Sep 12 2026
The Appalachian Trail travels for 101 miles through Shenandoah National Park, following the crest of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains through hardwood forests, rocky overlooks, mountain gaps, and some of the park’s highest terrain. For long-distance hikers, Shenandoah is an important stage on the journey between Georgia and Maine. For ordinary park visitors, it offers something …
Aug 28 2026
Pinnacles National Park packs an unusual amount of adventure into a relatively small corner of central California. Trails climb through volcanic spires, squeeze beneath house-sized boulders in dark talus caves, cross oak woodland and chaparral, and rise onto narrow ridges where California condors may soar almost at eye level. The park has more than 30 …
May 12 2026
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park protects one of the steepest, darkest, and most dramatic river canyons in North America. In western Colorado, the Gunnison River slices through ancient Precambrian rock, creating sheer cliffs that plunge more than 2,000 feet in places while narrowing to only a few dozen feet near the river. The …
May 10 2025
Kings Canyon National Park Kings Canyon National Park protects some of the most dramatic landscapes in California’s Sierra Nevada, from enormous giant sequoia groves to a glacial canyon deeper than many of the better-known canyons of the American West. Located immediately north of Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon combines towering granite walls, rushing rivers, alpine …
Oct 01 2024
Zion National Park is one of the great hiking destinations of the American Southwest. Towering sandstone cliffs rise thousands of feet above the Virgin River, narrow canyons disappear between walls of red rock, and trails climb from the desert floor to viewpoints overlooking some of the most dramatic scenery in Utah. The best hikes in …
Sep 30 2024
Voyageurs National Park is best known for its enormous lakes, rocky islands, quiet bays, and water-based adventures, but hiking reveals an entirely different side of this northern Minnesota wilderness. Trails lead through boreal forest, past beaver ponds and wetlands, across ancient granite ridges, and into remote sections of the Kabetogama Peninsula where wolves, moose, black …
Sep 30 2024
Shenandoah National Park is one of the great hiking destinations of the eastern United States. More than 500 miles of trails cross Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, leading to rocky summits, Appalachian forests, tumbling waterfalls, quiet streams, historic sites, and viewpoints overlooking the Shenandoah Valley and Virginia Piedmont. The variety is one of Shenandoah’s greatest strengths. …
Sep 29 2024
Sequoia National Park is famous for the largest trees on Earth, but hiking reveals a much bigger landscape than the giant sequoia groves alone. Trails lead beneath ancient trees, around quiet Sierra meadows, beside rushing rivers and waterfalls, across enormous granite domes, and high into alpine country overlooking the Great Western Divide. The variety is …
Sep 29 2024
Saguaro National Park offers some of the most distinctive desert hiking in the United States. Trails wind through forests of towering saguaro cacti, cross sandy washes, climb rocky ridges above Tucson, pass historic homesteads and mines, and eventually rise from the Sonoran Desert into surprisingly cool mountain forests. The park is divided into two separate …
Sep 28 2024
North Cascades National Park contains some of the most spectacular hiking terrain in Washington, with trails leading through old-growth forests, beside turquoise lakes, across subalpine meadows, and toward glaciers and jagged mountain passes. The scenery can feel surprisingly wild for a national park within a few hours of Seattle. The challenge is deciding where to …
