gorges, and waterfalls on this 77-mile South Carolina hike.
50-Mile Thru-Hikes: Resurrection Pass Trail, AK
This 39-mile Alaska hike offers big scenery without a bush plane.
50-Mile Thru-Hikes: Knobstone Trail, IN
Climb high (really!) in the Midwest.
50-Mile Thru-Hikes: Greenstone Ridge, MN
Traverse a seldom-hiked national park.
High Sierra Trail, Ca: 50-Mile Thru-Hikes
Go straight to the top in the Range of Light.
50-Mile Thru-Hikes: Toiyabe Crest Trail, NV
Cross Nevada's loftiest range in 6-7 days.
50-Mile Thru-Hikes: Loyalsock Trail, Pennsylvania
A 59-mile "long trail" through Pennsylvania.
October 2010 Table of Contents
Check out Katie Herrel's author page.
Local Hikes: Knoxville, TN
The best hikes near Knoxville, TN.
Local Hikes: Spokane, WA
The best hikes near Spokane.
Local Hikes: Portland, OR
The best hikes near Portland.
Local Hikes: Anchorage, AK
The best hikes near Anchorage.
Local Hikes: Boise, ID
The best hikes near Boise.
Local Hikes: Portland, ME
The best hikes near Portland, ME.
Local Hikes: Rochester, NY
The best hikes near Rochester.
Local Hikes: Burlington, VT
The best hikes near Burlington.
Local Hikes: Philadelphia, PA
The best hikes near Philly.
Local Hikes: Manchester, NH
The best hikes near Manchester.
Local Hikes: Boston, MA
The best hikes near Boston.
Local Hikes: Pittsburgh, PA
The best hikes near Pittsburgh.
Local Hikes: Albany, NY
The best hikes near Albany.
Local Hikes: New York City, NY
The best hikes near New York, as selected by the Big Apple's best hiking clubs.
The Best Hikes Near You
Clear the schedule for next Saturday (and the rest of the year). We partnered with regional hiking clubs in 50 cities to bring you the country's top 121 local trails.
The Peak: Triple Divide Peak, Glacier NP
In Glacier National Park, summit a mountain that feeds three oceans.
Natural Wonders: Hawk Mountain Sanctuary
Watch 10,000 birds take wing daily.
Natural Wonders: Pando Aspen Colony, UT
Meander through a sprawling forest of clones.
Natural Wonders: Giant Aspens, Devil's Tower, and Hawk Heaven
Visit the world's largest aspen colony, the Plains' highest skyscraper, and a raptor super-flyaway.