Happy Trails

50 Best Hikes in the World Every Adventurer Should Do in Their Lifetime

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15. Old Rag Mountain, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia (9 miles)

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Located within the borders of Washington, D.C. commuter-zone, the Old Rag is one of the more popular day-hikes in the southeast, with around 100,000 visitors per year. It’s also one of the most arduous and dangerous, mostly owing to a challenging rock scramble to the summit, and NPS search-and-rescue missions routinely pluck unprepared climbers off of the mountainside. The views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Piedmont are worth the risk. The Shenandoah is also the only major granite climbing area in the mid-Atlantic region, with over 100 established routes, some up to 100-feet in length and rated 5.7 and above. The best of the 5-star outings are Strawberry Fields (5.9+) and Bushwhack Crack (5.10c).

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16. Mt. Mitchell, North Carolina (11 miles)

This 6,684-foot peak, plopped down in the Black Mountains at the southern edge of the Blue Ridge chain, is the highest east of the Mississippi. From the Black Mountain Campground on the Toe River, the trail gains 3,600-feet in just over 5.5 miles, much of it in old-growth hardwood forest, including a particularly striking and dense stand of red spruce and Fraser fire. At the 4,000-foot mark, you’ll come to the Long Arm Ridge, which swings to-and-fro across the back of the mountain. An observation platform at the summit provides 360-degree panoramic views of the green-crested Appalachians.

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17. Charleston Peak National Scenic Trail, Nevada (15.4 miles)

Just 33-miles northwest of Las Vegas, this arduous loop in the Spring Mountains slices through a forest of ponderosa pine and aspen, climbs across the gently rising slopes of Mummy Mountain, and emerges onto a high ridge with spectacular views of Lee Canyon to the north. A series of switchbacks then traverses the limestone slopes of Charleston Peak, which is covered with bristlecone pine, and leads up to the summit. In the late spring or early summer, the upper portion of the trail may hold snow and ice, so crampons might be necessary.

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18. Red Creek Trail, Dolly Sods Wilderness, West Virginia (16.4 miles)

Arguably the most neglected outdoors state, West Virginia has some surprising natural wonders. The crown jewel is this 17,371-acre slice of the Monongahela National Forest in the eastern Alleghenies. Its tundra-like meadows, wind-etched granite rocks, heath barrens and flag-form red spruce forests are as close to a western landscape as you’ll find in the east. The Red Creek Trail bisects the southwest corner of the park, skirting a steep-walled canyon through the Red Creek drainage, then rising through the forest to Breathed Mountain, where you’ll emerge onto a plateau of blueberry bogs, huckleberry heaths, red cedar, sundew and reindeer moss. In addition to black bears and bobcats, you might also find live military ordinance—the Dolly Sods was a bombing range during WWII—so don’t touch the mortars.

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19. Tour du Mont Blanc, France, Italy and Switzerland (100 miles)

Europe’s most famous long-distance wilderness route, “the TMB” circles the Mont Blanc Massif in the northwestern Alps, traipsing through France, Italy and Switzerland in the process. Jagged rock peaks paint the skyline the entire way, from the village of Les Houches in the Swiss Chamonix valley, through Italy’s Mont Blanc range and the verdant, monumental Col des Fours in France, which may remind you of Wintervale in “Game of Thrones.” It’s a loop trail, so you can leave your luggage at your chalet in Les Houches and collect it on your return. And if you happen tire of sleeping bags and tent pads during the ten-day hike, you can find a soft bed, warm meal, and even cold beer at multiple dormitory-like “refuges” along the route.

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20. Big Sandy Trail, Wind River Range, Wyoming (8.5 miles)

The southernmost trailhead in the Wind River Range, Big Sandy starts in a meadow, quickly enters a forest of evergreens, gives way to stark hillsides of rust-colored boulders and scree, and deposits you at the Cirque of the Towers, a remarkable semicircle of sheer 12,000-foot granite spires, with the glacial basin of Lonesome Lake in the center of it all. The Cirque—each slab has an imposing name like War Bonnet, Warrior, Pylon, Block Tower, Wolfs Head and Lizard Head—is widely considered the best granite climbing in the U.S. It’s a popular base-camp for anyone heading further into the mountains. For optimum solitude, try for early June.

