If you enjoy hiking, you’ll love our national parks for all the hiking opportunities they offer. Our parks span the Arctic to the tropics, and although every hiking trail in them is worth doing, some produce memories that last a lifetime.
The following 20 range from easy to extremely strenuous, but they all earn 5 stars for the scenery and the experience, and you can do each one in a day!
Harding Icefield Trail: Kenai Fjords, Alaska
This is the best hike in the park. If you go the full length, you’ll see the massive Harding Icefield, which feeds all the park’s glaciers. A shorter outing will still feature views of the Exit Glacier and surrounding mountains.
Difficulty: Strenuous
Skyline Trail: Mount Rainier, Alaska
This loop trail gets you up on the snowy, icy slopes of Mount Rainier, and you’ll also see lush wildflower blooms in summer. There are also excellent views of the park from this trail.
Difficulty: Strenuous
Mist Trail: Yosemite, California
You’re likely to get wet as you hike this trail from Yosemite Valley to Vernal Falls and then the even higher Nevada Falls. It’s also a way to reach the Cables Route on Half Dome, though you need a permit for that.
Difficulty: Moderate
Cathedral Lake-Echo Peaks Loop: Yosemite, California
Experts only! If you want to hike to Cathedral Lake, that’s fine. However, if you have a good map and some scrambling skills, you can head up slabs past the lake to an alpine plateau. From there, you can view, hike/scramble to, or climb the Echo Peaks. Return along an unofficial trail that takes you back to the main trail.
Difficulty: Strenuous
Bishop Pass: Kings Canyon, California
This one’s a little different than the rest on this list because it goes through the John Muir Wilderness and, after about 7 miles, reaches Bishop Pass on the border of Kings Canyon National Park. Along the way, you’ll pass lakes and peaks, and the scenery gets better and better as you get higher. At the pass, you can gawk at Dusy Basin, and if you have the strength left, you can hike up Mount Agassiz for views of the Palisades, the most spectacular alpine area of the Sierra Nevada.
Difficulty: Strenuous
Telescope Peak: Death Valley, California
Over 7 one-way miles, you’ll climb almost 3000’. The math disguises that some stretches are painfully steep. Telescope Peak is the highest point in Death Valley National Park. The trek up crosses different climate zones and takes you through a grove of bristlecone pines, the world’s longest-living organisms. From the summit, you get to look west to the Sierra Nevada, east across the Funeral Mountains into the Great Basin, and over 11,000 vertical feet below to the salt pan of Death Valley.
Difficulty: Strenuous
Grinnell Glacier: Glacier, Montana
Once this trail begins to climb, the spectacular scenery never stops. Eventually, you end up at Upper Grinnell Lake, where the Grinnell Glacier calves icebergs into the icy, silty waters in the summer. If you’re up for some extra adventure and have the skills, you can walk out onto the glacier itself. There’s also a boat shuttle that can cut off a couple of miles of hiking each way.
Difficulty: Moderate
Iceberg Lake: Glacier, Montana
If you can only do one hike in Glacier, this is the one. After a steep climb at the start, the rest is pretty mellow, and you’ll enjoy wildflowers and views of mountains, glaciers, and waterfalls the rest of the way. Finally, you reach Iceberg Lake, where ice floats for much of the summer while mountain walls more than 3000’ high provide a backdrop. There are also more bear sightings on this trail than on any other trail in the park, so take caution.
Difficulty: Moderate
Cascade-Paintbrush Loop: Grand Teton, Wyoming
A rugged ridge of peaks separates Cascade Canyon and Paintbrush Canyon, and you can go up one and down the other via Paintbrush Divide. You’ll see waterfalls, lakes, and jagged peaks. Negotiating Paintbrush Divide safely can require an ice axe into late summer, so check on conditions before you go. Car-to-car, the loop is about 23 miles, but you can shorten it to about 19 if you start from Jenny Lake and use the boat shuttle across and back.
