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Tag Archives: Toxaway Lakes

January 29, 2018

America’s Top 10 Best Backpacking Trips

In Backpacking, Family Adventures, National Park Adventures   |   Tagged "America's most beautiful trail", Alice Lake, America's best backpacking trips, Ansel Adams Wilderness, Arizona, backpacking Glacier National Park, Baron Lakes, Best U.S. backpacking trips, Best Yosemite backpacking trips, Buck Creek Pass, California, California backpacking, California national parks, Cascade Canyon, Colorado River, Death Canyon, Death Canyon Shelf, family backpacking, Glacier National Park, Glacier Peak Wilderness, Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River, Grand Canyon South Rim backpacking trips, Grand Teton National Park, Gunsight Pass Trail, High Sierra, hiking Glacier National Park, Idaho, Idaho backpacking, Image Lake, Imogene Lake, John Muir Trail, John Muir Wilderness, Kings Canyon National Park, Lake Ellen Wilson, Many Glacier, Montana, Mount Hood, Mount Hood National Forest, Mount Hood Wilderness, North Cascades, North Cascades National Park Complex, Olympic National Park, Oregon, Oregon backpacking, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT, Pettit Lake, Ramona Falls, Redfish Lake, Royal Arch Loop, Sawtooth Mountains, Sawtooth Wilderness, Sequioa-Kings Canyon National Park, Sequoia National Park, Southern Olympic Coast, Southern Utah hiking backpacking, Spider Gap, Teton Crest Trail, The Narrows, The Narrows of the Virgin River, thru-hiking the John Muir Trail, Timberline Trail, Toxaway Lakes, Tuolumne Meadows, Utah, Utah parks, Washington, Washington hiking backpacking, Wyoming, Yosemite National Park, Zion Canyon, Zion National Park   |   13 Comments

By Michael Lanza

What makes a great backpacking trip? I’ve thought about that more than a mentally stable person probably should, having done many of America’s (and the world’s) most beautiful and beloved multi-day hikes over the years. Certainly top-shelf scenery is mandatory. An element of adventurousness enhances a hike, in my eyes. As I assembled this top 10 list, longer trips seemed to dominate it—there’s something special about a big walk in the wilderness—but two- and three-day hikes also made my list. Another factor that truly matters is a wilderness experience: All 10 are in national parks or wilderness areas.

Some things, though, don’t require explanation; the validation comes in just doing it. So I give you here my admittedly personal and subjective list of the 10 best backpacking trips I’ve taken over more than a quarter-century (and counting) of hauling a pack on trails all over the country, as a longtime field editor for Backpacker magazine and creator of this blog. Continue reading →