Best Hikes in the US!

So I've been compiling a list over the last year of all the classic day hikes and backpacking trips in the US. I have no idea why I do these things...maybe to get me excited about retirement in 40 years?

Here is what I came up with for the "best hikes" in each state. There are about 750 hikes listed so far:

The Best Hikes in the US (NOTE: Link is no longer active - see response #26)

The list is by no means perfect. I'm certain there are dozens of mistakes in respect to total mileage and land managers. Almost all of the information was found in guidebooks (some old), magazines, and on websites and blogs. I've only personally hiked about 75 of them. Also, I must stress that there are literally tens of thousands of great trails across the country that I have not listed. Also, I must say that some states have absolutely phenominal off-trail hiking that I have intentionally excluded. My list is really only established trails or trails with relatively short and easy-to-follow off-trail sections. Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, California, Alaska and Idaho are prime examples of states that have a significant variety of legendary off-trail routes. My list also excludes anything over Class III in difficulty and also excludes anything that would involve using crampons and/or an ice ax in the summer.

The purpose of this list is merely to help myself and others pick the creme-de-la-creme of hikes across the US since time is often so short while traveling. If you do notice any glaring omissions from the list, please let me know!

Cheers!

Great list! What an effort. Why not leave it up? It could be a dynamic list as you and others experience some of these places.

For example.

In Maine, the Traveler Loop in Baxter Park has become a favored hike. I haven't hiked it yet but plan to in August.

In Massachusetts, Walden Pond is way overrated in my estimation. I'd take anything in the Blue Hills over it.

In Wyoming, Bunsen Peak and Avalanche Peak in Yellowstone are worthy of mention. Hanging Canyon in Grand Teton NP is also a good hike and leads to a possible scramble up a significant peak near but so far from The Grand; the trail is not noted in many guides but it is a sweet steep three miles up which you can extend on your own.

I think the mileage for the Florida Trail is high, though the trail does meander quite a bit and splits in Central Forida posing the possibility of a deep spiritual dilemma as to which path to take ... do you take the one less traveled and risk missing what everyone else saw the other way, or ...

Hey, retirement will be here before you know it but don't wait to tackle this list!

Stan said:

Great list! What an effort. Why not leave it up? It could be a dynamic list as you and others experience some of these places...

Click to expand...

I agree with Stan. Leave it up and let people chip in. I'll add one for Montana...Sky Rim Trail in Yellowstone.

You put in alot of work on it.

Am curious as to why you didn't include in WA peaks like Mt St Helens, Mt Adams or Mt Rainier? Rainier might be a bit over the top, but Helens and Adams are day hikes.

Also in CA - #43 - San J. via C2C - it's 11 miles from the Museum to the tram, and depending upon the route, either 3 or 5 more from the tram to the summit.

Also, in OR - #34 - South Sister is 10 miles RT.

Wow, what a list. Highly exhaustive.

Best trail I ever hiked; Goat Trail in the Wrangell Mtns of Alaska, Chitistone Valley. It's an amazing 10" wide wildlife (mountain goat) trail scratched into a mix of shale and clay traversing the steep inside of a ?5,000 ' deep canyon. Along with bands of mountain goats and sheep sharing the trail and mind numbing scenery.

Anything in the Brooks range deserves mention.

Good list! Red Rock Canyon is IMO the most beautiful spot in the US. I loved hiking there.

I'm glad to see Welch-Dickey make the list. Even as an experienced hiker I still love that trail. Mt. Magalloway in Pittsburg is not a 4K but it probably offers one of the best summit views in all of NH.

A nice little hike in the Daks that I didn't see on the list is Mt. Jo. It's one of those "big bang for a little buck" hikes. It's not a high elevation but the views are spectacular.

Arcadia Managment Area here in RI is a series of trails. My particular favorite is the Ben Utter Trail. Nice hike that goes along a river for almost the entire trail.

Thanks for posting the list.

For some reason the title of this made me think it was going to be "the single best hike in each state." Surprise surprise. This is pretty great. Thanks for posting this.

Thanks for the feedback thus far. I added a couple more based on your suggestions, but I haven't uploaded the file yet (will do that soon).

The states that I think still need the most amount of work are:
~Arkansas
~Illinois
~Indiana
~Louisiana
~Mississippi
~Ohio
~Oklahoma
~South Carolina
~Tennessee
~Virginia

I only had limited resources for those states, so if anyone has any recommendations for those ones, let me know.

Recommended additions

All from personal experience unless otherwise noted. Sorry I don't have time to attach web links.

Arizona
Zane Grey Trail, 50 miles

Arkansas
Syllamo Trail network, many awesome miles of hiking/mtn. biking trails

California
- Evolution Valley loop, 60ish spectacular miles
- Backbone Trail, 70ish miles over the spine of the Santa Monica Mtns.
- Ray Miller Trail, only 2.7 miles but the best running trail in SoCal!

Georgia
Duncan Ridge Trail, with Benton MacKaye Trail and AT, can do a difficult 50+ mile loop (so-called "toughest backpack in Georgia")

Indiana
Knobstone Trail, ~50 miles, nice singletrack in SE Indiana

Louisiana
- Chicot State Park, Ville Platte, lovely 20 mile singletrack loop around lake (We put on a 100 mile/100 km race here in December - Cajun Coyote)
- Wild Azalea Trail, 31 miles (Have not done this one yet)

New Hampshire
Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway Trail, 50ish miles thru lovely foothills & "pond country" of south-central NH

New York
Finger Lakes Trail (Have done just a portion of this one, but it was lovely)

Ohio
Mohican State Forest, ~50 miles of trails

Oklahoma
Ouachita Trail is almost 50 miles in OK (wasn't clear on your spreadsheet), with the remainder in Arkansas

Pennsylvania
Laurel Highlands Trail, 70 miles point to point - an awesome trail!

