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TOP 25 DAY HIKES IN THE U.S. NATIONAL PARKS

Devils Garden Loop, Arches National Park

Welcome to Bigroads.com's guide to the top 25 day hikes in the U.S. national parks!

The United States is blessed with 59 national parks, and most of these parks offer several outstanding day hikes. After hiking hundreds of trails and thousands of miles, we have put together an opinionated list of what we believe to be the top 25 day hikes in the national parks of the United States. It is not an easy task to pick 25 top hikes out of a pool of hundreds, so this web-page will forever be a work-in-progress as we travel & hike more trails in national parks across the U.S.A.

This top 25 national parks hikes list is sorted alphabetically by state (and not by scenic rank).

Take note that the following types of trails have been intentionally excluded from this list:

Trails that involve extremely difficult rock scrambling or climbing (no hike listed here has scrambling that is rated higher than class III)
Trails too difficult for most day hikers to tackle in a day.
Trails that require significant off-trail route-finding.
Trails that are much better appreciated on backpacking trips.
Trails that require rappelling & advanced canyoneering.

STATE	HIKE NAME	PARK	TOTAL DISTANCE
Alaska	Exit Glacier / Harding Icefield Trail	Kenai Fjords National Park	8.2 miles
Arizona	South Kaibab Trail (shuttle required!)	Grand Canyon National Park	min. of 3.0 miles
California	Congress Trail	Sequoia National Park	2.1 mile loop
California	Half Dome (permit required!)	Yosemite National Park	14-17 miles
California	Nevada Fall / Vernal Fall / John Muir Trail Loop	Yosemite National Park	6.5 mile loop
California	Telescope Peak	Death Valley National Park	14.0 miles
Maine	Precipice Trail (opens in late August)	Acadia National Park	4.0 mile loop
Montana	Highline Trail to Grinnell Glacier Overlook	Glacier National Park	8.0 miles
Nevada	Wheeler Peak	Great Basin National Park	10.0 miles
Oregon	Garfield Peak Trail	Crater Lake National Park	3.4 miles
Tennessee	Alum Cave Bluffs / Mount LeConte	Great Smoky Mountains National Park	11.0 miles
Texas	Emory Peak	Big Bend National Park	9.0 miles
Texas	Guadalupe Peak	Guadalupe Mountains National Park	8.4 miles
Utah	Angels Landing (permit required!)	Zion National Park	5.0 miles
Utah	Delicate Arch	Arches National Park	3.0 miles
Utah	Devil's Garden Loop	Arches National Park	7.2 mile loop
Utah	Druid Arch	Canyonlands National Park	10.8 miles
Utah	Fairyland Loop	Bryce Canyon National Park	8.6 mile loop
Utah	Observation Point	Zion National Park	8.0 miles
Utah	Queens Garden / Navajo Loop Trail	Bryce Canyon National Park	3.0 mile loop
Utah	Zion Narrows / Virgin River Narrows (shuttle required)	Zion National Park	6 or 16 miles
Washington	Cascade Pass	North Cascades National Park	7.4 miles
Washington	Crystal Peak	Mount Rainier National Park	7.8 miles
Washington	Skyline Loop / High Skyline Trail	Mount Rainier National Park	5.5 miles
Wyoming	Old Faithful / Upper Geyser Basin	Yellowstone National Park	min. 3.5 mile loop

South Kaibab Trail, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

South Kaibab Trail in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Congress Trail, Sequoia National Park, California

Congress Trail in Sequoia National Park, California

Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California

Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, California

Nevada Fall, Yosemite National Park, California

Nevada Fall in Yosemite National Park, California

Precipice Trail, Acadia National Park, Maine

Precipice Trail in Acadia National Park, Maine

Emory Peak, Big Bend National Park, Texas

Emory Peak in Big Bend National Park, Texas

Guadalupe Peak, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas

Guadalupe Peak in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas

Angels Landing, Zion National Park, Utah

Angels Landing in Zion National Park, Utah

Skyline Loop in Mount Rainier National Park

Zion Narrows in Zion National Park

RUNNER-UPS: HIKES ALMOST GOOD ENOUGH TO MAKE THE TOP 25 LIST

Here are a list of other outstanding day hikes in the national parks of the U.S. that we considered for the top 25 hikes list above. Please email us @ gparsons66@hotmail.com if you think there are any other hikes of this caliber/scenic level that we should be considering, either for this runners-up list or the top 25 hikes list itself.

