The Top 10 Hiking Travel Stories Backpacker Told in 2025

Being Backpacker‘s trips editor, my adventure bucket list is long. My job entails researching the best trails, parks, and backcountry areas that our readers would want to explore, so I spend a lot of my day salivating over a beautiful vista. I am humble enough to concede that I (and my fellow editors) often get trip inspiration from the Backpacker archives.

But you, Backpacker reader, have shown this year what kinds of trips articles matter to you. We looked into the stats and found your favorite stories we published. You wanted guides on dayhikes around the country, long trail commentary, and more. Here’s the 10 most-read trips articles we published in 2025. Use it to inspire your adventures come 2026. 

Good news for you, trails don’t expire. These were the our suggested hiking destinations for 2025, but go crazy and hike them in 2026. 

What’s the national park with the most variety? The best for dodging crowds? The best for alpine adventures? We identified which national parks are the best for hikers, and what each specific park does best. 

Writer Emily Pennington has visited every national park throughout her life. Here’s the comprehensive list of her favorite national park hikes, from multi-week thru-hikes to easy, breezy strolls.

Solo hiking can be more rewarding than group treks, but it can also force you to confront the most challenging parts of yourself. Bhutan’s Druk Path Trek might have put our writer off solo backpacking for good. Here’s why.

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy—the nonprofit that supports the United States’ most iconic footpath—turned 100 this year. To celebrate the centennial, we asked two AT thru-hikers to pick the 100 best miles of trail, spread out over 19 bite-size sections. Do your favorites match these picks?

With more than 350 miles of trail, you’re unlikely to ever run out of hikes in Rocky. Whether you’re looking to get deep in the backcountry or take your young family on an easy, scenic dayhike, we’ve found the best trail for you.

In the heart of the North Cascades, this trail is the best dayhike to see waterfalls, dense old-growth trees, and remnants of an old mining settlement. Here’s everything you need to know to hike it.

You’ve heard of the Pacific Crest Trail, Appalachian Trail, and Continental Divide Trail—the three long trails of the Triple Crown. If those trails are in the Major League, what would be the Minors? Veteran thru-hiker M. John Fayhee offers his picks. 

Shawnté Salabert wrote the book Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail: Southern California, and in doing so, spent several years hiking the first 942.5 miles of the PCT multiple times across multiple seasons. She’s the best person to ask when it comes to winter LASH-ing one of America’s favorite long trails. 

When Senior Editor Zoe Gates hiked the West Coast Trail (WCT) on Vancouver Island, she faced plenty of surprises along the way, despite doing plenty of research. Here’s what you should know before your WCT hike.