Tennessee
Frozen Head State Park, not only home of the infamous Barkley Marathons but many beautiful miles of maintained trails and highest TN peak outside the Great Smokies

Texas
Huntsville State Park, 20 mile, mostly singletrack loop around lake

Virginia
- Massanutten Mtn. Trail, loop of ~70 miles, lightly travelled ridge west of Shenandoahs
- Wild Oak Trail, tough & scenic 25 mile loop

Also, in VA/WV/MD/PA, the Tuscarora Trail, 200+ lightly used miles. Originally conceived as an alternate route to the AT thru these parts. This trail needs a little TLC in some sections but is a worthy trek.

Chugach001 said:

Wow, what a list. Highly exhaustive.

Best trail I ever hiked; Goat Trail in the Wrangell Mtns of Alaska, Chitistone Valley. It's an amazing 10" wide wildlife (mountain goat) trail scratched into a mix of shale and clay traversing the steep inside of a ?5,000 ' deep canyon. Along with bands of mountain goats and sheep sharing the trail and mind numbing scenery.

Anything in the Brooks range deserves mention.

Click to expand...

I absolutely agree with that, the trail/path along Chitistone Gorge is just breathtaking.

For Alaska I would also personally add Mt Healy trail via Bison Gulch, Rainbow Ridge, and Mt Prindle.

That is a very impressive amount of work. My one nit-pick, MT. Belford's descrition should include the trip to MT. Oxford, this is a classic two-fer when peakbagging 14ers and leaving out Oxford would be a crying shame as its only a mile or so on a perfect connecting ridge.
P.s.the CO section.

sierra said:

That is a very impressive amount of work. My one nit-pick, MT. Belford's descrition should include the trip to MT. Oxford, this is a classic two-fer when peakbagging 14ers and leaving out Oxford would be a crying shame as its only a mile or so on a perfect connecting ridge.
P.s.the CO section.

Click to expand...

I'll absolutely add that in the next time I update and upload the file.

Everyone - feel free to review this in as much detail as possible. I encourage criticism because I know that we could make this database much, much better if more people chimed in with corrections and additions.

In other words, feel free to rip this list apart. I'd love to see this thread grow to 100 replies full of hikes that deserve to be included.

- Greg

I'm not sure it would really be counted as a day hike, more of a half day hike but Old Rag in Virginia is an awesome little hike with a really cool rock scramble for roughly the last mile to the top.
Also the Bald Face loop in NH is probably one of my favorite hikes.

Glad to see #30 in CO: the Maroon Bells 4-Pass Loop. That's an incredible backpack through wildflowers and wilderness, and one of these days I'll post the 1,000+ photos we took there back in the summer of '07.

+1 for South Sister in Oregon.
Can we send you some recommended additions?
What a nice job, thank you for sharing.

Alan

Great list! (Someone will probably try to comlpete it...is there a patch? )

Mt. Whitney is shown as 22 miles "one way," but it's 22 miles round trip.

It would be good to have something in the Flatirons included in Colorado.

In Washington, Mount Si right outside Seattle is popular, and has a wonderful little rock spire on top.

In West Virginia, it would be good to include something in the New River Gorge.

Nice work!

TCD

CT AT: "best section is supposed to be the 9.9 miles from Falls Village to Salisbury; elevation ranges from 260-2,316ft; lots of pastoral views."

This section is okay and includes the glacial erratic "Giant's Thumb" and some nice views north, but is definately not the best section. My personal favorite is the Schagticoke section north of Bull's Bridge.

Bear Mtn: "won "best day hikes" award from Backpacker; state highpoint at 2,316ft; campsites on the A.T. just north of summit; blueberries in season."

Bear is not the state highpoint, but it's close and the campsites in Sages Ravine are north of the summit, but in MA, and I'd say a bit further than "just north", not that anyone would use this list to actually plan the hike.

Great work, btw, lots of potential with this.

Great list - thanks. Since you solicit additions, I would suggest two:

Massachusetts: The Midstate Trail - comparable to the Metacomet-Monadnock Tr. but to its east, running 95 miles from the north end of RI's North-South Trail (see below) to the Wapack Trail in southern NH, including Mts. Wachusett and Watatic.

Also, your distance of 180 miles for the Bay Circuit Rail is outdated (although it still appears on sections of the BCT website that have not been updated in a while). A recently completed GPS project revealed that there are now 232 miles of dedicated trail. (That includes some alternate stretches; if you stick with the "main path," the figure would be 200 dedicated miles.)

Rhode Island: The North-South Trail, which runs for 77 miles from East Beach in Charlestown to Douglas State Park in Mass., mainly running a little east of the border with Conn. It includes the Ben Utter Trail in Arcadia Wildlife Management Area, which you list.

Colorado hikes

I would add the Three apostles featuring Ice mtn. Located at the end of the valley using the same approach as Mt.Huron. These peaks beg to be climbed, although they are not for beginners by any means. Classic peaks, one of the best climbs Ive ever made anywhere.

Great work!
I would add Mt. Wrightson in southern Arizona. Desert to alpine zones on wonderful trails.