North America’s Most Iconic Trails
Explore legendary backcountry routes with the maps, trail details, and planning tools you need before you go.
Explore legendary backcountry routes with the maps, trail details, and planning tools you need before you go.
The Most Iconic Trails in the US
The routes on this list see over 500,000 visitor days a year — not because we say they’re iconic, but because adventurers keep showing up to attempt them. onX Backcountry maps each one with guidebook-quality descriptions, curated photos, access and permit info, current trail reports, and LiDAR terrain detail that no standard map can match. This is where your trip planning starts.
Explore some of the most iconic trails in the U.S., from rugged mountain routes to remote backcountry classics. Each trail includes the details you need to start planning, including route highlights, terrain insights, access information, and key considerations before you go.
Top Colorado 14ers
Mount Blue Sky
The Mount Blue Sky Loop starts where most hikes end — at 12,827′, above timberline, with a fourteener summit already in view. The route links Mount Spalding and Mount Blue Sky in a compact 3.8-mile circuit that returns via the northeast face rather than retracing the ridge, giving both peaks without the re-climb.
Grays and Torreys Peaks
Two fourteeners on the Continental Divide, side by side and close enough in elevation to summit both in a single day. Grays at 14,270′ and Torreys at 14,275′ are separated by a short saddle-to-summit push that makes bagging the pair a natural objective from the Stevens Gulch trailhead. The well-maintained trail and relatively forgiving terrain make this one of the most approachable high-summit routes in Colorado, though the altitude, distance, and exposure still demand respect.
Mount Elbert: Northeast Ridge
Mount Elbert is the highest peak in Colorado and the second highest in the lower 48 It is not technical, not remote, and not mysterious. What it is: a well-built trail that climbs steadily through spruce forest and then along a broad open ridge to a summit that puts the entire Sawatch Range beneath your feet. If you are going to climb one 14er, climb this one.
Longs Peak– Keyhole Route
The Keyhole Route on Longs Peak earns its reputation not through trail miles alone but through the abrupt shift in character that occurs at 13,000′ where the maintained path ends, the Keyhole opens onto exposed terrain, and the upper mountain demands full attention. Colorado’s northernmost fourteener, Longs rises above the high plains with a flat-topped profile recognizable across the entire Front Range. Expect an early-morning start, Class 3 scrambling on the Ledges, Narrows, and Homestretch, and a full day committed to one of Colorado’s most sought-after summits.
Quandary Peak -East Ridge
Quandary Peak’s East Ridge is one of the most-climbed fourteener routes in Colorado. A long, above-timberline grind up a broad, well-defined ridge that puts a 14,268′ summit within reach of any hiker who can manage 3,450 vertical feet. The Tenmile Range dominates in every direction on the upper ridge, and the mountain’s demand is honest: fitness and weather awareness are required.
Maroon Bells Four Pass Loop
The Four Pass Loop is one of the defining wilderness circuits in the American West — a 26.3-mile route in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness that crosses four alpine passes above 12,000′, circumnavigates the Maroon Bells massif through four distinct drainages, and puts you under the flanks of five fourteeners without requiring you to summit any of them. It is Colorado’s most celebrated backpacking loop and a legitimate single-day running objective in the same breath. Permits sell out months in advance, the scenery justifies every bureaucratic hurdle.
Best National Park Trails
Half Dome via Cables
Rising nearly 4,700 vertical feet above Yosemite Valley on its sheer northwest face, Half Dome is one of the most recognized granite objectives in North America — and the cables route delivers a genuine summit experience accessible to any fit, prepared hiker willing to put in a long day.
Highline To The Loop
One of the most celebrated alpine traverses in the Northern Rockies. This route covers 11.8 miles, rewarding hikers with sustained ridgeline views, frequent mountain goat sightings on the cliff faces above, and bighorn sheep on the open slopes.
Grinnell Glacier
A sustained approach through one of Glacier’s most dramatic lake-filled valleys, climbing past Lake Josephine and Grinnell Lake to the shrinking remnant of Grinnell Glacier in a high cirque below the Garden Wall.
Wonderland Trail
The Wonderland Trail makes a complete circuit of Mount Rainier — 84.8 miles through four ecological zones, past 25 named glaciers, over high alpine passes, through old-growth temperate rainforest, and into subalpine meadows that define what the Pacific Northwest looks like at its most uncompromised. It takes 8–12 days to complete, requires a competitive backcountry permit, and rewards every mile with a different face of the most heavily glaciated peak in the contiguous United States. No single photograph captures what the Wonderland Trail is. You have to walk it.
Grand Teton, Upper Exum
The Upper Exum Ridge is one of the great alpine rock climbing routes in North America — a 1,700-foot, six-pitch Grade III climb on the south face of the Grand Teton, preceded by a 7-mile approach to the Lower Saddle and committing climbers to technical terrain from which escape is extremely difficult once above the Golden Stair. THIS IS NOT A HIKE. It requires rope, a light rack, and demonstrated rock climbing experience on exposed terrain at altitude. The approach alone gains 4,900 vertical feet before the climbing begins, and the descent requires two rappels on a different line in a section where navigation errors have caused fatalities. The reward — the highest summit in the Tetons — is proportional to what the route demands.
The Subway, Left Fork
A rugged, water-filled journey through a spectacular slot canyon to the iconic tube-like formation known as The Subway. This challenging bottom-up route requires extensive route-finding, stream crossing, and boulder scrambling along the Left Fork of North Creek.
