From Yellowstone to Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite, America offers ten of the best backpacking trips in the world. What makes the best backpacking trips in the US? If you live in America you already know the beautiful and beloved places that can enhance your backpacking experience. We have compiled a list of 15 best places to backpack in the US. The nature and landscape in the US seem to agree with John Muir when he said, “In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.”
Best Places To Backpack in the US
From New England treasures to southern classics such as Roan Mountains, here are fifteen best places to backpack in the US.
1. Roan mountain highlands
The Roan Mountain Highlands are massive massifs that cover almost 20 miles. This mountain lies almond the north-California -Tennessee border and consist of sub-peaks. The highland in then divided into two sections, the west of carvers Gap that comprises on Roan High Knob and High Bluff. Lying between the two peaks is the Rhododendron Gardens and the Tollhouse Gap.
2. Nankoweap trail in the Grand Canyon
The Nankoweap trail is the most difficult trial in the Grand Canyon. But before you visit this place, you need some pre-uphill exercises to boost your stamina and endurance. The nerve reeking hike is not suitable for anyone who fears height. The trail is a test for skilled backcountry hikers. The highest drop is 5,640 vertical feet, which can be a suicidal attempt during the summer months
The unmarked trail means route finding skill always comes in handy. Cell phones and GPS units don’t work here. The management at this place has blocked GPS units which means help is not available. For those who want to try something extra challenging and have the skills, the Nankoweap trail in Grand Canyon is the place to be.
3. Nankoweap Creek
If you are not up to the challenge of hiking the Nankoweap trail, the Nankoweap Creek is the next best place to backpack in the US. The trails on the desert floor and cairns mark their way through the cactus patches to a sandy creek bed. The creek beds lead into a thicket of grapes and willows. Another path to the thicket opens to a rocky beach of a cottonwood-lined Nankoweap Creek. An area in the trail marks by a large cairn is an excellent place to set up your hammock or pitch a tent. You can also follow the creeks to three miles to the beach you will find a campsite near the Colorado River.
4. Appalachian Trail
You don’t need to be the most experienced hiker or sabbatical experience to try one of the best backpacking trips in the US. With a 2.180-mile trail, the Appalachian Trail goes through at least 14 trials. It treks through the Blood Mountain Wilderness in Georgia to the White Mountains of New Hampshire to Maine’s wilderness section. To prepare for this trial, pack a compact tent with you and other supplies like portable food.
5. Uinta Mountains
Backpacking has never been as enjoyable as when you have to go through the rough and rocky Uinta Mountains. These Mountains offer you a week of Highline Trail to conquer. The 75-mile trail takes you through serene lakes to the Hayden Pass. The Hayden Pass has 12,600 feet pikes. After the Hayden pass, the come across the rocky slopes at Kings Peak. The slopes offer a magnificent view of Utah. There are various spots for shelter, but you would want to reverse a shuttle that can take you to your car once you reach the end of the trail.
6. Grayson Highlands State Park
The Grayson Highlands State Park is a gateway park for a number is Appalachian Trail and Mount Rogers. The 5,729 feet Mount Rogers is the state’s highest peak. Its 6.7-mile trail from Grindstone Campground east of Troutdale takes you to rare scenic sites. Also, you can enjoy the 2.3 mile Wilburn Ridge Trail. The park requires no specific skills as there are few chances of encountering wild animals.
The park officials don’t allow backcountry camping within the park. But you can camp in Mount Rogers National Recreation Area and the camp across the creek, past the Wise shelter fence.
7. Take a tour of the Yosemite
Environmentalist John Muir took much of nature experience from Yosemite wilderness. Though he focused more on exploring and finding ways to protect Yosemite, he also enjoys what nature offered there. A lot of people see this place as one of the best places to backpack in the US.
You will enjoy Yosemite’s finest corners and sections of John Muir Trail, Clouds rest and the Half Dome summits. Seven days through the patches on the park’s wilderness, you get to discover Yosemite’s vast granite-walled canyons, peaks rising to 12, 000 feet and a gorgeous mountain.
8. The enchantments in Washington
The name of the place in enchanting enough to entice you to explore one of the best places to backpack in the US. The giant glacier, picture-perfect alpine lakes and golden larches make this Alpine paradise and place to backpack and camp. Part of the enchantments includes a chain of lakes and the Cascade Mountains. There are trails like the Stuart Lake trailhead, which is challenging and notoriously rugged.
9. The long trail
The long trail is a 2720-mile oldest footpath trial in America. It flows from the Massachusetts-Vermont’s green mountains to the Canadian border. It only takes you three weeks to hike the long trial, including the 53 Mountains along it.
The toughest section of the trial is a 23-mile to Buchanan Shelter from Birch Glen Camp. It also includes 8,000 feet descending and exposed scramble over rocks. Your reward is the glorious Lake Champlain and Adirondacks views.
Anyone contemplating any backpack nag trips in the US, especially the longer can fall short of choices. Other best backpacking trails in the US include:
10. Timberline Trail, Mount Hood
11. Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains
12. The Southern Olympic Coast
13. Royal Arch Loop, in the Grand Canyon
14. Zion’s Narrows
15. Teton Crest Trail
These trails are among the best places to backpack in the US. Try most of them, and you will appreciate later.