Concise hiking and rail trail guides and free GPX maps for hikes in California, New Hampshire, New England, and more.
• 4-star hikes • 1 to 2 mile options • Moderate | Gain 280 to 530 feet • Marlboro, VT | Southern Region . Hanging out atop the Mount Olga Fire Tower. The summit of Mount Olga is capped by a fire lookout tower with an open cabin for hikers year-round, offering expansive views of Mount Snow, the Deerfield Valley, and the Green Mountains on clear days. It's a short hike for a big reward, and we…
• 5-star trails • 6 to 27 mile options • Easy | Minimal gradient • Burlington, VT | Northwest Region . Cycling the causeway north of the city of Burlington. The Rutland Railroad engineers who drove a line straight into Lake Champlain in 1899 were solving a freight problem, not planning a recreational trail. Built to shorten the route toward Canadian markets and bypass a competing line, the…
• 5-star hike • 3 mile options • Moderate | Gain 1,060 to 1,560 feet • Stowe, VT | Northwest Region . Stunning views from the summit of Stowe Pinnacle. Stowe Pinnacle tops out on open granite caps, with peaks and valleys of northwestern Vermont visible in nearly every direction. Mount Mansfield's ridgeline runs along one stretch of the horizon, and Camel's Hump rises above the Worcester Range…
• 5-star hikes • 5 to 8 mile options • Moderate & Hard | Gain 2,550 to 2,930 feet • Stowe & Underhill, VT | Northwest Region . South view from Mount Mansfield's ridgeline Not to be outdone by New Hampshire, which lost theirs in a rockfall in 2003, imaginative Vermonters claim to have their own ‘Man In The Mountain’ in Mount Mansfield near Stowe, which is also the highest point in the entire state.…
• 5-star hikes • 1 to 8 mile options • Moderate | Gain 200 to 1,260 feet • Silverton, OR | Oregon . View from the trail behind the South Falls. As Oregon’s largest state park, Silver Falls State Park is located about 25 miles east of Salem. At the heart of the park is Silver Creek Canyon, famous for its waterfalls and well-maintained trail system. The canyon's basalt cliffs were shaped millions of…
• 5-star hike • 4 mile out-and-back • Moderate | Gain 1,010 feet • The Dalles, OR | Oregon . Views beside the trail near Rowena Crest Overlook. The Columbia River Gorge cuts through the volcanic Cascade Range, exposing layers of basalt laid down by massive lava flows from Eastern Oregon millions of years ago. Following a geologic fault line, the Gorge features a stark asymmetry. The Oregon side to…
• 3-star hike • 4 mile part-loop • Easy | Gain 630 feet • Dunes City, OR | Oregon . The coastal fog adds atmosphere to the Siltcoos Lake Trail. The title of this trail is something of a misnomer since the route will lead you only to partial views from the edge of Siltcoos Lake. However, there's still plenty to enjoy if you like a verdant forest hike, and even more on days when coastal fog drifts…
• 4-star hike • 7 mile loop • Moderate | Gain 560 feet • Reedsport, OR | Oregon . Don't miss the short spur to the Three Mile Lake overlook. This seven-mile hike in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area is a showcase for the wild shoreline landscapes of the central Oregon coast. Set out on a counter-clockwise route along the Tahkenitch Dunes Trail through dense, shady woodland, and you will…
• 5-star hike • 3 mile out-and-back • Easy | Gain 420 to 490 feet • Lincoln City, OR | Oregon . A suspension bridge provides an awesome vantage point. Tucked into the Siuslaw National Forest east of Lincoln City, this out-and-back route along the Drift Creek Falls Trail leads hikers across a steel rope bridge that spans a 100-foot-deep gorge to reveal spectacular views of the nearby Drift Creek…
• 4-star hikes • 3 to 5 mile options • Easy & Moderate | Gain 620 to 1,260 feet • Novato, CA | San Francisco Region . A mix of grass and woodland in this Open Space Preserve. The 1,627-acre Mount Burdell Open Space Preserve in northern Marin County offers rolling hills blanketed in grassland and punctuated by oak woodlands. Set among expansive views that cross the North Bay hills, the preserve's…
• 3-star hikes • 1 to 3 mile options • Easy | Gain 20 to 40 feet • Antioch, CA | San Francisco Region . A relocated movie prop, now pumping water. Situated on the southern banks of the delta where the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers meet and flow into the San Francisco Bay, Dow Chemical Company established this wetlands area in 1989, apparently to prevent competitive development near their…
• 4-star hike • 5 mile part-loop • Moderate | Gain 1,170 feet • Clayton, CA | San Francisco Region . The Falls Trail side has the best views. We follow the wide Donner Canyon Road trail as it traces a route alongside Donner Creek, with views over open meadowland towards the massive Mount Diablo and its sub-peaks. The destination of this journey is not the mountain's summit however, but rather a…
