Six Hidden Trails in Famous Parks
Everyone hikes the same five trails in every park. Here are the alternates the rangers quietly recommend.
Zion — Northgate Peaks. Everyone queues for Angels Landing. Northgate Peaks is a flat 4-mile out-and-back from the Wildcat Canyon trailhead on the Kolob Terrace Road, ending on a slickrock platform between two volcanic plugs with a head-on view of the West Temple. You will see ten people, total.
Yosemite — Pohono Trail. Glacier Point is famous for a reason. The Pohono Trail traverses 13 miles of rim from Glacier Point to Tunnel View, passing Sentinel Dome, Taft Point, Dewey Point, and Crocker Point. Shuttle a car. Bring lunch. Bring more water than you think.
Rocky Mountain — Sky Pond. Slightly known, badly underrated. Past Loch Vale, a Class-2 scramble up a waterfall delivers you to an alpine tarn under the Sharkstooth.
Olympic — Royal Basin. A long, gradual 7-mile valley walk that ends in one of the prettiest basins in the Olympics. Mountain goats. Marmots. Almost nobody.
Acadia — Bubble Pond to Pemetic Mountain. Skip the Beehive crowds. Pemetic's south ridge gives you 360-degree views over Jordan Pond, Eagle Lake, and the open Atlantic.
Glacier — Dawson-Pitamakan Loop. 17 miles, two passes, the entire Two Medicine basin. The classic Glacier traverse that isn't Highline.