Greatest Hiking Destinations in America

Zion National Park

Wading through the Virgin River with sheer sandstone walls closing in overhead on the Narrows, or gripping chains along a 1,500-foot knife-edge on Angels Landing, Zion delivers more heart-pounding drama per mile than almost anywhere else. It's the park that turned 'hiking' into a

Signature Trail: The Narrows / Angels LandingEntrance/Permit Fee: $35Difficulty: 7/10Scenic Beauty: 9.5/10Best Season: Spring & Fall

added by IJRin 4 rankingsZion National Park

Grand Canyon National Park

No trail humbles hikers like the Rim-to-Rim, a 21-mile descent and climb through a billion years of exposed geology and a mile of vertical relief. It's less a hike than a pilgrimage, and the South Kaibab sunrise view alone has launched a thousand bucket lists.

Signature Trail: Rim-to-RimEntrance/Permit Fee: $35Difficulty: 9/10Scenic Beauty: 10/10Best Season: Spring & Fall

added by IJRin 4 rankingsGrand Canyon National Park

Yosemite National Park

The cables on Half Dome's final 400 feet turned a granite dome into hiking legend, while the valley floor below offers waterfalls, giant sequoias, and John Muir's original inspiration for wilderness preservation. Few places pack this much vertical spectacle into a single day hike

Signature Trail: Half Dome via Mist TrailEntrance/Permit Fee: $35Difficulty: 8/10Scenic Beauty: 9.8/10Best Season: Summer (Jun-Sep)

added by IJRin 3 rankingsYosemite National Park

Glacier National Park

Called the 'Crown of the Continent,' Glacier's Highline Trail runs a literal ledge cut into cliffs above the Going-to-the-Sun Road, with mountain goats often closer than the scenery. Its vanishing glaciers give every hike here an urgent, elegiac quality.

Signature Trail: Highline TrailEntrance/Permit Fee: $35Difficulty: 6/10Scenic Beauty: 9.5/10Best Season: Jul-Sep

added by IJRin 3 rankings

Grand Teton National Park

The Tetons rise straight from the valley floor with no foothills to soften the blow, and the hike to Lake Solitude through Cascade Canyon puts you eye-level with some of the most photographed peaks in the world. Moose sightings are practically guaranteed.

Signature Trail: Cascade Canyon to Lake SolitudeEntrance/Permit Fee: $35Difficulty: 7/10Scenic Beauty: 9.5/10Best Season: Jun-Sep

added by IJRin 3 rankingsGrand Teton National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park

Longs Peak's Keyhole Route is Colorado's most famous scramble, a 14,000-foot summit push that tests nerve on exposed narrows near the top. With over 350 miles of trail above treeline, it's the definitive Rocky Mountain hiking experience.

Signature Trail: Longs Peak Keyhole RouteEntrance/Permit Fee: $30Difficulty: 8/10Scenic Beauty: 9/10Best Season: Jun-Sep

added by IJRin 2 rankingsRocky Mountain National Park

Appalachian Trail

Stretching 2,190 miles from Georgia to Maine, the AT is the granddaddy of American thru-hikes, immortalized by Bill Bryson and walked by tens of thousands of 'through-hikers' chasing Mount Katahdin's sign. It's less a single destination than a rite of passage spanning fourteen st

Signature Trail: Full 2,190-mile thru-hikeEntrance/Permit Fee: $0Difficulty: 9/10Scenic Beauty: 8.5/10Best Season: Mar-Oct

added by IJR

Pacific Crest Trail

Made famous by Cheryl Strayed's 'Wild,' the PCT runs 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada through desert, Sierra granite, and Cascade volcanoes. It's the toughest, most geographically diverse trail in the country, and completing it changes people.

Signature Trail: Full 2,650-mile thru-hikeEntrance/Permit Fee: $0Difficulty: 10/10Scenic Beauty: 9.5/10Best Season: Apr-Sep

added by IJRPacific Crest Trail

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

America's most-visited national park hides its best hike in plain sight: the Alum Cave Trail to Mount LeConte, climbing through a rock tunnel and heather balds to one of the only backcountry lodges in the park system. Its mist-shrouded ridgelines gave the mountains their name.