• 4-star hikes • 8 to 11 mile options • Moderate & Hard | Gain 2,280 to 3,390 feet • Clayton, CA | San Francisco Region . The Mount Diablo Summit Museum on the mountain's peak. The morning fog blankets the valley below as we ascend, leaving behind the shrouded cities and emerging into brilliant sunshine. This phenomenon perfectly illustrates exactly why Mount Diablo remains a popular destination…
• 4-star hikes • 3 to 4 mile options • Easy & Moderate | Gain 690 to 810 feet • Arcadia, CA | Los Angeles Region . Sturtevant falls on a spring morning. Sturtevant Falls offers one of the most accessible waterfall hikes in the San Gabriel Mountains, combining natural beauty with historical interest. This popular destination provides an engaging hiking experience suitable for visitors of most…
• 5-star hike • 5 mile loop • Moderate | Gain 760 feet • Indio, CA | Southwest US . Heading counter-clockwise, it's 1.6 miles to the rocky foothills. The East Indio Hills Badlands sit at the edge of California’s Coachella Valley, where tectonic forces along the San Andreas Fault have uplifted and eroded ancient sediments into a maze of miniature canyons and ridges just minutes from suburban Indio.…
• 3-star hike • 3 mile loop • Moderate | Gain 760 feet • Palm Desert, CA | Southwest US . Mike Schuler Trailhead starts the Bump & Grind Loop. The Bump & Grind Trail delivers exactly on it's name with an undulating mountainside ascent which thankfully eventually leads into a gentler return journey. This 3-mile loop sits on the hillside above Palm Desert, California providing elevated views over a…
• 4-star hike • 6 mile out-and-back • Moderate | Gain 2,310 feet • Palm Springs, CA | Southwest US . Looking out from within Maynard Mine. Maynard Mine Trail is a 6-mile round-trip route in the Indian Canyons, just south of Palm Springs. It follows an old access path to a former tungsten mine perched on the ridge between Andreas and Murray Canyons. The trailhead begins beside the popular short…
• 4-star hike • 1 mile loop • Moderate | Gain 170 feet • Palm Springs, CA | Southwest US . On the narrow trail between creek and rocky outcropping. Water flowing through Andreas Creek has carved a narrow oasis into layered sandstone, forming a striking contrast to the surrounding desert. Within this sheltered canyon, dense groves of California fan palms rise above the creek, providing cool shade…
• 5-star hikes • 2 to 3 mile options • Easy | Gain 220 to 370 feet • Palm Springs, CA | Southwest US . Entering Palm Canyon on the out-and-back route. Palm Canyon sits in the folds of the San Jacinto Mountains, where thousands of California fan palms cluster along a drainage that holds water when much of the surrounding desert does not. Two routes lead to the canyon from the Trading Post…
• 4-star hikes • 3 to 4 mile options • Easy | Gain 110-150m (350-500ft) • Sandsend, UK | North Yorkshire . The ruins of the 12th century Mulgrave Castle. Built in the early 11th century as a defensive residence, Mulgrave Castle was constructed on a narrow ridgeline above the small coastal town of Sandsend, just north of Whitby. Likely built by a Norman landowner with royal connections, the…
• 4-star hikes • 2 to 3 mile options • Easy & Moderate | Gain 60-200m (200-650ft) • Thirsk, UK | North Yorkshire . White Horse views from nearby Kilburn village. The Kilburn White Horse stretches almost 100 metres across the hillside beneath Sutton Bank, carved in 1857 by schoolmaster John Hodgson and his students from Kilburn village. Unlike England's ancient chalk horses, this feature requires…
• 4-star hike • 1.4 mile loop • Easy | Gain 340 feet • Yucca Valley, CA | Joshua Tree . Varied terrain and vegetation in Joshua Tree's NW corner. Located next to the Black Rock Campground within the northwestern boundary of Joshua Tree National Park, this picturesque loop combines the High View Nature Trail with a section of the West Side Loop Trail to showcase a variety of desert scenery and…
• 5-star hikes • 7 to 8 mile options • Moderate | Gain 1,200 to 1,700 feet • Yucca Valley, CA | Joshua Tree . Varied hiking through deserts and up mountains on Panorama Loop. The path climbs from desert campground to mountain ridge, threading through narrow canyons and vegetation zones that shift with elevation. This loop, just within the northwestern boundary of Joshua Tree National Park,…
• 5-star hikes • 7 to 9 mile options • Moderate | Gain 1,030 to 1,230 feet • Twentynine Palms, CA | Joshua Tree . The out-and-back trip along the Lost Palms Oasis Trail leads through open desert terrain to a spectacular canyon overlook and continues with a downhill scramble to a secluded, sheltered oasis of tall green palm trees and abundant spiky yucca plants. An optional side trip to Mastodon…
• 4-star hike • 3 mile loop • Moderate | Gain 410 feet • Twentynine Palms, CA | Joshua Tree . Age is not a barrier to some hiking Mastodon Peak. Desert scrubland, summit views stretching to the Salton Sea, and mine ruins perched on a ridgeline. The Mastodon Peak Loop delivers these elements across a short 2.6-mile trail in Joshua Tree's southern region. The route begins at the Cottonwood Spring…