STATE	HIKE NAME	PARK
Alaska	McKinley Bar Trail	Denali National Park
Arizona	Bright Angel Trail to 3.0 Mile Rest House	Grand Canyon National Park
Arizona	North Kaibab Trail	Grand Canyon National Park
Arizona	Rim Trail	Grand Canyon National Park
California	Alta Peak	Sequoia National Park
California	Badwater Basin	Death Valley National Park
California	Cathedral Lakes Trail	Yosemite National Park
California	Clouds Rest	Yosemite National Park
California	Corkscrew Canyon	Death Valley National Park
California	Lassen Peak	Lassen Volcanic National Park
California	Lookout Peak	Kings Canyon National Park
California	Mount Dana	Yosemite National Park
California	Panorama Trail	Yosemite National Park
California	Ryan Mountain Trail / Ryan Mountain	Joshua Tree National Park
California	Tall Trees Grove	Redwoods National Park
California	Upper Yosemite Falls	Yosemite National Park
California	Wildrose Peak Trail	Death Valley National Park
Colorado	Chasm Lake	Rocky Mountain National Park
Colorado	Emerald Lake / Dream Lake / Nymph Lake	Rocky Mountain National Park
Colorado	Hallett Peak	Rocky Mountain National Park
Colorado	Hike among the sand dunes	Great Sand Dunes National Park
Colorado	Mount Ida	Rocky Mountain National Park
Colorado	North Vista Trail	Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
Colorado	Sky Pond / Lake of Glass / The Loch / Glacier Gorge	Rocky Mountain National Park
Colorado	Specimen Mountain	Rocky Mountain National Park
Florida	Long Pine Key Nature Trail	Everglades National Park
Hawaii	Halemau'u Trail	Haleakalā National Park
Hawaii	Kilauea Iki	Volcanoes National Park
Hawaii	Pipiwai Trail	Haleakala National Park
Maine	Beehive, The	Acadia National Park
Maine	Cadillac Mountain	Acadia National Park
Maine	Penobscot Mountain / Sargent Mountain	Acadia National Park
Montana	Cracker Lake	Glacier National Park
Montana	Iceberg Lake	Glacier National Park
Montana	Ptarmigan Tunnel Trail	Glacier National Park
Montana	Siyeh Pass	Glacier National Park
Nevada	Pole Canyon	Great Basin National Park
New Mexico	Natural Entrance Tour & Big Room Tour	Carlsbad Caverns National Park
North Carolina	Mt. Cammerer	Great Smoky Mountains National Park
North Dakota	Caprock Coulee Trail (southern half)	Theodore Roosevelt National Park
North Dakota	Petrified Forest Loop	Theodore Roosevelt National Park
South Dakota	Castle Trail	Badlands National Park
South Dakota	Notch Trail	Badlands National Park
Tennessee	Charles Bunion	Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Tennessee	Mount LeConte	Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Texas	McKittrick Canyon Trail	Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Utah	Canyon Overlook Trail	Zion National Park
Utah	Chesler Park Loop	Canyonlands National Park
Utah	Hickman Bridge	Capitol Reef National Park
Utah	Kolob Arch	Zion National Park
Utah	Mesa Arch	Canyonlands National Park
Utah	Rim Trail	Bryce Canyon National Park
Utah	Syncline Loop	Canyonlands National Park
Utah	Tower Arch	Arches National Park
Virginia	Old Rag	Shenandoah National Park
Virginia	Stony Man	Shenandoah National Park
Virginia	White Oak Canyon	Shenandoah National Park
Washington	Comet Falls / Van Trump Park	Mount Rainier National Park
Washington	Hoh River Trail	Olympic National Park
Washington	Olympic Coast Traverse	Olympic National Park
Wyoming	Avalanche Peak	Yellowstone National Park
Wyoming	Lamar River Trail / Lamar Valley	Yellowstone National Park
Wyoming	Lower Falls / Canyon Area	Yellowstone National Park
Wyoming	Mount Washburn	Yellowstone National Park
Wyoming	Surprise & Amphitheater Lakes	Grand Teton National Park

INTENTIONALLY EXCLUDED FROM THE LIST

The following national park hikes are absolutely outstanding and are sometimes done in one day by extremely strong hikers or trail-runners, but we excluded them from our "top day hikes" lists above because they are either: (a) too difficult for most day hikers to complete in a day; (b) better appreciated as part of a backpacking trip; and/or (c) they require too much scrambling and/or off-trail route-finding.

STATE	HIKE NAME	PARK
Arizona	South Rim-to-Colorado River	Grand Canyon National Park
Arizona	Rim-to-Rim	Grand Canyon National Park
Colorado	Longs Peak	Rocky Mountain National Park
Montana	Swiftcurrent Pass Traverse	Glacier National Park
Utah	Subway, The ("Left Fork")	Zion National Park
Utah	West Rim Trail	Zion National Park
Utah	Upper Muley Twist Canyon	Capitol Reef National Park
Wyoming	Cascade Canyon / Lake Solitude / Paintbrush Divide	Grand Teton National Park
Wyoming	Fox Creek Pass	Grand Teton National Park

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