Signature Trail: Alum Cave to Mount LeConteEntrance/Permit Fee: $0Difficulty: 5/10Scenic Beauty: 8/10Best Season: Apr-Jun & Oct

added by IJRin 3 rankingsGreat Smoky Mountains National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Beyond the geysers, Yellowstone's Grand Canyon rim trails offer views of the Lower Falls plunging twice the height of Niagara, framed by yellow rhyolite walls that gave the park its name. It's proof the world's first national park still has trails most visitors never find.

Signature Trail: Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone RimEntrance/Permit Fee: $35Difficulty: 5/10Scenic Beauty: 9/10Best Season: Jun-Sep

added by IJRin 3 rankingsYellowstone National Park

Acadia National Park

The Precipice Trail bolts and iron rungs up a sheer granite cliff face on the only national park hike that feels like via ferrata, rewarding climbers with Atlantic Ocean views from Champlain Mountain's summit. It's New England hiking at its most exposed and exhilarating.

Signature Trail: Precipice TrailEntrance/Permit Fee: $35Difficulty: 4/10Scenic Beauty: 8.5/10Best Season: Jun-Oct

added by IJRin 2 rankingsAcadia National Park

Olympic National Park

Few parks span three ecosystems like Olympic, where the Hoh River rainforest gives way to alpine meadows on the High Divide, all under Mount Olympus's glaciated summit. Its sheer diversity — temperate rainforest to coastline to peaks — makes it a hiker's greatest-hits album.

Signature Trail: Hoh River to High DivideEntrance/Permit Fee: $30Difficulty: 6/10Scenic Beauty: 9/10Best Season: Jul-Sep

added by IJRin 2 rankingsOlympic National Park

Mount Rainier National Park

The 93-mile Wonderland Trail circles Rainier's glaciated cone through wildflower meadows and old-growth forest, considered one of the toughest and most beautiful loop hikes in the Lower 48. Permits are notoriously hard to score, which only adds to its mystique.

Signature Trail: Wonderland Trail (93-mile loop)Entrance/Permit Fee: $30Difficulty: 8/10Scenic Beauty: 9/10Best Season: Jul-Sep

added by IJRin 2 rankingsMount Rainier National Park

White Mountains (Presidential Range)

New Hampshire's Presidential Traverse links Mount Washington and its neighboring peaks across an alpine ridge notorious for the world's worst recorded weather, making it a rite of passage for Northeast hikers. Huts run by the AMC let you traverse in style, or misery, depending on

Signature Trail: Presidential TraverseEntrance/Permit Fee: $5Difficulty: 8/10Scenic Beauty: 8.5/10Best Season: Jun-Sep

added by IJR

Sedona / Red Rock Country

Cathedral Rock's saddle scramble and the shaded West Fork Trail showcase Sedona's uncanny red-rock formations, drawing hikers, vortex-seekers, and photographers in equal measure. It's the rare desert destination that feels lush and otherworldly at once.

Signature Trail: Cathedral RockEntrance/Permit Fee: $5Difficulty: 5/10Scenic Beauty: 9/10Best Season: Mar-May & Sep-Nov

added by IJR

Canyonlands National Park

The Chesler Park loop through the Needles district winds between candy-striped sandstone spires in one of Utah's least-crowded but most surreal landscapes. It's the wilder, quieter cousin to Zion and Arches, rewarding those willing to drive the extra hour.

Signature Trail: Chesler Park LoopEntrance/Permit Fee: $30Difficulty: 6/10Scenic Beauty: 8.5/10Best Season: Mar-May & Sep-Nov

added by IJRCanyonlands National Park

Big Sur Coastline

The Ewoldsen Trail climbs from redwood canyons to ocean-view ridgelines above McWay Falls, where a waterfall drops straight onto a private beach. Big Sur proves you don't need mountains over 10,000 feet to earn a spot among America's great hikes — just cliffs, fog, and the Pacifi

Signature Trail: McWay Falls / Ewoldsen TrailEntrance/Permit Fee: $10Difficulty: 4/10Scenic Beauty: 9/10Best Season: Apr-Oct

added by IJR

John Muir Trail

Tracing 211 miles from Yosemite Valley to the summit of Mount Whitney through the High Sierra, the JMT is often called the most beautiful trail in America, overlapping much of the PCT but concentrating its best scenery into a three-week trip. Muir himself called this range 'the R

Signature Trail: Full 211-mile route (Yosemite to Whitney)Entrance/Permit Fee: $15Difficulty: 9/10Scenic Beauty: 9.5/10Best Season: Jul-Sep

added by IJR