From Trails.com, where nothing is free:
After analyzing over 10 million “votes” from users over the past year, Trails.com is proud to announce its annual Top Trails list, based on trail popularity and usage in 2005.
The Top 20:
- Breakneck Ridge Trail (Hiking)
Beacon, NY - Cohutta Wilderness Area Trails (Hiking)
Ellijay, GA - Glacier Gorge (Hiking)
Estes Park, CO - Harriman State Park (Walking)
Bear Mountain, NY - Mount Whitney (Hiking)
Lone Pine, CA - Appalachian Trail: The Pinnacle (Hiking)
Hamburg, PA - Appalachian Trail: Springer Mountain to Hightower Gap (Hiking)
Suches, GA - Appalachian National Scenic Trail – Pennsylvania Section (Hiking)
Rouzerville, PA - Conundrum Hot Springs (Hot Springs)
Aspen, CO - American River Confluence to Lake Clementine (Hiking)
Auburn, CA - Furnace Mountain / Trayfoot Mountain Overnight Loop (Hiking)
Waynesboro, VA - Dolly Sods Wilderness (Hiking)
Petersburg, WV - Appalachian National Scenic Trail: CT & MA (Hiking)
North Adams, MA - American River Bike Path (Mountain Biking)
Sacramento, CA - Bear Mountain – Mount Riga State Park (Hiking)
Salisbury, CT - Half Dome (Hiking)
Merced, CA - Appalachian Trail: Crampton Gap to Harpers Ferry, WV (Hiking)
Burkittsville, MD - Appalachian Trail (VA) – Chester Gap to Harpers Ferry (Hiking)
Front Royal, VA - Cougar Mountain Regional Wildlands Park (Hiking)
Issaquah, WA - North Country Trail (Hiking)
Morenci, MI
I can proudly say that I’ve hiked none of the Top 100, though I have stepped on the trail to the Half Dome at Yosemite.
This is a very odd (and east coast centric) list.
Some glaring omissions- Bright Angel and/or Kaibab trails in the Grand Canyon, the John Muir Trail, etc.
Yeah, it’s highly unscientific and not even aesthetics-driven. I suspect it’s a measure of the favorite hikes of people willing to pay the trails.com subscription fee.
Agreed. Personally if it’s centric on anything, I’d think we’d see more of the west coast represented than anything.
Also, is it me, or did the Pacific Crest Trail not make the list in any form…? Absurd.
The glaring omission of any hikes in Glacier National Park (or anywhere in Montana!) is almost criminal.
Glacier Park will knock your freakin’ socks off.