Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is a national park of the United States located in the northwest corner of the state of Wyoming, with small portions extending into Mo…
Trip guide
Hiking in the National Parks
Trails, summits, and backcountry routes across America's national parks. From paved boardwalks for first-timers to multi-day wilderness traverses, these routes shape how visitors experience the land beneath their feet.
Hiking is one of the most-asked-about angles on the National Park System — and for good reason. The parks listed below are the ones where this kind of trip works particularly well, either because the infrastructure is built around it, the landscape rewards it, or the seasonality lines up. Use this as a starting list rather than a ranking. Each park's full guide will tell you whether it actually fits the trip you're planning.
If you're new to planning a parks trip around a single interest, two pieces of practical advice apply almost everywhere: research seasonality before you book, and budget at least two full days per park. The rest tends to take care of itself once you're on the ground.
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park ( yoh-SEM-ih-tee) is a national park of the United States in California. It is bordered on the southeast by the Sierra National Forest an…
Gateway Arch National Park
Gateway Arch National Park is a national park of the United States located in St. Louis, Missouri, near the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In…
Acadia National Park
Acadia National Park is a national park of the United States located along the mid-section of the Maine coast, southwest of Bar Harbor. The park includes about …
Badlands National Park
Badlands National Park (Lakota: Makȟóšiča) is a national park of the United States in southwestern South Dakota. The park protects 242,756 acres (379.3 sq mi; 9…
Sequoia National Park
Sequoia National Park is a national park of the United States in the southern Sierra Nevada east of Visalia, California. The park was established on September 2…
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a national park of the United States in the southeast, with parts in North Carolina and Tennessee. The park straddles the…
Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve
Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve is a national park of the United States that protects portions of the Central Brooks Range in northern Alaska. Th…
Mackinac National Park
Mackinac National Park was a United States national park that existed from 1875 to 1895 on Mackinac Island in northern Michigan, making it the second U.S. natio…
Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve
Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve is a United States national park and preserve in south central Alaska. The park, the largest in the United States,…
New River Gorge National Park and Preserve
The New River Gorge National Park and Preserve is a United States national park and preserve designed to protect and maintain the New River Gorge in southern We…
Arches National Park
Arches National Park is a national park of the United States in eastern Utah. The park is adjacent to the Colorado River, 4 mi (6 km) north of Moab, Utah. The p…
Death Valley National Park
Death Valley National Park is a national park of the United States that straddles the California–Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada. The park boundaries i…
Bryce Canyon National Park
Bryce Canyon National Park () is a national park of the United States located in southwestern Utah. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which, despit…
Biscayne National Park
Biscayne National Park is a national park of the United States located south of Miami, Florida, in Miami-Dade County. The park preserves Biscayne Bay and its of…
Crater Lake National Park
Crater Lake National Park is a national park of the United States located in southern Oregon. Established in 1902, Crater Lake is the fifth-oldest national park…
Big Bend National Park
Big Bend National Park is a national park of the United States located in West Texas, bordering Mexico. The park has national significance as the largest protec…
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is a national park of the United States located in western Colorado and managed by the National Park Service. The Bla…
Canyonlands National Park
Canyonlands National Park is a national park of the United States located in southeastern Utah near the town of Moab. The park preserves a colorful landscape er…
Channel Islands National Park
Channel Islands National Park is a national park of the United States, which consists of five of the eight Channel Islands off the coast of California. Although…
Capitol Reef National Park
Capitol Reef National Park is a national park of the United States in south-central Utah. The park is approximately 60 miles (100 km) long on its north–south ax…
Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Cuyahoga Valley National Park is a national park of the United States in Ohio that reclaims and preserves the industrial, commercial, and rural landscape along …
Congaree National Park
Congaree National Park is a 26,692.6-acre (41.7 sq mi; 108.0 km2) national park of the United States in central South Carolina, 18 miles southeast of the state …
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Carlsbad Caverns National Park is a national park of the United States in the Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico. The primary attraction of the park…