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Iconic State High Point Routes
Mount Washington via Tuckerman Ravine Trail
The shortest route to the highest summit in the northeastern United States — climbing from Pinkham Notch through old-growth forest, past Hermit Lake, and up the exposed boulder headwall of Tuckerman Ravine to the top of Mount Washington.
Humphreys Peak
At 12,633′, Humphreys Peak is the highest point in Arizona and the only place in the state where the landscape climbs above timberline into a true alpine zone. The summit ridge of the San Francisco Peaks delivers views that stretch from the rim of the Grand Canyon to the Painted Desert, a panorama that reflects how singularly this volcanic massif rises above the surrounding plateau. Afternoon monsoon thunderstorms through the summer months demand an early start and a committed turnaround time.
Wheeler Peak via Williams Lake
A challenging and rewarding high-altitude climb to the highest summit in New Mexico, featuring a pristine alpine basin, a glacial lake, and expansive 360-degree views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
Mount Whitney via Whitney Trail
The standard non-technical route to the highest summit in the contiguous United States, the Mount Whitney Trail climbs more than 6,100 vertical feet over 10.7 miles of well-maintained trail from Whitney Portal to the 14,505′ top. It demands serious fitness, careful pacing, and respect for altitude, and rewards with a summit that sits at the southern end of the John Muir Trail, with the full spine of the Sierra Nevada stretching north. Permits are among the most competitive in the country, and earning one is the first obstacle on the way up
Borah Peak
Borah Peak earns Idaho’s highpoint designation through a direct, unrelenting ascent that climbs nearly a vertical mile in four miles and then asks for more on Chicken-Out Ridge, an exposed Class 3 scramble that separates those who reach the 12,662′ summit from those who turn around short of it. The Lost River Range is isolated country, and Borah has the character of a peak that hasn’t been made easy for anyone who comes to climb it.
Explore More Iconic Trails
The Enchantments Traverse
One of the most permit-restricted and celebrated alpine routes in the Pacific Northwest, the Enchantments Traverse crosses 18 miles of glacially carved granite above timberline in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness — ascending Aasgard Pass above Colchuck Lake into a sprawling basin of polished slabs, mountain goats, western larches, and a chain of turquoise alpine lakes named for fairy-tale characters. The permits are nearly as famous as the landscape. Plan at least a year out.
Alice-Toxoway Loop
A multi-day route through the heart of the Sawtooth Wilderness, the Alice-Toxaway Loop strings together alpine lakes, high passes, and creek crossings that define what makes Idaho’s backcountry worth the drive. Beginning and ending at Pettit Lake, the 17-mile circuit moves through terrain that shifts from dense lodgepole forest to open granite basins, with the White Cloud peaks visible across the valley for much of the upper miles. Three days is the natural pace: one night at a lake, one night at another, and a traverse in between that earns every view.
Franconia Ridge Loop
The Franconia Ridge Loop delivers the premier above-treeline ridgeline experience in the White Mountains. A traverse connecting multiple summits along an exposed spine with views east to the Presidential Range and west across the Pemigewasset Wilderness. The loop pairs a steep, waterfall-laced ascent on the Falling Waters Trail with a long, airy ridge walk over Mounts Lincoln and Lafayette before dropping back via the Old Bridle Path. In the White Mountains, this is the route most hikers mean when they talk about what the range can deliver at its best.
Pemigewasset Loop (AKA Pemi Loop)
The Pemi Loop is one of the great alpine circuits in the northeastern United States — 28.6 miles through the heart of the Pemigewasset Wilderness, connecting 10 summits along two of the most exposed ridgelines in New Hampshire’s White Mountains before returning through a wild river valley on an old railroad grade. The Franconia Ridge alone would justify the drive; the Bond Traverse on the back half earns it twice over.
San Jacinto Peak via Tram
The fastest way into the San Jacinto Wilderness — a tram ride to start, followed by a sustained climb through alpine forest to one of the most prominent summits in the contiguous United States.
San Gorgonio Peak
The shortest and steepest route to the summit of San Gorgonio Mountain, climbing through pine forests and alpine switchbacks to the highest peak in Southern California.
Iconic Trails Demand Better Maps
onX Backcountry is built for the way the backcountry actually works—where success isn’t a single moment, it’s the sum of a hundred good decisions. Find new terrain, understand what you’re getting into, plan your route with the most detailed maps available, and trust them to be there when you’re deep in and your signal isn’t.
Custom Routes and Waypoints
Mark campsites, water crossings, bail-out points, mushroom patches, or bigfoot sightings with custom icons, colors, and your own images to make sense of your map.
High-Definition 3D Maps Offline
Visualize your route in 3D before you step foot on the trail—and bring that view with you, offline, so you’re never guessing at what’s around the bend.
Rich Recpoint Information
Tap on trailheads, campgrounds, peaks, and waterfalls adjacent to your route to learn more about them.
Slope Angle Shading
Color-coded slope angles show you whether you’re heading for a stroll or a scramble and let you see the steepness of the terrain.
Weather & Conditions
Real-time weather gives you the environmental awareness to know when to push on and when to turn back.
Land Ownership & Access
Understand exactly where you can go, camp, or cross with comprehensive public/private land boundary data—built on the same industry-leading ownership database behind onX Hunt.
Plan
Guidebook-quality route descriptions, curated photos, elevation profiles, and distance and difficulty stats — paired with 3D terrain visualization so you can walk the route before you ever leave home.
Know Before You Go
Current trail reports, trailhead access conditions, permit requirements, and 7-day weather forecasts pulled directly into the app — so you know exactly what you’re traveling into.
Navigate
Your route loaded onto 3D LiDAR topo maps with slope angle shading and land ownership data. Download offline before you head out — no cell signal required.