How to Find Hiking Trails
You might be wondering, how do people find trails? I know it’s one of the first things I had to learn when I started hiking and backpacking regularly. Finding trails can be as simple or complex as you want it to be and knowing which trail you’re planning on hiking is essential to safety. So where do you begin?
Using Apps
Apps are an awesome resource to help you scout your next adventure.
AllTrails
AllTrails is a free app that is a pretty comprehensive place to start. You search with specific activities in mind (read: can sort for backpacking trails), distance, if dogs are allowed, if mountain bikes are allowed, and all sorts of things. My favorite features of the app don’t come with the free version but if you wait until Black Friday they typically have a subscription sale. Each hike is rated from easy to hard and it’s important to know that the rankings are relative. Something easy in the middle of the mountains might be rated as hard if the same hike here plopped down in Illinois. The best way to see how strenuous a hike will be for you is to look at the elevation profile (an option for both free and paid users), the reviews, and the pictures of the hike. These will give you a pretty clear idea of the terrain and how steep your inclines/declines will be along the route.
COTrex (Colorado Trail Explorer)
COTrex is the official app of Colorado Parks and Wildlife and has all of the Colorado trails built in. The app was built upon using data from over 200 trail managers and park rangers. I haven’t used this app yet but I am expecting to try it out this summer. Note, this is only for trails in Colorado.
Hiking Project
The Hiking Project is similar to AllTrails by way of having numerous filters to really narrow down your search. I’ve found that the interface isn’t as user friendly as AllTrails but the detail is a little better in the elevation profiles.
Using Maps
Maps are my favorite ways to find trails. If you ever want to buy me a present, buy me some maps. There are many choices for maps but the best tend to come from National Geographic or, for us Colorado people, Outdoor Trail Maps. The latter has maps of select Colorado 14ers and wilderness areas, they are local to the Denver Metro area, and they produce some easily read and high quality stuff.
Map reading can be (and is) a full set of skills. If you want to get into how to read contour lines for off-trail and more wilderness type hiking, I suggest taking a course. But, the maps I recommended have clearly marked trail heads and roads leading to them. The maps will show you the true trail name (to be left with someone else for safety reasons) and will also show you connecting trails so you can cater your adventure better than just using a predetermined map in an app. Maps will also sometimes include trails that are not included in the apps, especially for the long trails.
Another benefit to maps is they show where lakes and rivers are located relative to the trail so if you’re backpacking, make sure to check out a full map outside of the app to see where potential water sources are located.
Other Places to Find Trails
Area-specific websites like the forest service page for where you’re hiking or state parks pages will also have trail information. Pay close attention to the disclaimer on trail distance. Some websites will quote the distance one way while others will give you round trip distances.
If you’re also a map nerd I suggest buying a Benchmark Atlas for the state you’re going to explore. Benchmark Atlases are focused on forest roads, public land, 4×4 roads, and hiking trails.
Another app that isn’t really for finding trails but is great for all things trail related if you’re doing a thru-hike is Guthook. Guthook is specific to a thru-hiking trail and is not free, but it does include valuable information such as water locations, the trail, and any other information you can think of. Again, this is a paid app and is only specific to the trail that you select when purchasing.