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21. Great Divide Trail, Alderson-Carthew Trail, Canada (12 miles)

One of the hardest long-distance hikes on the planet, the Great Divide Trail traces the Continental Divide for 750-miles between Alberta and British Columbia, piercing the heart of the Canadian Rockies. A relatively easy section but still a first-class jaunt is the trail’s first leg in the Waterton Lakes National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve that shares both a boundary with Montana’s Glacier National Park and the same astounding landscape: windswept mountains, sub-alpine forests, red rock canyons, and unspoiled prairies. The route gains about 900-feet of elevation as it seesaws up a steep forested slope to the Carthew Ridge, with commanding views of the lakes and mountains, and even Montana to the west.

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22. Horsehead Moor and Deepdale, Yorkshire Dales National Park, England (5.5 miles)

A collection of stunning river valleys in northern England, the Yorkshire Dales comprise some 700-square-miles of moorland, blanket bog, rolling hills, ancient stone walls, waterfalls, and unique limestone pavements that make for agreeable walking. A gentle loop of Horsehead Moor and Deepdale climbs an open, grassy slope to a remote hogback crest that’s essentially the geologic backbone of England. Before returning along the River Wharfe, you’ll get panoramic views of the Yorkshire countryside, including the famed Three Peaks of the Pennine Range: Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-y-ghent, each over 2,300-feet high.

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23. Anderson Pass, Denali National Park, Alaska (31.8 miles)

This weeklong, off-trail, experts-only classic leads straight into the middle of grizzly country and entails numerous, harrowing river crossings. “It’s certainly one of the more out-there backcountry hikes,” says John Waterman. “There’s no trail, for the most part you’re walking on tundra, and you’re totally isolated. ” Besides route-finding ability, knowledge of bear behavior is a must. “You’d better be on your game,” says Waterman. Although no hiker has ever been killed by a grizzly in Denali, encounters are common. The trail deposits you at the headwaters of the West Fork of Glacier Creek, where grizzlies frequently take their morning constitutionals.

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24. Grand Canyon, Rim-to-Rim, Arizona (23.9 miles)

The legendary rim-to-rim hike typically starts on the north side of the canyon, which is 1,000-feet higher than the south side. From the North Kaibab Trailhead, the track dips down into the belly of the canyon and rises up the other side, exiting out of either the Bright Angel or the South Rim Trail (the former is usually more crowded). A day-trip is conceivable, but most people take two or three days, camping at one of three canyon campgrounds. If you prefer a hot shower, make reservations at a South Rim lodge like El Tovar or Bright Angel, stay overnight, then return to the North Rim the following day. In-season, it’s predictably crowded, but deservedly so. Shoot for mid-week.

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25. Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail, Pennsylvania (70 miles)

One of the finest long-distance hikes in the lower 48 is located in Western Pennsylvania coal country. Running from the Youghiogheny River to the 1,000-foot Conemaugh Gorge near Johnstown, Laurel Highlands is locally celebrated for its extraordinary beauty—a mix of hardwood and conifer forests, cranberry bogs, and heath barrens on public and private land—and its varied, at times incredibly rugged terrain. The trail is blazed yellow about every 100-feet, and eight Adirondack-style shelters, situated every ten or so miles, come equipped with fresh water and tent pads.

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26. Castle Road Carriage Road, Shawangunk Ridge Trail, New York (8.5 miles)

Just a two-hour drive from New York City, in the village of New Paltz, is one of the most scenic day hikes on the eastern seaboard. Mostly known to climbers, the Shawangunk, or “Gunks,” is the easternmost ridge of the Appalachian Mountains. The hills are covered with old carriage roads that once connected the region’s homesteads and villages, and the broad, hard-packed routes make for excellent hiking. The Castle Road loop in the Minnewaska State Park Preserve includes dramatic cliff-side vistas of the Hudson Valley. At the 2,200-foot Castle Point, the park’s highest summit, you get a glimpse of Lake Awosting directly below and the Catskill Mountains to the west.

