US trail guides
Real numbers for America’s best hikes — distance, elevation gain, difficulty and current permit and fee rules, each verified against official park sources.
Angels Landing
A 5.4-mile round trip climbing roughly 1,500 feet to one of the most exposed summit ridges in the National Park System. The final half-mile follows support chains along a narrow fin with sheer drops on both sides — spectacular, and not for anyone uneasy with heights.
Half Dome (Cables Route)
A 14–16-mile round trip with roughly 4,800 feet of gain, finishing with a 400-foot climb up bolted cables to a granite dome nearly 8,800 feet high. One of the most demanding day hikes in the country and a permit-only, cables-up-only objective.
Bright Angel Trail to Plateau Point
A 12-mile round trip descending about 3,080 feet from the South Rim to Plateau Point, with big views over the inner canyon and the Colorado River. Remember the canyon’s cruel arithmetic: the easy downhill start is the return climb in the heat.
Delicate Arch Trail
A 3-mile round trip climbing about 630 feet across open slickrock to the most famous freestanding arch in the world. Short but exposed — there is almost no shade and the rock radiates heat, so timing matters more than distance.
The Narrows (Bottom-Up)
Instead of a trail, you wade up the Virgin River itself, hemmed in by 1,000-foot sandstone walls that in places narrow to twenty feet across. The bottom-up route needs no permit and no technical skill — just a tolerance for cold water, a stick for balance, and real respect for flash floods.