Difficulty: Very Strenuous
Glacier Gorge to Sky Pond: Rocky Mountain, Colorado
Heading up Glacier Gorge takes you through some of this park’s best scenery. Ultimately, you end up at a windswept tarn called Sky Pond. Rising behind it is the Continental Divide. Rising directly above it are imposing spires such as Petit Gripon and the Sharkstooth.
Difficulty: Moderate
Angels Landing: Zion, Utah
After seemingly endless, steep switchbacks, the real challenge begins. You have to travel the narrow ridge to the summit, where incredible views up, down, across, and around Zion Canyon await. The Park Service has installed cables to help people navigate this section, from which many have fallen to their deaths.
Difficulty: Strenuous
Virgin River Narrows: Zion, Utah
This “hike” is actually up the river from the road’s end at the Temple of Sinawava, and you need to be a strong swimmer since the water can be deep and swift. The water is almost always cold, and the canyon is almost always shaded, but if you can tough it out and make it a few miles upstream to the confluence of Zion Canyon and Orderville Canyon, you’ll see the best of the Narrows. That includes 1000’ canyon walls so close you can almost reach them with both arms.
Difficulty: Moderate
Devils Garden: Arches, Utah
Arches, Utah has the greatest concentration of natural arches in the world. This trail gets you close to several of them, and it ends beneath a spire called Dark Angel. By taking the Primitive Loop on the way back, you’ll find more scenery, challenge, and solitude.
Difficulty: Moderate
Horseshoe Canyon: Canyonlands, Utah
The Horseshoe Canyon unit of this park is detached from the rest, and it’s a long drive on dirt roads, but it’s worth it. Although the canyon itself is beautiful, it’s pretty standard fare for the Southwest. What makes it so special is all the ancient Native American rock art, including the Great Gallery, where, among many other figures, is a 7’ tall pictograph of a being that today we call the “Holy Ghost.” No one knows what it and the other figures signify. Oh, and if you’re also sharp of eye, you’ll see dinosaur tracks!
Difficulty: Moderate
Rim to Rim: Grand Canyon, Arizona
The best way to appreciate the Grand Canyon is to descend into its depths. Going from rim to rim in a single day is one of the most challenging undertakings you can ever tackle, but it’s almost one of the most amazing.
Difficulty: Extremely Strenuous
The Window: Big Bend, Texas
The Window is a notch between two peaks in the Chisos Mountains of Big Bend National Park. From the Window, you get seemingly endless views across the Chihuahuan Desert. In spring, beautiful wildflowers will make the mostly uphill return hike nicer.
Difficulty: Moderate
Notch Trail: Badlands, South Dakota
At 1.5 miles round-trip, this one is quick and easy without giving up any scenic value. You’ll hike through a canyon, up a ladder, along a cliff, and then end up with a great view of the colorful badlands.
Difficulty: Easy
Old Rag Mountain: Shenandoah, Virginia
Old Rag is not close to being the highest peak in Shenandoah. However, its position east of the crest of the Blue Ridge, plus its summit of granite outcrops vs. the typical forested summits here, makes it a mini-Everest. The most popular way up is the Ridge Trail, which involves a natural staircase, a narrow slot to squeeze through, and some scrambling that makes this ascent feel a little like real mountain climbing. It’s easy to see why many consider Old Rag to be the best mountain in the Southeast.
Difficulty: Strenuous
Cedar Run and Whiteoak Canyon Loop: Shenandoah, Virginia
Not far away from Old Rag is another crown jewel hike of our national parks: Whiteoak Canyon. In the span of three miles, there are six waterfalls, including one split into two channels by a boulder up top. Turning it into a loop with Cedar Canyon adds even more waterfalls.
Difficulty: Moderate
Anhinga Trail: Everglades, Florida
Most of this trail is on a boardwalk that takes you through a swampy area of the park. The birds and the alligators are the biggest attractions, and this trail provides a glimpse into the incredible biodiversity the Everglades harbors and this park protects.
Difficulty: Easy
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