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27. Curry and Kesugi Ridges, Denali State Park, Alaska (35 miles)

“A little-known classic in the often overlooked Denali State Park,” according to John Waterman. “This is a local’s route, and I’ve never seen it on any lists.” It’s also the best way to see Denali from afar. The trail, which starts in thick forest and emerges onto a tundra ridge, essentially runs along the side of Kesugi Mountain, with a constant sightline of the entire Alaska Range. “You never lose sight of Denali in the distance,” says Waterman. “And you’re all alone.” Done right, it’s a three-to-four day trip. Plan on seeing moose, grizzly and black bears, caribou, and possibly even wolves.

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28. Canyon de Chelly, Navajo Nation, Arizona (15 miles)

Located on tribal land in eastern Arizona, Canyon de Chelly (pronounced de shay) is one of the longest continually inhabited places in North America, going back to about 500 AD. Its 1,000-foot sandstone walls, dotted with ancient Indian pictographs, hold some 2,700 prehistoric sites, including the ruins of ancient cliff-side villages. A few Navajo families still live here, farming and raising livestock, and you’ll need to hire a Navajo guide to access the canyon. An overnight hike to Spider Rock – a towering, 800-foot red rock monolith rising out of the sandy desert floor – at the nexus of Bat and Monument Canyons, is the defining feature of a landscape very few outsiders ever get to see.

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29. Batona Trail, Pine Barrens, New Jersey (49.5 miles)

There’s a George Carlin joke about New Jersey’s nickname: “The Garden State? Sure, if you’re growing smokestacks.” But once you get past the tollbooth-and-forsaken-industry corridor of northeast Jersey, the state reveals its natural charms. The Pine Barrens, a vast coastal wilderness of more than a million acres, contains one of the most beautiful and isolated hikes on the eastern seaboard. Because of its sandy, nutrient-poor soil, the area has remained largely untouched by the outside world. A three-day walk on the Batona Trail takes you through three state forests and to abandoned towns like Four Mile and Butler Place, and, as the name suggests, vast immaculate forests of loblolly, white, pitch, shortleaf, and Virginia pine.

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30. Teton Crest Trail, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming (40 miles)

The Cadillac Fleetwood of high-alpine trails. With an elevation of 10,338-feet, the entire Teton Range is right smack in your face. “You’re really among the mountains,” says mountaineer Jimmy Chin. “The trail takes you along the spine of the Tetons. You’re up high, but it’s flat so you can see everything. On one side is Idaho, on the other is Wyoming. It’s magical.” Chin recommends a south-to-north route, starting in Teton Pass and ending in Paintbrush Canyon, stopping at what are some of the best camping sites in the lower 48. “This is a bucket list item,” says Chin. “If you do just one high-alpine hike in the U.S., this should be it.”

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31. Angels Landing Trail, Zion National Park, Utah (10 miles)

An ambitious day-hike to the top of an iconic Zion rock formation that has “all of the views and challenge of Half Dome but without the congestion,” according to three-time Everest summiter Conrad Anker. “You feel like you’re on top of a really big spire.” The trail was carved out of the sandstone by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, and the effect is almost like sandpaper. “I’ll go up barefoot just to wear off calluses,” Anker says. A tradition after climbing Angels Landing, according to Anker, is to have a margarita at the Bit and Spur saloon in nearby Springdale.

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32. Kalalau Trail, Kauai, Hawaii (22 miles)

A perennial shoo-in for the World’s Most Beautiful-Dangerous Hike, the trail presents a stunning yet precarious gateway to one of the remotest parts of Kauai: Kalalau Beach. Situated on the Na Pali Coast (na pali means “the cliffs” in Hawaiian), the hike skirts 300-foot-cliffs that drop straight into the ocean, and it’s on terrain that’s quickly eroding in places – the trail can literally move beneath your feet, with rocks and trees coming loose in the soft soil. Mudslides aren’t uncommon, and some hikers have even fallen off, though no one has died (yet). It might sound like an episode of Lost, but the upside is you’re rewarded with an isolated beach campsite in Hawaii, which is hard to come by these days.

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33. Foothills Trail, South Carolina (80 miles)

“You wouldn’t think of South Carolina as having great backcountry hikes,” says thru-hiker Jennifer Pharr Davis. “But this one is dramatically, profoundly beautiful, and because it’s in South Carolina it’s still a well-kept secret.” A weeklong hike starts at the Ceasars Head State Park near the town of Cleveland and follows a broad escarpment along the South-North Carolina border, through landscape reminiscent of the Appalachian Trail, but without the swarms of backpackers. It also passes the tallest waterfalls in the southeast, including Whitewater and Laurel Fork falls, each more than 400-feet high. “It’s kind of the perfect hike,” says Pharr Davis. “Not too challenging but not boring. And you’re not going to see many people.”

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34. The Lakeshore Trail, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan (42.4 miles)

Hands-down Michigan’s most spectacular trail, and arguably the finest summertime hike in the Midwest. The aptly named route hugs the Lake Superior shoreline from Munising to Grand Marais in the Upper Peninsula, affording ample cliff-top vistas, waterfalls, white-sand beaches, and high rolling dunes. Rarely do you ever loose sight of the shore, and even more rarely do you encounter fellow travelers. Here’s something to know about the UP: Nobody lives there. We’re talking about one of God’s sub-contracted Edens practically vacuumed of people. Beaver, fox, mink, and black bear abound, and elk and moose aren’t uncommon. Nowadays, even the occasional wolf roams these woods.

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35. The Chilkoot Trail, Alaska (33 miles)

Of the 100,000 people who lit-out for the Klondike gold fields in the 1890s, less than 30,000 made it. Which speaks volumes about this tough, three-day trek through the Coast Mountains, once known as “the 33 meanest miles in the world” thanks to a series of deadly switchbacks and narrow traverses. Now part of a National Historic Park, the trail begins in the Alaskan ghost town of Dyea, slogs across several climatic zones— coastal rainforest, boreal forest, and high alpine range—and ends in Bennett, British Columbia, near the headwaters of the mighty Yukon River. Peak season is from June to August, and avalanche danger lingers into late May. Bear spray is a must.

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15. Old Rag Mountain, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia (9 miles)

16. Mt. Mitchell, North Carolina (11 miles)

17. Charleston Peak National Scenic Trail, Nevada (15.4 miles)

18. Red Creek Trail, Dolly Sods Wilderness, West Virginia (16.4 miles)

19. Tour du Mont Blanc, France, Italy and Switzerland (100 miles)

20. Big Sandy Trail, Wind River Range, Wyoming (8.5 miles)

21. Great Divide Trail, Alderson-Carthew Trail, Canada (12 miles)

22. Horsehead Moor and Deepdale, Yorkshire Dales National Park, England (5.5 miles)

23. Anderson Pass, Denali National Park, Alaska (31.8 miles)

24. Grand Canyon, Rim-to-Rim, Arizona (23.9 miles)

25. Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail, Pennsylvania (70 miles)

26. Castle Road Carriage Road, Shawangunk Ridge Trail, New York (8.5 miles)

27. Curry and Kesugi Ridges, Denali State Park, Alaska (35 miles)

28. Canyon de Chelly, Navajo Nation, Arizona (15 miles)

29. Batona Trail, Pine Barrens, New Jersey (49.5 miles)

30. Teton Crest Trail, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming (40 miles)

31. Angels Landing Trail, Zion National Park, Utah (10 miles)

32. Kalalau Trail, Kauai, Hawaii (22 miles)

33. Foothills Trail, South Carolina (80 miles)

34. The Lakeshore Trail, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan (42.4 miles)

35. The Chilkoot Trail, Alaska (33 miles)

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